Embracing Change: How Technology is Shaping the Future of Hotels and Resorts

This year Hotel & Resort Innovation Expo promises to “Embrace the Future of Hotels & Resorts” with a full programme incorporating key sector topics such as digital marketing, enhanced sustainability, contactless technology, and artificial intelligence (AI). No doubt the seminars will be fascinating, thought-provoking, and extremely beneficial to attendees. 

How quickly technology has become an integral part of our lives! We are now being told that if we do not learn about AI then we will be left behind in business. Is AI the future for hospitality? Probably not. But it will play a major part in accelerating business processes, collecting and analysing data, supporting administration, assisting management, and aiding interior design. It seems to me that the only constant is change. 

GS Magazine was launched in 1997. Its aim was (and still is) to report on new and inspirational interiors in hospitality. Revisiting those early editions offers a fascinating glimpse into how the hospitality industry was back then, in an age where the Internet, the World Wide Web and mobile phone technology was still in its infancy. Very few of the hotel suppliers who advertised then had a website or an email address, nor did the hotels and restaurants we were reviewing; most were using landline ‘phones and faxes to communicate, and to confirm bookings (remember fax machines?). 

In London, land development was in full flow. The ExCel exhibition centre - where the  Hotel & Resort Innovation Expo is staged - was not built until 2000, so most large trade exhibitions were held at either Earls Court or Olympia. The Millenium Dome (now the O2) was still under construction on wasteland just across the river Thames and nearby Canary Wharf, a world centre for modern technology and finance, was expanding rapidly but nothing like it is today.

With any large urban development, it follows that hospitality facilities will emerge to meet the demands of new customers. Surrounding ExCel, the O2 and Canary Wharf are dozens of new hotels and restaurants, and all have embraced modern technology. Today hotel bedrooms and restaurant menus can be viewed in advance, bookings can be made online, and all the time guest preferences and purchasing behaviour can be monitored for the benefit of future sales. 

I find it incredible that a mere 27 years ago none of this technology was available to the hotel and restaurant industry, and now it is in use every day. It’s integral to how hospitality works and, in one way or another, we all benefit from it. 

In the world of hospitality design, I believe the biggest technological advance has been in lighting. Whereas back in 1997 project lighting was sometimes an afterthought, considered only after a lobby or restaurant space had been designed and built. Now we know how impactful and versatile good lighting can be, it is a primary consideration to all architects and designers, and usually at planning stage. On most sizeable projects a specialist lighting consultant will become a fundamental part of the design team, advising on how best to light all areas and spaces, internally and externally. Lighting, and the technology behind it, has revolutionised the look and feel of modern-day hotels and resorts throughout the world. 

So, what of the future? How will hotels operate and what will they provide. What will guest interaction be like. Will hotels and resorts look and feel the same as they do now? And will today’s technology be redundant, outdated? Given the rapid changes over the past few decades I suspect that there is more change to come. 

Being up to speed with technology is simply good practice. And knowing how it can have a positive impact on your business, now and in the future, is essential. A visit to Hotel & Resort Innovation Expo is, quite simply, the best place to start.