Covid-19 has inflicted numerous challenges on the hospitality industry, however, this has encouraged the industry to innovate and adopt new technologies even if only out of necessity. Hotels have had to adopt new methods to keep both guests and staff safe due to the pandemic, such as contactless check-in, but also methods unrelated to hygiene such as cloud software, that assist in the general operation of the business. So what are the top hospitality tech trends today that can help increase ROI?
Top Tech Trends
Smart Room Keys
Adoption of mobile locks in the hospitality industry, or specifically in hotels, is one of the most popular new hospitality tech. Room keycards are nearing the end of their life as mobile access improves efficiency by removing the need for staff to replace lost keys for example. This means that staff can spend more time offering premium guest services that they wouldn’t otherwise have time for. Mobile applications that allow guests to directly access their hotel rooms via their mobile devices provide more convenience for both guests and staff.
OpenKey is a good example of this technology. It is a leading provider of Digital Key solutions that saves guests time and you money by enabling guests to unlock rooms with their mobiles. With the OpenKey app, which combines mobile check-in with secure digital keys, guests can go straight up to their room upon arrival without waiting in queues at reception. Not only will this hospitality tech improve guest satisfaction, but also enhance staff productivity.
Recognition Technology
The hospitality industry has to deal with large volumes of people so it’s important to deal with them efficiently but without compromising their safety. This is where facial recognition systems can play an important role as this hospitality tech can be used to automate verification and authorization processes. These systems are an example of biometric technology that works by analyzing people’s faces compared to a scanned image stored within the database. The technology matches the two images based on facial features and skin textures to enable facial recognition.
Although this technology is commonly used in security and law enforcement, it is becoming increasingly popular in hospitality. Within hotels, it can be used for a range of things from granting guests access to their rooms, to confirming payments using the camera on their phone. Facial recognition can therefore be extremely advantageous in improving customer experience and streamlining general hotel operations.
Hotel Management Software
Most hotel management systems these days have adopted cloud services that use the internet to access data, use programs and store files, etc. Cloud-based services mean that files and applications are stored on third-party servers rather than a hard drive, which helps improve things like flexibility, insight, security, and more. This type of hospitality tech puts everything into one place to help hotels manage and organize their operations as efficiently as possible.
InnRoad is a prime example of this all-in-one cloud-based hotel management software. This system offers everything from managing reservations to assigning housekeeping tasks that is all accessible in one place. This easy-to-use hospitality tech is simple to set up and helps to enhance staff productivity by removing the need for time-consuming paperwork.
Robots
Robots, although not as common as other hospitality tech, are also a good way to assist staff in tasks and free them up for more important tasks that enhance the guest experience. 
Robotics present various opportunities for the hospitality industry including taking on the role of concierge within hotels. This technology enables them to perform tasks such as interacting with guests and responding to any questions or queries. Hotels can also offload more time-consuming housekeeping tasks like cleaning processes to robots, particularly to make sure the environment is Covid-19 secure and make guests feel at ease.
Though these robots have a cool factor, there is not much evidence that they are being widely deployed at the moment, most probably because of their high costs that are not accessible to most businesses.
Virtual Reality
The most common use of Virtual Reality in the hospitality industry is virtual hotel tours. These are often available on the hotel’s website so potential guests can have a look at their hotel room or other parts of the hotel before their arrival. Although these are best viewed through VR headsets, today’s technology allows people to view 360 videos through many devices. Facebook, for example, uses technology that allows users to view images or videos from every angle just by turning their device or dragging their finger to move across the screen.
This is a big trend in the industry today as it provides more reliable information for customers about their stay and therefore, makes them more likely to finalize their booking.
IoT Solutions for Pest Management
In the hospitality industry, it is inevitable that at some point, pests will find their way into your property, and this can cost tens of thousands of pounds each year in lost revenue due to bad guest reviews, compensation, and sometimes litigation.
At Spotta, we have used revolutionary technology to create a device to prevent rather than just treat bed bugs. Our service uses this technology to notify hotel management of the presence of bed bugs. The Spotta service notifies you as quickly as possible, so that you can deploy removal solutions before the infestation grows.
The BedPods take a minute to deploy per room, and don’t use hotel wi-fi. They work 24/7, to protect your hotel against a bed bug infestation. By aiming to prevent bed bugs before the problem escalates too far, our innovation ensures hygiene standards are maximized and pose no threat to your business's reputation and revenue.