The Hotel Industry’s Race To Escape The Dinosaur Age
Keyless check-in, mobile booking, and entire boutique brands dedicated to luring technology-minded globetrotters illustrate how far the world’s biggest hotel chains are going to move beyond the archaic status quo. But is it far enough?
How many times have you entered your room at a large chain hotel, thrown your luggage down to relax, and noticed the antiquated stereo system with an iPod dock from three models ago perched on the bedside table? Next to it lies a paper room-service menu and a clunky, ancient telephone to use if you want to order up a late night snack.
And this encounter comes after you’ve just spent the better part of half an hour waiting in line to show your identification, leave your credit card for incidentals, receive your room key, and navigate your way into a scene straight out of 1999. The experience, familiar to even moderate travelers who frequent chains like Sheraton, Westin, Holiday Inn, Marriott, and others, is emblematic of an industry whose customers’ relationship with technology has moved far beyond what its product can offer, leaving multibillion-dollar holding companies scrambling to stay relevant.
“The hotel industry is usually not the cheerleader for the technology sector,” Nikhil Bhalla, the vice president of equity research in lodging at FBR Capital Markets, told BuzzFeed News. “Many companies have made it a philosophy not to be the leader on the tech side. They’d rather see someone else try something, succeed or fail at it, and then learn from that. The thought process is, it’s fine to be the early bird, but you don’t want to be the worm.”