Yahoo – AFP,
Emmanuelle MICHEL, January 21, 2018
 |
| Virtual reality now gives a first taste of the real thing in tourism (AFP Photo/ Gabriel BOUYS) |
Madrid
(AFP) - A hotel room automatically adjusting to the tastes of each guest,
virtual reality headsets as brochures: the tourism sector is starting to
embrace new technologies, hoping to benefit from lucrative personal data.
In a
prototype of the hotel of the future on display at Madrid's Fitur tourism fair,
receptionists have disappeared and customers are checked-in via a mirror
equipped with facial recognition.
Once the
client is identified, the room adapts itself automatically to all demands made
at reservation: temperature, lighting, Picasso or Van Gogh in the digital
frames hanging on the walls.
"Technology
will allow us to know what the client needs before he even knows he wants
it," says Alvaro Carrillo de Albornoz, head of Spain's Hotel Technology
Institute, which promotes innovation in the sector.
Tracking
guests
Some hotels
already offer such experiences at a more basic level.
But the
room prototype put on show by French technology consultancy Altran, aimed at
luxury hotels, has incorporated cutting-edge speech recognition technology,
allowing for instance a guest to order a pizza in 40 languages.
"Even
the lock is intelligent -- it opens and closes via the WhatsApp application on
the client's phone," says Carlos Mendez, head of innovation at Altran.
The
mattress is equipped with sensors and records the movements of those sleeping,
which could prompt hotel staff to offer them a coffee when they wake up.
Generally
speaking, hotels are hoping to use artificial intelligence (AI) to get better
knowledge of their clients via personal data provided on reservation or
"beacon" technology used once the client is in the hotel or resort.
Restricted
in some countries, the latter involves placing a beacon in the hotel that will
detect customers' smartphones, meaning they will know how much time they spend
in their rooms, for instance, or at what time they go to the pool.
AI
algorithms
Fed with
this data, AI algorithms will get to work, determining what the clients' habits
are to lure them back again by offering a tailor-made experience, or sell them
additional products.
If the
algorithm "knows that when you come to the hotel with your wife, you don't
eat at the restaurant but order room service, it will propose a special room
menu with a bottle of champagne," says Carrillo.
 |
Technology
will know when to order more bacon for visiting Britons (AFP Photo/
YOSHIKAZU
TSUNO)
|
"But
if you come with your entire family, it will propose a reduction on kids'
menus."
For Rodrigo
Martinez, head of consultancy Hotel Servicers, these technological tools could
also help improve hotels' productivity.
"All
purchases can be made automatic," he says.
"For
instance, if a huge amount of Brits are coming, the system will know that it
has to order more bacon."
Virtual
reality
Manufacturers
of virtual reality (VR) headsets are also jumping onto the bandwagon.
At various Fitur
stands, visitors are able to immerse themselves in the streets of Marrakech or
amble along a portion of the Santiago de Compostela pilgrims' trail.
"We're
in a completely pioneering phase," says Marcial Correal, head of the
Spanish association for virtual travel agencies, who is promoting this tool to
tourism professionals as the brochure of the future, without too much success
so far.
"Professionals
say 'how amazing' but they don't buy it. It's not in their marketing budget
priorities."
Headsets
themselves are not too pricey, between 50 and 600 euros ($60 and $730), says
Cesar Urbina of virtual reality agency Iralta.
"Then
there's content production, a little more than a normal video -- from 2,000
euros up to 150,000 euros."
Hotel chain
Palladium, however, has decided to give it a go.
Its
salespeople no longer have paper brochures on them to present their hotels to
travel agents, they carry virtual reality headsets.
Using
these, the agents can virtually visit rooms, pools or restaurants at every one
of their hotels.
Ivan Corzo,
head of marketing for Europe at the group, says this gives travel agents a
better idea of what the hotels are really like.
They
"tell us it helps them sell," he says.
"It's
much more difficult to cheat with VR headsets," adds Urbina.
Morocco's
tourism office is also using VR.
"Tourism
is linked to experiences, sensitivity," says Siham Fettouhi, head of
e-marketing at the office.
"Virtual
reality can't replace the taste of local cuisine or the smell of the ocean. But
it makes you want to explore more."
No comments:
Post a Comment