What is Big Data?
​
Big data is the phrase used to describe the extremely large sets of data that come into a business on a day-to-day basis. The data can be extremely varied and may come from a wide range of different sources. Within hospitality management, these data sets are most commonly associated with customer behavior and interactions.

For data to be classed as ‘big data’, it needs to be too large in volume to be processed via traditional data processing methods. Crucially, it can be used within the fields of both predictive and behavioral analytics, and can help companies to identify key trends or patterns, which can then inform their business practices.

Big Data can benefit the hospitality industry in several way such as revenue management, targeted marketing, customer experience, additional services, competition scouting. Big data is a key concept to be aware of within the hospitality industry, and can help hotel owners and other business leaders to identify important patterns and trends. As a result, it can help to improve revenue management, optimize marketing efforts and enhance the customer experience that is being delivered.

What trend that come with the Big Data?

Following International Federation of Robotics (IFR) sales of robotic service acceded 17 billion in 2019, and forecasted to top US55 billion by 2023.  Robot use in different areas such Front staff hotel, Suitcase, Travel Agency, Chatbot for flight and hotel booking, security at the airport.

Listen to Saifon Chitdee, Founder & CEO at MAJESTY AI and Mary Amieyeofori, Podcast Manager at Asigmo Data Science Austria sharing the industry insight.

Source : 
revfine.com
International Federation Robotic (IFR)

​​While some remain sceptical, most hoteliers have – knowingly or unknowingly – embraced artificial intelligence (AI) to improve the guest experience and optimize revenue.
​
What is artificial intelligence? Artificial intelligence, or AI, involves computer systems that perform tasks that require what we would refer to as “intelligence,” or some form of thinking.

The concept has existed since the 1950s, but it is only in recent times that the technology has reached a point where it is considered reliable enough to be deployed into business processes. The data gained via this technology is utilized across a range of functions (even in the hospitality industry) ranging from basic customer service to personalization and sales.

Common uses of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in hospitality

​​​
​Another way in which AI is being utilized within the hotel industry away from pure customer service is in data analysis. In this capacity, the technology can be used to quickly sort through large amounts of data and draw important conclusions about customers, or potential customers.

For example, a hotel might use data to predict lulls in bookings and offer special rates to counteract them. They could also gather data on the food that guests order so that they know what to keep on the menu and what to pull off. They could use AI to predict what menu items might be popular based on previous visitor favorites.

Conclusion 
The potential for AI to improve customer service is unlimited. What we see now is a fraction of what this technology is capable of. From front-desk, room service, valet service, cleaning, and maintenance to power management, there is no area where AI cannot be used.

It is also not something that is only for the “big guys”. The beauty of AI is it is adaptable for all hotels to adopt – if not in its entirety, in some form or the other.

​Source : guest joy

​

​In collaboration with the British Beauty Council, global trends forecaster WGSN recently presented ‘Beauty Big Ideas 2023’, outlining key consumer shifts that are set to shape the beauty industry once the coronavirus emergency has passed. 

​Five key trends that reflect the fact that beauty routines and products will be reshaped with a sharper focus on health, science, sustainability and social justice… 

TREND 1: A push for progress By 2023, consumers will demand a radical rethink of how we deliver products. Refillability, recycling and sustainable packaging will be re-imagined and new designs will surprise and delight consumers.

Products will need to function in a trading environment that places high demands on their creation on both environmental and social grounds. For example, Some organic tea uses wholechain technology to verify its Madagascan vanilla, collecting data from its supply chain via QR codes and phones to track the bean’s journey from farmer to formulator.

The beauty industry will need to reinvent itself as more ethical, inclusive and sustainable, beauty brands that stand for something will sit at the forefront of radical change. What consumers are looking for are products that heal the world, embrace biodiversity and can be delivered in the minimal footprint. Transparency and full traceability will be key.”

TREND 2: Embracing frugality  Financial restraints caused by the pandemic will radically change consumer approaches to purchasing and products that streamline multi-tasking, delivering refined skincare routines, will take off.

The drive will not be a focus on the cheapest product or the smallest price tag, it will be about brands that drive value with the consumer in mind. 

It’s about investing in products that really work for you. It’s about finding ways to empower the consumer to make purchasing decisions with brands that protect the planet through ethical production and provide proven results.

So-called ‘skinimalism’ will drive simplified skincare regimes and product development, and ‘dupe culture’ will enable financially pressed consumers to find affordable alternatives. Emerging social platforms will vastly amplify consumer opinion, empowering the consumer to shape the future of beauty. 

TREND 3: Mastering wellbeing  Consumers are thinking so much more about their physical and emotional wellbeing since the pandemic. We have embraced many hi-tech tracking tools to monitor our health, but innovation will come in tech to track mood and elevate mental wellness.

All beauty brands will need to behave as health and wellbeing brands in 2023. Products that not only make you look good but make you feel good.

The ‘Happy Beauty’ segment will look to leverage the link between emotional wellbeing and skin health – products designed to reduce stress and improve mood as well as optimise skin health. Beauty products that work at a cellular level and those that look to balance and strengthen the skin’s natural ecosystem will be essential in future.

Beauty needs to harness the new found respect to science created by the pandemic. Science will also become a cornerstone of beauty rituals and treatments with consumers.
​
The pandemic has dialled up our appreciation of the power of touch and the delivery of hands-on professional treatments. Although many spa guests will be comfortable with rituals protected by new hygiene protocols, no-touch therapies are here to stay and will grow as part of the spa offering in future.

TREND 4: Tech-acceptance Positive relationships between consumers and beauty brands nurtured during the pandemic will continue, heralding “a new era in beauty innovation and beauty moonshots.

Post-pandemic, people are going to be much more willing to embrace brands that embrace biotechnology, including ‘green’, ‘blue’ and ‘white’ biotech beauty regimes and products.” revealed Middleton.

Consumers will want to know more about product design, science and ethics. Brands will need to pull back the curtain.
​
The blur of physical and digital will see consumers place more value on products that can elevate their lifestyles. New at-home devices and tools will emerge and comfort levels around technology and lab-based innovation will grow.

TREND 5: Intentional community By 2023, consumer collaboration will be a cornerstone of trans-global beauty. This trend will see new ecosystems develop between brands and consumers, working together to create belonging and inclusivity.

Trusted voices of beauty will be driven by consumer validation, with products and services making significant shifts to embrace customers as co-creators of brand voice and contributors to product design.

In future, dignity will be valued, rewarded and fairly represented. Systemic discrimination will be challenged and the beauty industry can really push forward and allow this honest dialogue to continue.

Thank you for good Source by Jenni Middleton, Beauty WGSN
Photo : fairypunk.tumblr

Below, you find general technology trends in hospitality, along with tech trends that serve as a solution to the coronavirus pandemic and associated shifts in consumer behaviour.

1. Voice Search & Voice Control Voice search is growing technology trend within hospitality because a growing number of guests or customers are turning to voice search in order to find hotels, restaurants and cafes, so it is worth taking the time to properly capitalise on this. To do so, you will need to make sure your website and booking engine are structured so that the voice search can be used properly.
In some settings, demand for voice control is also growing. This could include everything from the use of smart speakers in hotel rooms, allowing for control of the various in-room devices, through to automated order taking in restaurants and cafes, meaning customers will no longer need to wait for waiting staff to take their order.

2. Contactless Payments Contactless payments offer a number of advantages for hotels, resorts, restaurants, bars and cafes, which is why this has been among the main technology trends within the hospitality industry in recent times. Aside from speeding up payments and improving customer satisfaction, contactless tech is also easily compatible with loyalty programmes.
Mobile contactless payments are possible even if customers do not have their wallet with them, or even if their credit card has been misplaced. Additionally, with COVID firmly in the minds of hotel guests and other hospitality customers, contactless payments can also offer an excellent way to reduce human-to-human contact.

3. Robots in Hotels & Restaurants One of the most exciting technology trends the hospitality industry is getting to grips with is the rise of robotics and the use of robots to carry out tasks traditionally performed by humans. For instance, robots can occupy a concierge role within hotels, welcoming guests and providing them with important customer information.
Similarly, some hotels have started to use robots for cleaning purposes, such as vacuum cleaning floors and even for germ killing. This is a practice that can be replicated across the rest of the hospitality industry too, including in restaurants, and the use of robots can also help to make an environment more COVIDsecure.

4. Chatbots Chatbots have been an emerging hospitality technology trend for several years, but the importance of this option is only growing, especially as customers now demand swift answers to questions at all times of the day. Hotels and restaurants will also often attract queries from people in different time zones, so having staff available is difficult.
A good chatbot will answer the most common questions without the need for any human involvement. In more advanced cases, the chatbot can obtain information from the customer and then pass the query on to a human staff member at the earliest opportunity, while also providing them with access to what the customer has said.

5. Virtual Reality Virtual reality is another of the major technology trends in the hospitality industry that you need to be aware of. In particular, this can make the difference at the stage when customers are ready to make a booking, because it will give potential customers a much clearer sense of what they can expect when they visit for real.
During the COVID pandemic, those working in hospitality marketing have a particularly good opportunity to capitalise on virtual reality technology and gain an edge on rivals, because it provides customers with the ability to experience elements of a hotel or to see the layout of a restaurant prior to booking.
Most modern virtual reality tour videos can be viewed within a web browser, making them easily accessible. A greater level of immersion can also be achieved if users have access to a VR headset.

6. Mobile Check-In Mobile check-in hospitality tech is another important area to give consideration to, because it can help to improve the customer experience at the point of their initial arrival. This is especially beneficial, because first impressions can have a huge bearing on how customers ultimately feel about their visit or stay.
Crucially, mobile check-ins swerve the need for face-to-face customer interactions, meaning customers can potentially have greater flexibility in terms of when they check-in. This ties in with wider contactless technology trends within the hospitality industry, and can be especially welcome for those who are nervous about COVID.

7. Recognition Technology Recognition technology is one of the most important emerging tech trends in general, but its potential uses in the hospitality industry are especially interesting. In particular, biometrics is being used to usher in a new age of seamless authentications, and this could benefit hotel processes and customer purchases.
For example, imagine if a fingerprint or facial recognition technology could be used in your hotel to unlock rooms. Now consider the uses of the same technology for check-in and check-out purposes. In the future, this technology is also likely to allow for completely seamless purchases, with payments being authenticated by touch.

8. Artificial Intelligence In the modern age, customers expect to be able to interact with hospitality companies across a variety of digital channels and receive rapid responses. Of course, actually having staff monitoring all of those channels and delivering swift responses can be difficult, if not impossible, which is where chatbots and artificial intelligence (AI) come in.

Chatbots are able to understand simple questions and provide answers almost instantaneously, taking the burden away from customer service staff and improving the experience for customers. Meanwhile, AI’s uses extend into other important areas for hotels too, including data analysis. In short: definitely a tech trend to watch out for.

9. Internet of Things (IoT) Another technological trend within hospitality management is the The ‘Internet of Things’, or IoT, involves extending internet connectivity to everyday objects, devices and appliances. These devices can then collect data and communicate or interact over the internet, turning previously unintelligent devices into ‘smart’ devices, which are often semi or fully autonomous.
An example of this already being used with the hospitality sector is internet-enabled thermostats, which are used to automatically adjust room temperatures at check-in and check-out times, or in response to temperature swings caused by the sun, or by windows being opened. The same concept is also being deployed for lighting, improving energy efficiency by, for instance, reducing light intensity during daylight hours.

10. Augmented Reality Finally, augmented reality has exploded as tech trend in a similar way to VR technology, but is even more accessible; typically requiring little more than access to a smartphone and the internet. Unlike VR, which places users in a digital environment, augmented reality is about enhancing the real-world environment through information overlays.
Again, this offers limitless potential. Imagine if your hotel provided AR-compatible wall maps, where customers can point their phone at the map and find out information about specific locations. Alternatively, how about an app, which allows users to see customer reviews of local restaurants by looking at the building through their phone?

11. Cybersecurity Finally, the increased need for cybersecurity is among the most vital technology trends in the hospitality industry. Today, hotels and restaurants are more reliant on data than ever before, and make more use of IT systems than ever before too. However, this potentially leaves them in a much more vulnerable position.

Some of the biggest threats here include ransomware attacks, phishing attacks, distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks and human error within the company. For this reason, hotels need to invest adequately in cybersecurity awareness training, protect their IT systems, keep customer data secure and ensure data is backed up and recoverable.

12. Big Data Data collection has grown rapidly across almost all industries, but can be used to great effect by hospitality businesses to provide more personalised experiences. As an example, it could be used by travel agents to make intelligent destination recommendations, based on age, gender, budget, previous locations visited, and so on.

Within the hotel industry, big data allows businesses to identify trends, which can be used for revenue management purposes. This allows for more data-driven approaches to pricing strategies and enables business leaders to gain a clearer understanding of current business performance and the outside influences that impact upon it.

Most-used hotel technology in 2019: basic distribution-focused systems The study found that among independent properties, the only hotel technology systems being well utilized are Internet booking engines and mobile (optimized) websites.
​
In both cases, 63% of respondents already had a system in place. Of the independent properties without a mobile website, 18% stated they intended to use one in the future. Similarly, 24% of properties without a booking engine responded that they planned to implement one.

​Future use of hotel tech prioritizes distribution In addition to more websites and booking engines, independent properties are looking to start leveraging other distribution-related hotel technologies in the short term as well.

A fifth of respondents (20%) cited plans to integrate a mobile app into their hotel technology portfolio. An anticipated increase in the use of channel management systems (17%), revenue management systems (13%), and customer relationship management systems (13%) over the next two years should also help independent properties grow their direct business, according to the authors of the white paper.

Source:  Refine.com
Source : Business Blog Trivago