The Hospitality Industry Seeks Innovation

By Abigail A. Lorden, Editor-in-Chief
A solution that affords mobility, is cloud-based, and secure: this is the tech trifecta in 2012. Mobile solutions, cloud-based solutions, and information security are the three technology trends that are going to dominate this year. Whether deployed together (as in a mobile, cloud-based, secure POS), or as an enabler to some other technology goal (as in a cloud-base property management system, or mobile apps for guest use), these are the three tech initiatives that are on hospitality operators’ lips.

In this month’s cover story HT’s Editorial Advisory Board of industry executives goes into detail on how they’d like to see these and other technologies deployed in hospitality. Some are adamant about the need for more innovation from the vendor community. Others reveal plans for how their organizations intend to leverage existing technology, particularly in the area of mobile applications.

According to the 2012 Lodging Technology Study, two thirds of hotels currently leverage, or have implementation plans in place, for mobile phone applications that enable guest check-in and/or allow guests to manage their experiences while at the property. Many of our hotel Board members consider this innovation a must-have going forward. On the foodservice side, early findings from the 2012 Restaurant Technology Study show that 80 percent of restaurants see value in investing in wireless handheld POS devices. This is a near complete reversal in attitudes from just two years ago. In 2010, 70 percent of restaurants in the study said their companies did not see the value in investing
in these devices.

With the operator community fully on-board for these types of innovations, it will be up to the vendor community to put forth affordable solutions, and fast. The innovation race is on.