Table of contents
It’s a hassle for the hotel staff to manage physical keys, the check-in process, and guest requests manually.
This traditional management method significantly increases operational costs and negatively affects guest experience due to long waiting times.
For that reason, the smart hotel concept steps into the modern hospitality industry. Indeed, it’s a demanding trend that continues to grow.
In this article, you’ll go through the key systems powering smart hotels and how they make your hotel stand out in the competition.
You must have heard of or seen the term “smart hotel” in various places. What is it actually?
A smart hotel refers to the use of IOT devices and AI to streamline everyday operations and provide guests with seamless stay experiences.
In fact, a smart hotel is not only about the room itself; it represents the property as a whole.
The following are the 5 main characteristics that form an intelligent entity:
Let’s look at how smart hotel automation works in real life.
A smart hotel automation system involves a complicated architecture that goes through many stages.
On the other hand, automation is part of the guest journey, enabling a smooth check-in experience. This is how the flow looks in real hotel operations:
Indeed, smart automation can’t function without a property management system (PMS), which acts as the main board.
PMS allows your team to supervise and control the whole hotel operation on a centralized device simultaneously, enabling them to make decisions.
Now we’ll discover the key systems one by one.
When running a hotel business, it’s common to encounter certain issues, such as:
In reality, these actual issues caused by traditional keys gradually increase operational costs over time, affecting ROI.
Thus, smart hotel locks that feature RFID and mobile keys play a significant role in eliminating the friction.
The following are the advantages from a hotel and guest perspective.
Hotel operations:
Guest:
As a guest, it’s truly frustrating and time-consuming to wait in a long queue at the front desk to check in, especially due to staff shortages.
Plus, your staff even have to work late, because of late-night guest arrivals, causing them to feel fatigued, and lowering productivity.
Hence, self-check-in kiosks act as 24/7 assistants in the lobby, turning manual check-in processes into automated flows.
Here are the main core functions for kiosks:
Automation provided by kiosks guarantees a smooth check-in process and flexibility, enabling guests to check in at any time, even late at night.
Meanwhile, it frees up resources, allowing your staff to focus on offering personalized services that enhance guest satisfaction.
Picture a situation where the lights, AC, and music automatically turn on the moment a guest enters the hotel room.
In the meantime, the TV dashboard displays a personalized, warm welcome message for the guest, with his name on it.
Guests can customize the lighting, AC temperature, curtains, and music according to their preferences via a smart control dashboard and an AI voice assistant.
That said, the control dashboard must have simpler interfaces and a multilingual UX design suitable for international guests with easier operations.
In reality, did you know there are certain rules for guest personalization, such as remembering guest preferences?
The following rules are:
Presets： Predefined settings for systems, such as lighting, temperature, and window binds, that recognize specific user preferences and behavior patterns and adjust accordingly.
Occupancy-based behaviors: The system instantly switches off the lighting and switches on the HVAC energy-saving mode when the room is unoccupied.
Energy-saving logic: The system analyzes and recognizes weather forecasts and behavior to adjust the room temperature, optimizing energy consumption.
Every smart hotel has an advanced property management system (PMS) that functions as the ‘brain’.
The hotel management system is a unified platform that allows your team to monitor and control daily operations remotely without moving to the rooms.
From there, your staff can perform the following actions via the system:
As a result, the PMS helps with:
The main reason PMS is a core of smart hotels is that it syncs guest status, enabling the management team to check room readiness and perform check-in / check-out.
Let’s proceed with discussing the energy management, being one of the biggest wins.
Energy is a significant concern for hotels, being a major operating cost that should be managed.
Due to this reason, hotels need energy management systems (EMS), which are part of automation, to help optimize energy consumption.
Acting as a cutting-edge ‘central nervous system’, the EMS works through 4 steps:
Occupancy signals:
– The sensor detects guest movements in particular hotel rooms to make instant decisions.
– The EMS receives a signal to dim lights and reduce temperatures when the room is empty.
– The sensor turns on the HVAC when a guest enters.
Temperature setpoints:
– The EMS alters the temperature for cooling and heating, based on occupancy status, time, and zone.
– It calculates precisely when to start cooling or heating before guests enter the room.
Scheduling:
– The EMS utilizes an integrated master calendar system to trigger energy-saving actions.
– The system switches the room status to unoccupied mode to reduce energy waste after guests check out.
Zone control:
– The EMS system differentiates hotel locations into zones, equipped with controllers and sensors.
Indeed, energy savings come from controlling unoccupied guest rooms and optimizing common areas, especially during peak hours.
Rather than literally optimizing energy, it’s also essential to look at the report for insights.
Thus, monitoring energy patterns on a dashboard helps you spot trends and detect anomalies to make informed decisions.
As guests check out, housekeeping ensures guest rooms are clean and organized to prepare for the next check-in.
It’s the same for the maintenance routine to resolve any issues encountered by guests during their stay on time.
Because of that, hotels have to be more effective in capturing the precise room turnover time and issues, and coordinating with related departments.
That said, smart housekeeping and maintenance systems can assist with handling those tasks.
The system features smart automation, enabling the management to assign tasks to other departments based on staff availability and real-time room status.
That means housekeepers can instantly receive assignments, update room status, and report maintenance issues via apps.
On the other hand, the system creates tickets when guests report issues about their rooms. This allows the management team to act immediately, and the guests feel heard and valued.
As a result, the smart system guarantees a quick turnaround and response time, and fewer out-of-order guest rooms.
Physical security is one of the elements that modern guests care about the most, especially when it comes to their personal safety and belongings.
Hotels have to consider guests’ concerns by implementing preventive measures, as we all know, ‘prevention is better than cure’.
Here are the key components that build an enhanced security system:
Security surveillance camera (CCTV): Monitor the corridors’ surroundings 24/7 to detect suspicious or unauthorized entry.
Access logs: a clear record of audit trails of who, when, and which door is opened to track and investigate access.
Tamper alerts: The management team receives instant alerts when a stranger tries to enter a guest room without the registered key card.
Smart hotel applications are increasing worldwide, and many hotels are adopting smart hotel technologies.
Here are some common technologies that exist in the modern hospitality industry:
Room controls: the hotel AI assistant enables guests to customize their rooms, such as lighting and music, based on their moods and preferences.
Operations: The PMS features remote access and daily hotel operations management, allowing the staff to perform actions on a centralized dashboard.
Security: Features such as instant emergency alerts and CCTV provide peace of mind, enhancing guest confidence in staying at your hotel.
Analytics: The automation system uses AI to analyze guests’ in-room preferences and generate personalized services they value most.
The combination of the aspects creates a futuristic environment that enhances the overall guest experience while streamlining hotel operations with minimal effort.
In the past, it went through numerous steps for both guest journeys and hotel operations. But now, everything is fast and straight to the point with the smart system.
Here are the differences between smart and traditional operations:
Smart hotel | Traditional hotel | |
Check-in flow | Check in via self-check-in kiosks. | Register manually at the front desk. |
Key management | Use RFID cards and digital keys for mobile. | Physical metal keys and key cards. |
Staff workload | Reduced significantly; automation manages daily tasks (kiosks and smart room management system). | High; staff have to do repetitive administrative tasks. |
Incident handling | Responsive ticketing systems and temperature monitoring (HVAC alerts). | Guests have to call the front desk using the room’s telephone, and staff receive complaints manually. |
Energy usage | Automation systems optimize rooms’ temperature and lighting, ensuring sustainability. | Manual energy control by housekeeping and guests leads to higher energy waste. |
Guest personalization | Customized lighting scene, temperature, and music upon guests’ arrival. | Personalization is based on staff’s manual effort and memory. |
Reporting | Streamlined, real-time data analytics on the centralized property management system. | Physical, manual reports written by various departments. |
With proper planning, integration, and staff training for smart hotel system management, it will generate positive long-term results for guest comfort, ROI, and business operations.
The ROI your hotel can achieve isn’t merely about “cost saving” itself. It’s about efficient daily operations, enhanced guest experience, and flexible scalability.
Having a hotel property management system and network integration means no more long queues, physical key management, and staffing issues.
Interested in learning about the success brought by the smart hotel system? Take a small step further, and look at smart hotel automation system solutions today.
32 Pekin St #05-01 Singapore 048762.
+65 8758 0133
info@tricom-int.com
Copyright © Tricom International Pte Ltd. All rights reserved.
