(a) To: The Board of HiLite
From: Senior business analyst
Date: XX/12/20X8
The impact of disruptive technologies on HiLite
Introduction
The following report will evaluate the potential strategic impact on HiLite of the disruptive technologies which are emerging in the hotel industry, and will consider the range of technologies emerging in the industry and the likely impact they could have on HiLite. The report will also highlight a number of potential applications of disruptive technologies which HiLite may consider implementing.
The emergence of disruptive technologies
A disruptive technology is a new emerging technology which unexpectedly displaces an established one with the outcome of ‘re-shaping’ that industry, or indeed, creating a new one. Today’s hotel customer is looking for a more unique and personal experience, valuing variety, choice and individuality, which disruptive technologies are attempting to address.
So, what can we do to protect ourselves against disruptive technologies, and attract guests to stay in one of our HiLite hotels? The answer would seem to be to offer a more personal, individual unique service and experience, matching customers’ budgets and spending patterns. The use of disruptive technologies may help us move some way towards achieving this, or if we choose to ignore this development, may in fact be a considerable competitive threat to our future.
The comments made by the sales and marketingdirector, that the concept of a hotel is under threat, may be considered to be somewhat pessimistic, but her overall assessment of the growth and emergence of disruptive technologies must be taken seriously by the board. It is unlikely to be an issue which will simply ‘blow over’, as suggested by one of the board members.
The challenges posed by disruptive technologies
As discussions at the recent board meeting highlighted, there have never been more alternatives to staying in a ‘traditional’hotel, such as ours. Online accommodation providers, such as ‘Rent-a-Room’ and perhaps more importantly, access to such a wide range of alternative accommodation provision options through the internet, has never been easier or more convenient for customers.
Disruptive technologies such as ‘Rent-a-Room’ are a real threat to HiLite and the comments made by the operations director at the recent board meeting should be challenged. The belief that the threat is an ‘if’ rather than a ‘when’ is indeed incorrect and likely to be dangerous to our long-term existence, as clearly Rent-a-Room is already a present and growing threat to us.
There is clearly no ‘if’ as to the emergence of disruptive technologies and therefore this is a threat we must address. We simply cannot wait for it to go away. This is evidenced by the Hotel Industry Report for 20X8 which points to the changing competitive dynamics as one of the main challenges for the hotel industry for 2019 and beyond.
Flexibility
The hosts advertising with Rent-a-Room have the flexibility to be able to offer a wide range of services, such as individually tailored breakfast requirements, local on-site knowledge to offer up to the minute recommendations for highlights of the city, or providing introductions to local contacts which can get customers the best up to the minute offers.
This provides guests with a far more customer-focused and individualised service than a ‘homogeneous’ service provider like HiLite could ever hope to successfully or economically provide.
In addition, the majority of hosts in this online ‘space-sharing’ environment, are likely to have high speed internet and web-movies for their own use, so those benefits can automatically be included in the price to guests, which is often considerably less than a hotel room, due to the significantly lower overheads incurred by host providers.
Therefore, these alternative hosts are not only challenging us on product offering, but more importantly, on price. As we are a low-price focus business, our whole basis of competitive advantage is being challenged by disruptive technologies.
Wider choice of product offerings
The comments made by the finance director at the recent board meeting demonstrate a clear and realistic understanding of the challenges faced by HiLite from disruptive technologies. We must not be complacent and think that our customers will be satisfied with what we offer and will not be tempted by the offerings of disruptive technologies. We must be aware that disruptive technologies such as Rent-a-Room can create some novel product offerings and as the number of these offerings grow and the choice becomes wider, the more the traditional mainstream hotel user will be tempted to try out these offerings.
Personalisation
For a homogeneous product offering such as ours, we are likely to face significant challenges in being able to personalise
our customer experiences. For Rent-a-Room hosts, personalisation of customer experience is significantly easier, as they are only dealing with one customer at a time, making the process straightforward. However, HiLite manages 46,000 hotel rooms across 510 hotels, meaning that personalisation of customer offerings is not only likely to be logistically difficult but also very expensive. Our hotels run with low levels of staff, albeit staff who are highly trained in customer services, but offering such high levels of personalisation will be a significant challenge.
Smartphone technology
Disruptive technologies do not only take the form of alternative product offerings such as Rent-a-Room. The use of smartphone applications in a range of ways from customisation through to door entry technology is a major development in the industry and one which we must consider. Although it is evident that customers are demanding greater flexibility, we would be faced with considerable obstacles if we changed the customer check-in process, to enable greater customer flexibility through smartphone technology. New software would need to be installed to manage the secure interface with customer smartphone apps with our hotel property management system, bringing with this the risk of data corruption and external systems access threats. The cost would also be significant.
There is also the problem of universal access for all of our customers, as many may not use smartphone technology.
Implementing new door entry technology will also be expensive with the need for multiple entry and access systems including smartphone access and key card access. Managing multiple access methods adds unnecessary operational complexity for us which is likely to be a major barrier.
Potential for application of disruptive technologies by HiLite
However, we could consider some less expensive adaptations of disruptive technologies. There are opportunities for personalisation in the form of smartphone apps capable of providing information to guests throughout their stay in a destination,giving us the opportunity to enhance the guests’ experience – such as local weather reports, local events and ticket offerings and also restaurant, theatre or other visitor attraction booking facilities through third party channels close to our hotels.
We could also offer advance booking facilities to local gyms or sporting events which are taking place nearby. Overall, we should look into the possibility of offering an online and mobile interactive concierge facility for our guests which provides the facility to book rooms, extra services and personal experiences unique to them, on the move.
This could be a starting point for HiLite to move into a more personalised service which moves us some way towards addressing the threats of the disruptive technologies in the hotel industry. However, much more work and evaluation of this threat must be done on an on-going basis. It can no longer be ignored.
Conclusion
Disruptive technologies present significant challenges to our business. As stated, we can no longer simply offer hotel rooms to our guests – we need to become a relevant focal point for destination experiences and tailor our offerings to more individual customer needs. This will be a significant challenge to us and one which we simply cannot ignore.
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