SPONSOR’S COMMENT: SKY
Sky offers hoteliers a range of flexible products and solutions to serve and entertain their guests. Our breadth of channels in rooms gives guests the shows they know and love, from the award-winning Game of Thrones and Girls on Sky Atlantic to our 11 exclusive Sky Movies channels and seven dedicated Sky Sports channels showing live Barclays Premier League, Formula 1, NFL, International Test
be delivered free, whereas when the guest or conference requires more bandwidth, charge- able access plans can be tailored accordingly, delivering valuable revenues to the hotel.” Wi-Fi will become increasingly important as guest and property systems move to the cloud and connectivity improves. It is a false econ- omy to buy badly researched Wi-Fi. Yet organ- ising a quality, property-wide, secure Wi-Fi network is not easy. Smaller operators could consider using a consultant. Either way, hotel- iers need a proven supplier and partner. “Hotels should focus more on quality than on price,” advises Weldon. “In the long run, a quality solution from a quality provider will prove much better value.”
The percentage of budget you set aside for all this depends on your brand and size, so decide where your online and mobile strategy lies – is it with the IT department, operations, marketing or the financial director?
Series Cricket, European Rugby and popular programmes like Gillette Soccer Saturday. Guests can view the latest blockbusters,
family entertainment and sport – just as they can at home with their own Sky In-Room box and Sky Hotel remote, giving the full package of channels and in glorious high definition. You can also help increase dwell time
and sales in the bar with world-class sport, news and the best in music programming.
“If you have outside seating as a main feature, then you’d better get your mobile trans- action budget allocated,” says Minall. “If you are selling to a customer base aged under 40, get your act together fast. In retail, for instance, several smaller companies have created new roles such as directors of online strategy.” When it comes to your target market, mil- lennials are important. You can’t look at the future without considering how the behaviour and needs of young people will change it. An Aruba online survey in November 2013 shows GenMobile – workers aged 18 to 35 or defined by their reliance on the internet – increasingly expect connected mobile devices in their working lives and most prefer Wi-Fi over other forms of connectivity.
The older generation are increasingly using
tablets and technology too, especially to surf the web. “The lighter iPad mini was invented for two reasons: ordering in restaurants and
IN-ROOM ENTERTAINMENT TRENDS
Alison Dolan, deputy managing director of Sky Business, discusses in-room entertainment trends
What are hotel guests looking for? Guests’ expectations and demands are higher than ever. Nearly half of domestic hotel guests have Sky at home, according to a TNS study, generally alongside a large LCD or plasma screen with surround sound, and expect the same or better from their hotel stay. There are also more business travellers these days, of both sexes, frequently travelling alone. They expect good entertainment or movie content that they can watch in their hotel room without needing to download movies to their tablet or be expected to eat alone in a hotel bar to watch sport. Wi-Fi is also a key driver of hotel choice,
with business travellers rating it as the second most important in-room feature when choosing a hotel. A good Wi-Fi connection encourages guests to spend more time at their hotel, which can translate into additional revenue from the minibar, etc.
How do you advise hotels to budget to keep up with the pace of change? Spend should relate to what’s most important to a hotel. Hoteliers agree that guest satisfaction is their number one KPI, according to a TNS study, and in-room entertainment has a key role to play in this. The hotels getting their entertainment offering right are those that know the guest profile, have analysed the type of entertainment content they enjoy, and have tailored the in-room entertainment accordingly. There are packages that allow different room types to take different content packs. This helps hoteliers to boost business by offering a mix of live sport, entertainment and news to encourage longer stays and repeat visits.
Is it more about providing bandwidth for guests to stream their own content? Despite demand for Wi-Fi in hotel rooms, when it comes to TV entertainment, people want the convenience and quality that comes with watching on a large-screen television. The second biggest driver of watching TV on devices is to access premium content
that may not be available in the hotel room, according to a TNS hotel study.
What are the current trends in terms of hotel entertainment? TNS in-room hotel research shows that 65% of guests think a bespoke in-room TV service, with a full range of channels, should be offered. This increases to around 75% among business travellers and young adults. Offering live sport in communal spaces, such as a hotel bar, presents another key opportunity. Hoteliers can use it to help drive additional footfall by attracting non-residents. Our research shows that more than 60% of hotel guests aged between 18-34 believe it is important that Sky is available in the hotel bar and an Ipsos Mori OOH panel reveals nearly half (42%) of consumers will stay longer in a hotel bar when live sport is being shown.
What future initiatives are you looking at? One example is that we are working closely with TV manufacturers such as Samsung to integrate our services and reduce hardware costs.
Plus, Sky delivers reliable, efficient,
super-fast internet access throughout the hotel, backed by our many years of experience as the UK’s largest provider of public Wi-Fi. Meet guests’ online needs with Sky’s Wi-Fi service, powered by the Cloud. It’s all part of delivering the best experience for guests and driving revenue for the business.
for older people,” says Weldon. Even so, when it comes to payment apps, there is no need to alienate technophobes. “You will not damage your business if you have a multitude of payment providers,” says Minall. “Clearly, cash and credit cards are not going away completely.” However, he adds: “Take note that mobiles in Africa, where there are few hard-wired [cable-based] solutions, have taken 60% of banking and 65% of credit card and micropay- ment traffic. Huge mobile financial compa- nies such as M-Pesa are heading our way soon after a successful launch in Eastern Europe.”
What’s hot?
Stadiums are transforming business by using pre-ordering apps. Payment queues, product shortages or gluts can be mitigated using apps such as Powatag and asset management soft- ware such as Triple Jump.
6 | Technology Prospectus 2016
www.thecaterer.com
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