UNFOLD: Ahead of Mews Unfold 2023, our CEO, Matt Welle and Founder, Richard Valtr, explore the latest challenges and changes to hospitality.

 

What is the new standard in hospitality? What would you like to see challenged and why?
 

Matt: Today, there is such a huge opportunity for hoteliers to truly explore and rethink the way they want to appeal to a diverse and eclectic guest. In the past, many hotels have opened without a real sense or thought about what it’s niche can be, and not really thinking beyond a bed in a room.

The modern-day guest is expectant of so much more.

A great example of this is the ‘business’ traveler. Traditionally, the choice for the business traveler was all about one thing, the location! But, increasingly business travel isn’t tied to a specific location, but moreover a great place to work and experience a new place.

I often find myself in hotels thinking: I don't want to sit in that lobby. That space isn't built for me to co-work, and the coffee is bad, so I end up going to rival establishment with a better workspace and, more importantly, better coffee.

Properties can provide so much more with their spaces, to not only improve upon the experience for the guest, but also create more revenue opportunities beyond that ‘head in a bed’.

Richard: For me, we really need to challenge the idea of what a hotel is, what that space can be, and what purpose it serves. What today's travelers and consumers really want is a deep connection with the place that they're calling home for the length of their stay.

What has happened over the last hundred years or so is that we've become very, very good at professionalizing the hospitality service. Unknowingly, we've done ourselves a bit of an injustice as an industry, through that professionalism, we’ve lost the ability to be truly hospitable and personalized to every guest that crosses the threshold.

Going further still, travelers become communities bought together by the shared experiences they have with a property. People want to feel a part of something, connected to something, if they return once a quarter, once a year, or even once every ten years. Guests want to relive experiences and meet some of the people they connected with before, again.

Hoteliers need to think about how to use their spaces to best serve this community. It's less time thinking about the property per se, but instead actually thinking about the standard of the service that you offer.

We need to shift from a mindset that focuses on operational standardization and control, which is becoming much easier through automation. After all, this is only one side of the automation coin; we should spend more time thinking about how this automation can connect a myriad of different systems, and ultimately enable hotel staff to provide the ultimate guest experience.

Ream more...this interview is published in hospitalitynet.org