Possible IoT Applications in Hospitality Sector

The hospitality industry is developing really fast, which you’ve probably noticed by all the innovations, which can be found in hotel rooms, event spaces, restaurants, and even airport check-in counters. With this rapid development, the customers’ demands also increase and the Internet of Things (IoT) for the hospitality industry can become a solution to housekeeping requests and guest preferences.

Internet of Things technologies can tremendously revolutionize the hotel industry. Smart hotel solutions will automate inventory management and free up hotel staff time, allowing them to focus on more critical tasks. Connected devices will provide businesses in the hospitality industry with tons of data about how guests behave in their hotel rooms to provide them with all the necessary smart room customizations for a better customer experience. With IoT for hospitality industry, hotel owners can increase guest satisfaction and overall productivity.

With this in mind, there are a lot of IoT use cases in hospitality, which can improve:

• guest experience;
• cost-efficiency;
• energy consumption;
• housekeeping service;
• security.

Room Service

Room service is one of the most important parts of ensuring hotel guests’ satisfaction. Hoteliers can leverage the power of IoT in hospitality industry to provide personalized experiences and anticipate guests’ needs. The data collected can allow hoteliers to send automated personalized greetings to guests and set room preferences automatically. Using beacon technology and smartphone capabilities, hoteliers can enhance guest experiences. Read on to learn more about how IoT can make a difference in hotel service. IoT can reduce energy consumption and manpower costs while enhancing the guest experience.

By leveraging the IoT in hotels, hotel owners can increase guest satisfaction by anticipating their needs and providing a personalized experience. They can learn the preferences of their guests and adjust lighting, temperature, music, and TV streaming automatically. By combining smartphone capabilities with beacon technology and other sensors, they can help detect unusual performance and improve their service. This way, they can save money and time while delivering a better customer experience.

The IoT in hotels can be used to streamline processes, such as registering guests, control door locks, adjusting room’s features, and verifying room keys. IoT solutions for hospitality can help detect suspicious behavior and identify problems in operational efficiency. With smart room service supported by the Internet of Things technology, last-minute room shuffles and room scheduling can be realized through the online portal so both guests and staff are aware of any changes.

Lighting System

One example of a hotel using IoT applications is to automate the lighting all around IoT connected hotel environment. Using this technology, hotel executives can significantly minimize power costs. More and more hotels are implementing smart lighting, energy management systems, and other smart devices to turn off lights automatically when a guest leaves the room. Such automation can result in significant savings for smart hotels.

In addition to reducing energy costs, smart lights also offer many other benefits, such as allowing guests to control the brightness of their rooms through a mobile phone app and motion sensors using voice-controlled customer service. A hotel that uses IoT technology can reduce energy bills while ensuring that their guests are comfortable and even the pickiest guest’s preferences are satisfied.

Besides, smart solutions can be used for emergency lighting, so lights change color to red and blink when there is an emergency situation, fire or any other dangerous event occurred. What is more, wireless networks connection and lighting systems can be involved to show the way to the emergency exits, which can contribute to the hotel safety.

Gym Services

By advertising gym services, hotels can attract a new demographic to their facility. A healthy, green-conscious guest may be interested in taking part in an exercise class or renting an electric bike to visit nearby attractions. When smart hotels offer not just a basic stay but also recreational and sports activities, they gain much more popularity among their potential guest and visitors. An IoT smart hotel gym is one of the crucial needs in the hotel industry to be successful, and it’s imperative to make the customer experience memorable.

Hotel gyms are evolving from dark basements to bright rooms with modern fitness equipment. Along with this change, new professionals have emerged. One such new position includes “running concierge,” who is on call to help hotel guests run their regular workouts. The concierge can even give recommendations and accompany guests on a run. Providing guests with this service means they can remain healthy and happy. In fact, it’s not just a smart choice but also a very profitable decision since many guests will willingly pay more just to have a professional sportsman nearby.

IoT-connected devices highly influence the hospitality industry. IoT applications can help hoteliers improve customer satisfaction and operational costs by ensuring that their guests get the most personalized services possible. As for gym services, it will be reasonable to deploy smart thermostats since they can adjust temperature indoors depending on the heat increase or decrease. Smart thermostats can be connected to air conditioning systems as well to make temperature control in sports areas even easier.

Conference Rooms Scheduling

IoT smart hotels simplify stay for any kind of visitor, regardless of their interests, preferences, and aim of the trip. For example, many hotel visitors come for business purposes, so it’s really important for them to schedule meetings efficiently without any delays. Occupancy sensors can be really handy in this case as they allow visitors to check availability online and book a meeting room at a time suitable for them. Such IoT systems are really easy to use and are a great choice to simplify bookings of public areas in IoT hotel compared to the old-fashioned need to go to the front desk in order to make reservations.

Speaking about such scheduling devices, we can outline the TEKTELIC TEMPO Meeting Room Booking Solution, which monitors room occupancy, displays availability, and coordinates room bookings. It consists of a VIVID sensor, KONA Micro IoT Gateway, TEMPO display tablet, and application. TEMPO Meeting Room Booking Solution is an end-to-end solution working out of the box, so even a common hotel employee can deploy it. Besides, it integrates with Microsoft Outlook and Google Calendar, so you won’t need any additional programs to use it.

Security System

Hospitality businesses depend on security a lot since guest experience is correlated with guest services, staff politeness, and room safety. Guest rooms are always full of a lot of stuff, including some precious and expensive things, so it has to be protected. For this purpose, integrated IoT security devices such as smart room key systems, smart locks, mobile keys, and other devices enable to enter private spaces. When a smart room key is used to enter a hotel room, the possibility of theft or illegal entrance decreases significantly since smart locks use location-based information and door locks will not open if the location data of a guest doesn’t correspond to the key location. Real-time data collection, which becomes possible with active IoT projects in the hospitality industry makes hotel rooms safer, more comfortable, and customized.

Inventory Management

Any hotels are full of hotel equipment such as smart TVs, furniture, fitness equipment, supplies, and much other stuff. That is why asset-tracking technology can really be life-saving for the hospitality industry. IoT devices can help keep track of the inventory inflow and outflow as well as its distribution between rooms. For example, smart room customization can be much easier with IoT solutions since certain pieces of furniture or some smart TV can be tagged for a particular guest, so when they are back they have a customized room.

Speaking about IoT devices for asset tracking, we can offer you TEKTELIC SPARROW, which is an ideal choice for locating, tracking, and managing assets in different environments. It can operate even under high temperatures up to 60°C and that is why this device can be located in heating rooms or other warm places. Besides, SPARROW has a battery life of up to 5 years, making it a fair investment for an IoT hotel. It includes an accelerometer for event-based start-ups and integrates seamlessly with the TEKTELIC end-to-end IoT solutions, providing a comprehensive tracking experience.

Air Quality Monitoring

The use of IoT in travel and hospitality is one way to ensure the smooth running of equipment and appliances and improve efficiency. Since the recent COVID-19 pandemic, air quality monitoring is top of mind for all industries, involving people, including the hotel industry. Air quality monitoring can decrease airborne concentrations of SARS-CoV-2 and lower the overall viral dose to the occupants. Furthermore, guests today want assurances that their stay is as safe as possible, so applying a sensor for air quality monitoring will be a good idea not only in terms of safety but also in terms of comfort. In addition, most guests want to know that they are staying at a hotel or other type of facility that is environmentally responsible.

Air quality monitoring is possible with TEKTELIC BREEZE-D, which is comprised of a CO2 sensor and an E-Ink display, showing CO2 levels, humidity, temperature, light, and barometric air pressure. The display is fully wireless, so you can place it on your table, or mount it on the wall or ceiling. It is produced in two options BREEZE and BREEZE-V, where BREEZE-V has additional PIR for motion detection. This solution sends notification alerts as well, so you’ll be always updated on any changes in air quality.

Energy Management

By using IoT technology to monitor and control devices, hoteliers can dramatically cut energy bills and maintain a healthy environment for guests. IoT in hospitality industry has a “saving-money function” as well, especially if applied properly. One way to decrease energy costs in hospitality is by implementing low-power IoT devices. These devices can perform simple tasks and provide vital data to other systems. Using automated processes in the hospitality industry can help you lower your costs, enhance the guest experience, and improve the overall quality of the service. Additionally, automation, which the Internet of Things allows, can reduce the amount of labor required by employees, freeing them up to focus on the guest’s experience. What is more, with IoT in hospitality, hotels can improve their maintenance and repair processes, which also reduces expenses significantly, considering that planned repairs will not cause unexpected downtime and delays.

The most popular option here is that IoT-enabled devices can be tied to the thermostat and lighting systems. These devices can automatically turn lights off during unoccupied periods and adjust heating accordingly. By leveraging IoT, hotels can cut energy costs while delivering an unparalleled guest experience.

Summing up

There are quite a lot of benefits IoT deployments can bring to the hospitality sector. Some of them include location-based information, automated processes, labor, and energy cost savings. The Internet of Things technologies can improve energy efficiency, reduce operating costs, and create new revenue streams for hoteliers. The hospitality sector is not a pioneer in the adoption of IoT technologies but it is catching up really fast, considering the huge demand for connectivity and smart facilities. A growing trend of industrial revolution 4.0 demands investments in these technologies.

At the same time, the transition to IoT can be overwhelming for some businesses and they need a reliable partner, who will help and guide them to the world of IoT. TEKTELIC Communications can be such a partner because 13 years of experience in the IoT sector speaks louder than any words. With some preparation and the right resources, the transition to the Internet of Things will become an easy and seamless one. For more details and guidance, contact the TEKTELIC support team via email at info@tektelic.com.