A new survey has found that hotel guests’ expectations around using voice technology in rooms are on the rise. A survey conducted by Rabbit & Pork found that in 5-years-time there will be a 71% increase in expectations that a hotel room will have a voice-enabled smart speaker alongside established hotel technology such as TV’s.
Many consumers are already accustomed to Smart Speakers in their household, with 72% of respondents stating they are currently using a voice assistant at home. This has reduced the barrier to adoption of new technology in a different environment such as hotel rooms. So how can this be of benefit to the hospitality industry?
Due to the effects of Covid-19, in December 2021 there were 14.8% less staff than December 2019* within the hospitality industry. Staffing concerns will remain a challenge for hotels to fully recover. The solution of using voice technology allows the hospitality sector to deploy voice assistant capabilities at scale. This can simplify tasks for guests like calling the front desk, ordering room service, controlling in-room temperature, and even checking out, which minimizes the use of in-person staff.
Rabbit and Pork wanted to find out more about the consumer preferences and desires for voice technology within hospitality. They surveyed 400 people across the UK and France to draw out key insights.
71% of respondents expect there to be modern technology in their hotel room if they stay at a good hotel
With voice technology becoming more commonplace in our lives, this will be expected to be built into our customer experience.
55% of respondents are interested in having a Smart Speaker with built-in Voice Assistant in their hotel room
The main question is, how will hotel guests use voice assistants?
As consumers come to expect voice technology as part of their hotel experience, and hotels begin to adopt voice into their technology stack, we can identify various uses for voice technology in hospitality. As the survey conducted by Rabbit and Pork demonstrates, customers are interested in utilising voice for several functions including booking restaurants, checking out and listening to music.
Survey question: if you were in a hotel room which included a Smart Speaker with an in-built Voice Assistant (such as Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant), what would you be interested in using this device for?
On top of improving customer experience, these functions provide critical support to hotel staff and facilitate opportunities for revenue for generation of hotels. Voice technology can augment staff capabilities, creating operational efficiencies that free up time usually used to perform repetitive simple tasks.
The adoption of this technology is increasing in the UK and France. According to the data, in the near future consumers will start to expect an immersive experience in their hotel rooms using voice technology.
Rabbit & Pork is an Alexa Smart Properties Solution Provider. To find out how you can implement voice technology in your hospitality experience, reach out to the Rabbit and Pork team here.
Read the full Whitepaper and Survey findings here.