The world of hotels used to be simple, or for the people that were employed in it at least. You had a reservations department, front desk, housekeeping and F&B
operation, and did not have to do much to get business in. Phones were ringing and the mailman delivered cheques and letters of customers requesting reservations. All you had to do was pick up the phone and enter the reservations.
For
customers however, it was rather complex. The internet did not exist, and you relied completely on a travel agency, guide or index book to inquire yourself, by
visit, mail, or
telephone call about the destination you were visiting. Travel was a big thing in its totality.
I remember doing a US road trip in 1996 with my father and brother and all we booked were our tickets to New York and a rental car. We drove from New York to Miami, to the opening of the Olympics in Atlanta, onto Chicago, Toronto and back down to New
York.
Every day around
4pm we would start looking out for a hotel, and during this trip, I started to realise what brand did. We did not have TripAdvisor on our
iPads, and were brave enough to even travel without a guidebook. But soon we realised that a Holiday Inn, or even a Super 8, stood for something. You could expect a clean room, a bar, restaurant, and some amenities. Even pricing became predictable
during the course of the road trip.
At our fingertips: 20 years on
It is 2015 now, and how things have changed. I would not think for a moment to walk
in to a hotel at
4pm, or even worry about hotels on a road trip. Instant access to room inventory, restaurant, things to do all with reviews on top of it means that you can rely on the work others have done to instantly secure a great experience. By now, I have
found my favourite sort order in any city on TripAdvisor and Booking.com. And guess what, I will do everything to stay away from some mainstream brands because the transparency of the internet has brought hidden gems right to my fingertips.
With Google Maps as navigation, I no longer need to look for the commercial signs at the highway exit to determine my choice.
Instead I can follow a complex set of navigational instructions on Google Maps to find this wonderful, owner-run, six-room guesthouse that has a 9.5 score on Booking.com.
Gone are the day of walking into the lobby and booking - now it's on the go ©Courtney Keating/iStock
Giving the smaller operators a chance
But why should this be any different for corporate travellers? Why should they rely on the negotiations that their companies have done? I have heard so many large companies reject individual
hotels, because they secured a worldwide deal with one brand. Travellers have become smart and know that a good deal is always out there. There are hotels that do their stinking best every day to fulfil the ultimate customer experience, usually
at half the price of what the company has bargained for with the big guys.
It's time for companies to give their employees better deals and better experiences. And those are usually not with a big brand. Ownership,
centralisation, management and distribution have fragmented the operation of chain operated hotels. Often the only reason one would stay in them is to achieve points in the loyalty programme.
New powers at play
Watch out for the big consumer players, such as Priceline, Expedia or Google enter the corporate travel space, as it will change the way that people make their reservations while at their workspace. Have you tried out the new Google Flights?
It has been integrated in the total Google experience so it knows who you are, understands what you are looking for and provides better alternatives than I have ever seen before on both cost and route.
In the next couple of years, the hotel industry will see different powers at play. Power will be back with ownership and new tools will be provided to them to execute a successful return on investment. Owners need to focus on creating unique, customer-centric
experiences or accept that home sharing becomes real competition. This has started to happen today already. In all my last trips, I managed to find a local, unique experience, worth tweeting and updating on Facebook about. From Shanghai to South Africa
or New York City, to the UK and Greece, the world is full of hidden treasures and someone is capitalising on it.
If that is the status quo of today, what will happen in the future? We have now TripAdvisor, Booking.com and Expedia that rule the hotel marketing space. But what about Amazon, Google or Alibaba? Chinese consumers are wiring their salaries straight to
Alipay, and buy everything from that. There are 'Dash' buttons on washing machines in the US, that will auto order your next box of 'Dash' washing powder from Amazon by pushing it.
It is a matter of time for these giants, which have already impacted our daily lives and will impact much more in the future, to walk into the travel space. I urge everyone to think about what will be your 'Kodak moment' and see what your purpose is after
these events have taken place. Retailers need to rethink their purpose if not too late already. So do taxi drivers as they are not sure what percentage of revenue Uber will charge in five years. And so do hoteliers, hotel brands and corporate travel
managers.
Let's all stay very customer focused. We need to find out what is the next new level the customer expects us to operate at and be open to change for it. The
consumerisation of our industry has started and will only accelerate faster. Are you ready for it?