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Cornell Insights HSMM November 5, 2007 | HoielMotel.com
www.HotelMotel.com/digitaljsIN THE d e t a i l si n dex measu res
read i nes s Demographics are related Report analyzes travelers
Examine your guest p rofile
By GlennWrthiam
H&MM
L o v e i t o r h a te i t , t e c h n o lo g y d i f f e r e n
t ia t e sT he hotel industry con-stantiy iooks for ways touse
technology to p ro-vide better service to guests and,not
incidentally, to find waysto improve revenue. In an earli-er day,
hotel technt>logical im-provements included pipingchilled water
and AM radio sig-nals into guestrooms. Thoughhotels have moved far
beyond
such humble innovations, onefactor rem ains constant:
guests'reaction to teclinology.
Aithough we teil ourselvesthat our guests demand the iat-est in
computer-based gadgets,the fact is that not all guests
arecomfortable with technologicalchanges, whether in the lobby,in
the guestroom or when theyare trying to book a room . As it
turns out. the extent to whichyour guests embrace technologyin
their pers onal lives provides astraightforward way to
differen-tiate those guests on a ntimber ofother dimensions.The
tool for creating mar-ket segments based on guests' re-action to
technology is calledthe Technology Readiness In-dex. As explained
in a new re-
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port from the Corneil Uni-versity Center for HospitaliResearch,
theT Rl is a relatisimple, 10-item survey thatcould ask guests to
complettheir spare time, perhaps inof a satisfaction card or as a
cial request by your front-deassociates.
Th e 7R I gauges guests'of technology on fourdimesions:
optimism, innovativeness, discomfort and insecuWe usually think of
technogy-focused individuals in teof their willingness to
intio-vate, but the research behinTR I also measures the extewhich
people believe that tenology helps impr ove their l(optimism ).
Against that scarc measures of whether people feel befuddled by
technoogy (discomfort) and wheththey simply don t trust techlogical
devices to work co rre(insecurity).
Ifyou're a fan of technolgy, you can download this ralong with
the TRI questiofrom the center's web site {ccomeU.edu).
Most obviously, ;is a hotemanager, you need to consiyour guests'
possible reactioany technology-based additto your service
package.
If it turns out that youtguests don't appreciate tech nlogical
innovations, you canyourmoney rather than instself check-in kiosks
or in-roWiFi.
According to this idea, htels can differentiate themseusing
technology to attract quent travelers who are wiiito pay upscale
room rates.
With the many product now in the hotel industry, hteis can
prosper whether thecus on upscaie, technology-ling guests or on
budge t-mintechnology-anxious guests.
Th e key is to know whicgroup frequents your hotel bfore you
spend the money fothe next big technologicalintiovation.
teGlenn Withiam directs publiat Th e Center or
HospitalityResearch at the Cornell UnivSchool of Hotel
Administratiocan be reachedatgrw4@come
