Innovation will lead hotel brands’ futures development

The future of the hotel industry will lean on increased simplicity and a decluttered experience across the entire guest journey, according to sources speaking at the recent International Hotel Investment Forum.

“It will be about providing everything you need and nothing you do not,” said Sharan Pasricha, founder and CEO of Ennismore Capital. “Have less tech in the bedroom, and instead focus on knowing the customer journey. Where you stay today says a lot more about you than it did 10 years ago.”

In a panel titled “Sharing thoughts on the future of hospitality” Markus Lehnert, regional VP of international hotel development for Marriott International, said the right approach in gaining simplicity and also providing a meaningful experience starts with recruitment and training.

“Those small touchpoints inside the hotel will remain the future of our industry,” he said.

But it’s too easy to lose sight of that, said Amar Lalvani, CEO and managing partner of Standard International.

“Some companies think they need to do technology, and so it becomes a focus,” he said.

Lalvani railed against platforms that contain too many choices.

“Proud to have 500,000 hotels on a platform? No! Give me the best 10 in a city and the promise of the lowest price and if you trust us as curators,” he said.

Lalvani added Standard started the “rather cheekily named app One Night Standard.”

“We saw no one booked after 3 p.m., but with the new app they did, and it was a lot of locals, who decided to have staycations or because they were having a night out,” he said.

Jay Stein, CEO of the Dream Hotel Group, said simplicity might see a continued increase in soft brands, and not imposing all of a company’s rules and brand standards if they do not make sense.

“(Hotels) have to make sense to those individual markets,” he said. “F&B we may run it ourselves, or ask others in. … Whoever is killing it in that particular market, with some form of management contract, with some off the top and some percentage off the bottom.”