| | 8 TRAVEL AND HOSPITALITY TECH OUTLOOKJUNE 2023IN MYOPINIONTHE FUTURE OF MODERN LUXURY: NEW CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR HOTEL MANAGERSBy Danier Bouza, MBA/MRP and Global Director, Arrivia TravelReimagining the Luxury SegmentDiscerning travelers understand that true luxury is boundless. On one hand, it is sophisticated, extravagant, and opulent, yet it is also relaxed, effortless, and unpretentious. As hoteliers increasingly face unprecedented demand for luxury accommodations, balancing it with higher operational costs and reduced staffing remains a formidable task. Historical rates for luxury properties have ranged from the mid-$200s to over USD 1,000 per night for entry-level rooms; however, in the post-Covid era, hotels have set record ADR compared to the same period in 2019. Whilst consumers may be willing to pay higher premiums, they will not accept lower standards, especially during longer stays at destinations that require long-haul travel. Basic amenities and services, including room service, plush bathroom amenities, and skilled staff that can quickly solve problems shall never be overlooked as key elements of a luxury hotel's DNA. To reimagine the luxury segment, we must develop an immersive approach that integrates traditional high-end offerings with user-friendly tools and applications that will enable guests to navigate through a hotel or resort's experience roadmap without requiring additional staff. These may include interactive in-room televisions that allow guests to view menus and place room service orders, and mobile apps that facilitate spa or restaurant reservations on-demand, suggest local tours, request additional toiletries, et al., regardless of whether the guest is on-site or elsewhere. Today, more and more affluent travelers are working remotely. Companies have learned that top talent demands flexibility and hotels can take advantage of this by better tailoring technology-driven customizations to guests. Moreover, instead of learning about specific customer needs at check-in, hotels should consider short pre-arrival surveys to collect their guests' primary preferences well before they even arrive. At luxury properties with unique room types, certain guests may seek a specific location and/or feature that would only be available in mid-tier room classes, and hence, upgrading them to a higher room category with a significantly different layout may not be necessary and can lead to guest dissatisfaction. By investing in both the pre-arrival and in-house guest experience, luxury hotels will deliver great value to their guests through intuitive and personalized service. Loyalty DevaluationsBetween 2021 and 2022, the loyalty devaluations of global hotel chains imbued contradictory strategies. Guests must now study complex charts just to acquire a basic knowledge of how the new, or more realistically, modified benefits vary by brand, as a result of the most severe devaluations. Redemptions at luxury properties may cost up to ten times those of mid-range hotels since more hotel chains are using To reimagine the luxury segment, we must develop an immersive approach that integrates traditional high-end offerings with user-friendly tools and applications that will enable guests to navigate through a hotel or resort's experience roadmap without requiring additional staff
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