Post by High Priestess on Nov 13, 2015 16:09:19 GMT
SEe this article in Canadian
www.canadianbusiness.com/innovation/four-seasons-vs-airbnb/
There was a time, less than a decade ago, when a clever concierge could impress hotel guests with a bit of foresight—maybe hold a dinner reservation for them on a busy night when their flight gets in late or have a taxi waiting before they’ve requested it. This level of service has always been one of the defining traits of Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, but even CEO Allen Smith admits it’s no longer enough.
“Guests now expect you’ll be able to anticipate what they want,” he says. He points to services like Apple Music and Amazon, which know what customers will like before they even know it themselves. Consumers have become accustomed to this kind of personalized algorithmic assistance in their lives, Smith says. (Four Seasons has adapted by offering an app that will soon let guests log customized personal preferences, from room temperature to pillow firmness.)
But that’s not all hotel customers have grown accustomed to. According to a recent report by Skift, a travel industry intelligence firm, today’s luxury travellers are looking for more than rest and relaxation—they want “inspiration, a sense of personalization and a drive toward self-discovery.” Whether it’s a wine tour in California or a manta ray petting safari in Bora Bora, guests want to immerse themselves in new experiences. Back in the day, merely staying at a Four Seasons was a signal to the world that you were fully self-actualized, that you wanted for nothing. Now the chain must offer its guests not just exquisite food and high thread counts but personal fulfillment, too.
And if it doesn’t, someone else will. The five-star hospitality business, once the domain of a few select brands, is teeming with new competitors. What’s more, the sharing economy, with Airbnb as its poster child, is growing fast—and going glam. “There’s long been a sense that the sharing economy is not for the luxury traveller,” says Skift’s Greg Oates. “That’s no longer true. The sharing economy is now a threat to luxury hotels.”
www.canadianbusiness.com/innovation/four-seasons-vs-airbnb/
There was a time, less than a decade ago, when a clever concierge could impress hotel guests with a bit of foresight—maybe hold a dinner reservation for them on a busy night when their flight gets in late or have a taxi waiting before they’ve requested it. This level of service has always been one of the defining traits of Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, but even CEO Allen Smith admits it’s no longer enough.
“Guests now expect you’ll be able to anticipate what they want,” he says. He points to services like Apple Music and Amazon, which know what customers will like before they even know it themselves. Consumers have become accustomed to this kind of personalized algorithmic assistance in their lives, Smith says. (Four Seasons has adapted by offering an app that will soon let guests log customized personal preferences, from room temperature to pillow firmness.)
But that’s not all hotel customers have grown accustomed to. According to a recent report by Skift, a travel industry intelligence firm, today’s luxury travellers are looking for more than rest and relaxation—they want “inspiration, a sense of personalization and a drive toward self-discovery.” Whether it’s a wine tour in California or a manta ray petting safari in Bora Bora, guests want to immerse themselves in new experiences. Back in the day, merely staying at a Four Seasons was a signal to the world that you were fully self-actualized, that you wanted for nothing. Now the chain must offer its guests not just exquisite food and high thread counts but personal fulfillment, too.
And if it doesn’t, someone else will. The five-star hospitality business, once the domain of a few select brands, is teeming with new competitors. What’s more, the sharing economy, with Airbnb as its poster child, is growing fast—and going glam. “There’s long been a sense that the sharing economy is not for the luxury traveller,” says Skift’s Greg Oates. “That’s no longer true. The sharing economy is now a threat to luxury hotels.”