Hotels: The Crucibles Of Beacon Innovation?

One of the many obstacles facing widespread beacon implementation remains consumer opt-in. In an age when government surveillance has shed its kindly veneer, the thought of retailers digging around in consumers’ smartphones is just too much for the average shopper to comfortably bear. Sure, everyone likes deals and discounts regardless of how they’re delivered, but if beacons are going to become the ubiquitous tool that in-store retailers want them to be, consumers need to be ready and wholly consent to the experience.

In one area, that kind of buy-in with beacons and location-based marketing is already happening: hotels.

Hospitality Net reported that 2015 saw both Marriott and Starwood Hotels test beacon networks out 14 and 30 lodgings, respectively, across the country. While some programs delivered targeted offers to hotel guests on the move – for example, a coupon for a spa treatment as they pass through a geofence near the hotel’s fitness center – or updates on specials for restaurants in or near the facilities. In a stunning show of how beacons can integrate seamlessly with consumers’ hotel experiences, some locations even used location-aware notifications to alert housekeeping staff when guests had left their rooms, giving them a digital all-clear instead of wasting time and making noise knocking on every door in the hallway.

The unique role beacons can play in the hospitality industry – one where even the average consumer expects his or her every need to be catered to – has led more than the giant hotel chains to look into how a more high-tech experience can help them deliver a better class of service to guests. Ingvar Herland, group general manager of research and technology at The Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels Limited, owner of several high-class hotels in the Southeast Asian area, told T3 that clever beacon implementation has helped his organization usher in a new age of tech-enabled customer service, including soon-to-come location-aware, drone-based drink delivery.

“There is a huge competitive advantage of spending money on technology,” Herland said. “ … With beacons, the [guest’s] tablet will understand that you’ve moved rooms, so [it] will control the lighting as well as the entertainment system. You could use beacons to guide a drone to deliver the drink!”

This kind of disruptive introduction to how beacons can change the service industry does run the risk of being jarring for certain hotel guests, but it might serve as a true blessing in disguise for the rest of retail. Consumer opinions on opting into beacon programs have remained fairly low, despite more merchants willing to jump on board, and the Harvard Business Review explained that a degree of this can be chalked up to most consumers simply not knowing what beacons can do. Instead of letting the shopping public lump this technology into other, more familiar invasive Web add-ons like cookies and spyware, drawing a digital velvet curtain with beacons around connected consumers could be a type of “shock and awe” approach to beacon self-promotion.

And though beacons still have a long race to run, hotels and resorts may be some of the few places consumers are willing to trade some digital privacy for the promised return of a more luxurious experience. After all, travelers already show they’re willing to trade massive dollar amounts for a decadent experience of being looked after in every way imaginable. Moreover, travelers in strange cities are more likely to rely on their smartphones and location-aware notifications to guide them as they go between their rooms and conference centers for work or restaurants and entertainment venues for leisure.

If hotels can show that opting into a beacon program can improve that experience still – at no further cost – it should be an easy sell to a captive audience that’s happy to be pampered – physically and digitally.