There is no longer any doubt about the power that mobile devices play on society today, wether it is staying or travelling.

There is no way around this development anymore! The questions now are whether the travel industry is really prepared for this and whether it can keep up with the ever developing mobile-trends and complex customer-types but still provide a modicum of privacy during the consumer's online experience.

ITB-Berlin invited five experts to share their experiences with digital mobility as well as their vision of the future in it. Andreas Erlemann, Manageing Director of Zenith Hospitality Solutions, confirmed that the complexity of guest diversity makes developing appropriate technologies equally complex.

"Guests have situation-based needs and no single need can be fulfilled through one single technology. An effective working symbiosis between web, mobile and face-to-face needs to be found," he said – adding that privacy issues will eventually need to be addressed more seriously.



How can travel industry adjust to mobile traveller's habit? Panelists Caroline Brauer, Michael Hucho, Susanne Fittkau, Dr Bernd Fauser, Andreas Erlemann (left to right)

Michael Hucho, of the Accor Hotel Group in Germany feels that his chain of hotels is very "fit" in reacting to the ever-changing mobile trends of today. He has recognized that his guests are getting "restless and unpredictable" and that management needs to keep on its toes, if it expects to hold on to its customer base as well as win over new clients.

Hucho recognizes that hotels face a much bigger challenge than do airlines. "Airlines offer one primary service which generally only lasts for a rather brief moment in the traveling experience. Hotels, on the other hand, have to be ready to supply an all-around service to an entirely unpredictable, heterogeneous clientele – both physically and virtually, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week!"

Accor distinguish between "relaxed" and "mobile" user

Because "nothing is definitive," Hucho said that the Accor Group will continue using a multi-strategy. "Regardless of the digital developments there still remain two kinds of clients: the relaxed client who wants to be inspired and the mobile user who wants a quick and stress-free experience, at any hour of the day. Guests have situation-based needs and many needs are still being booked via varying means – web, mobile, face-to-face, Hucho said.

Customer recognition at some level is extremely important and the CRS, the central reservation system remains the main client-based contact form – the essential technology requirement for managing basic customer recognition strategies. Nevertheless, Hucho does not see a hotel as a technology firm, per se, as does Dr Bernd Fauser of Google Travel, as far as developing this and other technologies go.

Fauser called hotels "businesses which coincidentally sell rooms." He sees them as technology corporations that need to be much more involved in the technological business. Michael Hucho disagreed – pointing out that technology cannot supply either food or a comfortable pillow.

Smaller hotels have to cope with huge technical challenges

"Eventually, we will also be able to come home to a filled refrigerator," Caroline Brauer, an expert on online sales of hotel rooms through all electronic distribution channels, said, adding that that such online interactivity is a technology that is still several years away.

Both she and Hucho agreed that a hotel's involvement in technological developments was essential. "But as a hotel, we should only concentrate on brand-management, distribution and franchising," Hucho said. "In the background, we will have a strong technology-savvy partner who is better at making sure we do not trip over the cables," he said, underlining that responsibilities need to be shared.

Accor is a conglomerate which can afford to build up its technological presence. Hucho himself wonders how smaller hotels will manage.

Caroline Brauer recognizes the strengths that brand-names and hotel chains possess, but highlighted that they are being faced with difficult challenges, nevertheless. What concerns her more, however, is investigating ways in which the smaller players will be able to dock themselves effectively in the continuing technological revolution.

Mobile generation already relies on 24/7 services

"Mobile is the future. Perhaps it is not yet developed enough to fill the fridge. But eventually that will happen too. Each year, mobile usage increases at rates we would one thought unimaginable. The mobile generation requires that they can book 24/7. Suppliers who are not available when a client wants to make a booking will lose potential business. This is the biggest challenge facing small, family owned hotels, Susanne Fittkau, Managing Director Fittkau & Mass Consulting, an internet market research company, said, in response.

Dr Fauser sees the digital revolution more a "chance to develop new ways" than a 'challenge', especially for the smaller businesses. He knows that most of the people do not want the same things all of the time. For this reason, he played down the effectiveness of apps and websites, calling them "effective only when you already know what you want."

Fauser is convinced that only the all-around-internet-experience can lead us to what we are looking for, online – "whether it's the well known hotel-brand or that unknown family-run place, around the corner."

Online presence alone does not guarantee bookings

Perhaps the all-around, online, multi-media experience, the way Google has been proposing it to consumers over the past few years, will eventually be the only way for people to be led towards making the "right" travel choice – the "tailor made" experience.

Fauser's argument is certainly plausible. A consumer's tailor-made choice, however, probably won't work until all small businesses join the digital bandwagon and get talked about online - including those bungalow accommodations located at the far corners of the world.

Online presence, however, does not guarantee being found at all, unless, as Fauser arguments, the consumer already knows what he is looking for in advance.
 
Google's future scenario might scare people away

Thus, solutions will need to be developed so that the no-name providers will have a chance at being boosted up in online-search-rankings as do the big brands.

"Knowing what clients want and when they want it makes our value-added-processes imperative," Fauser said.

Online presence does erode the private-sphere. It also leads masses of people to those romantic secret sites.

Google's propositions for how a mobile future might look could scare people away, eventually. The question of whether people are really willing to live in this ever-growing 'Big Brother' society was downplayed at this and other ITB discussions.

According to Google, "Terminator is coming"

Except for Michael Hucho, who made no qualms about waving the Google-banner, it's no wonder that none of the other panelists seemed completely at ease with Dr Fauser's defense of digital, multimedia developments after he used "Terminator" to describe our immediate future.

"'Terminator' is not science fiction anymore. It is coming," Dr Fauser concluded – admitting that even Google's new mobile device, set to come on the market later this year, "will pose a lot of new challenges in our society."

For Andreas Erlemann, the biggest challenge will be to integrate the needs of users who want to be anonymous and those who do not mind being an open book.

This is strictly an exclusive feature, reprints of this article in any shape or form without prior written approval from 4Hoteliers.com is not permitted.

Roland Wildberg is Travel Writer and Correspondent based in Berlin, Germany. He started as an Editor for the National daily 'Die Welt' (tourism section), later on switched to a freelanced career and nowadays mainly publishes on the Web. Observing the hospitality industry always has fascinated him as it looks like the perfect combination of sleeping and writing – work-live-balance as its best.

Roland also heads the annual 4Hoteliers ITB Berlin news micro-site journalist and video/photo teams for the 5th consecutive years.