Hospitality and Tourism Technology and Innovation .

EDX
CaaTurismo – 30/03/2017
Does a hotel should or should not offer two-way chat functionality in real time between the hotel
and the guests?

Now a day’s technology plays, in everyday life, as a facilitator tool that allows people all over
the world to do thing more efficiently, fast, and easer. In tourism and particularly in the hospitality
business this is no exception. As stated by Professor Buhalis (2008) “more and more individuals
apply technology in the whole travel process, due to the advancement of search engines, carrying
capacity, and network speed”.

The simplification of the use of this tools, either through web pages or through certain apps,
has allow more and more people to connect with the technological advancements. As stated by
Wang & Fesenmaier (2014) the adoptment of smartphones, which has extent wieldy in people lives
in the last years, has allowed costumers to use their personal portable platforms during their trips,
because the “uncertainty and limited access to computers”. This accessibility allowed the new
travelers to be empowered by the Internet that gives them the possibility to have more information,
and options from various sources as well as the possibility to connect with anyone, anywhere at any
time (Gretzel, Fesenmaier, & O'Leary, 2008).

On the other hand, technology has given to the managers of business the ability to improve
quality and products, and to create a more personalized offer of services and products to each guest
or costumer, achieving with this, a more satisfactory experience in almost every case. Also, it has
create a wider reach for the marketing areas to touch more possible costumers and to create new
way of approaching them. As found by Cohen & Olsen (2013) “higher performing hospitality
establishments have highly satisfied employees and superior IT resources. Complementary tangible
and intangible IT resources can enhance the hospitality working environment by increasing
employee satisfaction and competence, and improving customer service outcomes and competitive
performance.”

Inside the hotel businesses, revenues and performance are generated by costumer’s
satisfaction, in which a quality service plays a crucial role. As stated by Rauch, Dwain et.al. (2015)
“service quality is important in hotels, as it is directly related to guest satisfaction, customer loyalty
and profitability” so it has to be one of the most important priorities of any owner or manager, an
capacitation is, with no doubt, one of the more efficient ways to achieve quality.

The hospitality business is still now a day’s a highly contact business. In this sense, it is
important to remember that costumers prefer, in a high percent, to deal with a human over any
digital channel possible (Honts, Klimek & Meyer, 2016). One great way of merging the advance
technology available without losing this need of human contact, is the connectivity that the
technology allows, like through direct chats.

Marriot (2015) hotel has effectively implemented this tool, allowing their customers a more
satisfactory and fast way to connect with the hotel feeling after all, a human being is in the other
side paying attention and concerning about their requests. So I do believe that Hotels in general can
and should use this advancements and tools available to offers their guests a faster way of hearing
and satisfying them.
 Hospitality and Tourism Technology and Innovation . EDX
CaaTurismo – 30/03/2017
In this consideration, it is important to think that to implement this kind of services, it is
important to have a backup structure and staff designed, that allows the organization to keep the
efficiency in the everyday operations and attend directly to the guest requests without distraction
of the main responsibilities. So in the question that concerns this essay, I have to say, that in my
personal opinion, hotels should adopt the two-way chat functionality in real time between the hotel
and the guests, to offer they guest a better and easer way of communication, that will allow the
hotel to understand and know better the customer needs and expectations to be able to fulfil them.

There are a big number of benefits a hotel gets from using two-way chats with customers,
for example, Marta (2014) from User like distinguish 7 main benefits which divides in two groups.
The direct benefits, which are the ability to add human and personal touch to the online presence,
the ability to respond to specific questions about a stay form customers, and the ability to perform
better in comparison websites. But also, she shares four other general benefits like: On-site
presence which allows the hotel to interact in real time with customers, real time support which
gives the hotel the opportunity to attend and answer problems in the moment they appear,
efficiency because allow the staff to attend various problems at a time or seek the help needed, and
“anonymousity” which gives customers the confidence to express themselves more directly and in
a non-invasive form.

Messaging, or two-way chat helps the hotel to make the customer feel the impression of
availability and support all the time, and gives them the quickest way to get solutions of their
problems or needs in a real efficient way.

Of course, one big problem to solve with the great boom of messaging services is to choose
the right platform or software. “The explosion in messaging has resulted in uneven adoption of
platforms and processes across the industry” (O’Neill, 2016). This creates a new challenge for hotels
to meet guest expectations, How to make it simple and fast?

References:

- Buhalis, D. and Law, R. (2008). Progress in information technology and tourism

management: 20 years on and 10 years after the Internet – The state of eTourism research,
Tourism management, 29(2008), 609-623.
- Cohen, J.F. & Olsen, K. (2013). The Impacts of Complementary Information Technology
Resources on the Service – Profit Chain and Competitive Performance of South African
Hospitality Firms, International Journal of Hospitality Management, 34(1), pp. 245-254.
- Dennis A Rauch, Michael Dwain Collins, Robert D Nale, Peter B. Barr, (2015) "Measuring
service quality in mid-scale hotels", International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality
Management, Vol. 27 Issue: 1, pp.87-106, doi: 10.1108/IJCHM-06-2013-0254
- Gretzel, U., Fesenmaier, D. R., & O'Leary, J. T. (2006). The Transformation of Consumer
Behavior. In D. Buhalis & C. Costa (Eds.), Tourism business frontiers consumers, products
and industry (pp. 9-18). Amsterdam Boston: Elsevier Butterworth-Heinemann.
- Ham, S., Kim, W.G., & Jeong, S. (2005). Effect of Information Technology on Performance in
Upscale Hotels, International Journal of Hospitality Management, 24(2), pp. 281-294.
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CaaTurismo – 30/03/2017
- Honts, Rob; Klimek, Dave & Meyer, Shawn. (2016) Digital Disconnect in Customer
Engagement. Why do you think your digital customers are the most profitable?
AccenturStrategy. Recovered from
<https://www.accenture.com/t20170217T075208__w__/us-en/_acnmedia/PDF-
10/Accenture-Strategy-GCPR-Digital-Profitabilty.pdf>
- Marriott International News Center. (2015). Marriott’s Mobile Requests Expands Globally,
Adds Four More Brands. Retrieved from <http://news.marriott.com/2015/11/marriotts-
mobile-requests-expands-globally-adds-four-more-brands>
- Marta (2014) The Benefits of Live Chat for the Hotel Industry. UserLike. Recovered from:
<https://www.userlike.com/en/blog/the-benefits-of-live-chat-for-the-hotel-industry>
- Serra Cantallops, A., & Salvi, F. (2014). New consumer behavior: A review of research on
eWOM and hotels. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 36, 41–51.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhm.2013.08.007
- O’Neill, Sean (2016) Hotels face a crucial moment for social messaging and chat tools. Tnooz
reports. Recovered from: <https://www.tnooz.com/article/hotels-social-messaging/>
- Venkatesh, V., Morris, M.G., Davis,G.B., and Davis, F.D. (2003). User Acceptance of
Information Technology: Toward a Unified View, MIS Quarterly, 27(3).
- Wang, D., Xiang, Z., & Fesenmaier, D.R. (2014). Adapting to the mobile world: A model of
smartphone use. Annals of Tourism Research, 48(2014), 11-26.