I’ve got an idea for an exciting new business venture: I’m planning to run coaches between London and Manchester, filling a gap in the market since the untimely demise of HS2’s northern leg. So far, so good, and the plan is to hitch the coaches up to teams of horses, which means we won’t be travelling at more than 15 mph tops; and because there’s no engine, the coach won’t be heated, so travellers will have to wrap up warm in blankets supplied (on a Ryanair model) at £20 a pop. I’m not planning to go to the expense of a website either (it’s not consistent with the business model), but anyone interested in travelling can find out (by word of mouth) where the next coach is leaving from…and what time it’s likely to leave. If they bring their blankets, they can warm up while waiting. 

Who’ll give me £3 Million for a 30% stake in the business...What do you mean, nobody?

Aside from the imminent demise of most of HS2, only one part of that hypothetical is true, and as intelligent readers as you are, I guess you’ve spotted it already. 

Running any business in these fast-moving, high-tech times means harnessing the full potential of emerging technologies (rather than horses). I’m not just talking about websites (even though, without them, guest footfall would be close to zero; websites were already so last century). No, what I want to focus on here instead is the increasingly stringent level of guest expectations within any given market sector, which means, metaphorically speaking, getting to Manchester in less than 14 hours and doing a little more than nothing to make sure customers enjoy the experience into the bargain.

Does that all sound a little too obvious to need to be stated? Well, if it does, somebody needs to tell the monolithic legacy hotels that are still checking in batches of guests like cattle on the basis they can be safely ignored until check out. The corridors in these concrete monoliths are needlessly lit up, more or less 24 hours a day, and there’s nothing individual or inviting about the rooms either: take a look in a few of the open doors as you haul your suitcase back to reception in the morning: they’re all the same. This, in short, is the paradigm of cookie-cutter hospitality…and these days, it makes just about as much sense as hitching a team of horses to a coach.

But it gets even worse…

Guest preferences are the lifeblood of successful hospitality (see above), and aside from looking for a more individualised experience (see above again), surveys have consistently shown that an overwhelming majority of travellers now put green, eco-friendly criteria pretty much top of their list when deciding where to stay (www.virtuoso.com). You won’t be surprised to learn that legacy hotels of the concrete monolith variety aren’t very good at that either: most of them can’t think further than throwing a few towels in the bath every second day, and the very structure of the concrete model hotel is harmful to the environment (erected, and demolished after a “useful” life of as little as 30 years, in the most wasteful manner possible: traditional concrete construction remains the single biggest producer of industrial waste on the planet: www.sciencedirect.com)). And, of course, none of that is consistent with what customers want, let alone what the planet needs.

What Guests Want

Progressive, eco-friendly hotels are investing more and more in new technologies capable of enhancing the overall guest experience rather than degrading it: personalised booking technologies tell the hotel, for example, whether their guest is vegetarian, vegan, or carnivore, enabling a bespoke menu to be offered on their laptop or mobile before they arrive, which can then be regularly updated during their stay. Geolocation technologies also allow a much broader range of services during the guest’s stay within the hotel and the wider community. Advanced operating technologies, built into the hotel fabric, enable energy and water usage levels to be closely calibrated and monitored to prevent waste (as part of the business model). Even the hotel itself will be built with sustainability in mind, using new technologies (including modular construction) to prevent unnecessary levels of waste across the full lifecycle of its operation. 

All of this means that when it comes to levels of customer satisfaction, modern eco-friendly hotels have a significant competitive edge over their concrete rivals, with lower bottom line costs and increased revenue opportunities, too.

So, isn’t it time to look harder at what the future has in store…

Red Ribbon Phoenix Green Hotel Fund (www.redribbon.gi/phoenix-green-hotel) 

The Red Ribbon Phoenix Green Hotel Fund operates at the cutting edge of fast-moving hospitality markets: playing an integral role in the facilitation, development and refurbishment of ESG-compliant hotels that each have sustainability at heart, as well as overseeing the complex dynamics of every project to maximise operational efficiencies. The Fund has also long been committed to adopting emerging technologies capable of optimising the allocation of energy and water resources.