Loews Hotels will place technology provider Ireckonu's Core
and IKnowU middleware products at its 24 properties in the U.S. and Canada this
year and will include them in the five hotels it has under construction.
Amsterdam-based Ireckonu connects a hotel's myriad technology systems while
gaining insight into guests' patterns and preferences.
The Core product allows for a customized key on a guest's mobile
device; automatic check-in upon arrival; personalized preferences for in-room
features, such as lights, TV channels and temperature; and in-room voice
commands. For example, a guest who wakes up in the middle of the night can
command the lights to turn on.
The IKnowU product captures information for the guest
profile. That could include personal interests, such as running, cycling or
art; movie preferences; whether the traveler books far in advance or
last-minute; if the traveler prefers an early check-in; and whether he or she uses
the spa or onsite restaurants and bars, as well as if the traveler often arrives
late for dinner.
Ireckonu CEO Jan Jaap van Roon said the technology can
enhance the guest experience while creating efficiencies for properties. "The
corporate business traveler is often a repeat guest, and our software works
best with repeat guests," he said. "With check-in on the mobile app,
there's no longer a wait at reception. If they have room preferences like a
certain number of hangers or four towels and want the room temperature at 68
[degrees], that can all be arranged and automated" based on captured
behaviors during prior stays, he said. "Or if a person likes a high
temperature, [the hotel can] check them into a room where the temperature is
already high, and vice versa."
He added that personalization can add to a guest's
satisfaction and that an increase in satisfied guests gives a hotel an edge in
becoming a corporation's preferred partner.
While travel buyers desire to know as much as possible about
their travelers' behaviors, Loews does not plan to share the insights garnered
on guests with buyers, due to privacy laws, said Loews SVP of sales operations
Anthony Del Gaudio.