Hotels 2020 Welcoming tomorrow s guests Gillian Saunders Global

Rolling out the red carpet for the customer led industry of 2020 • unprecedented change in the hotel industry • some of biggest questions: – how will hotels attract the business and leisure guests of tomorrow? – how can they compete in a digital world? – and what will their future business models look like? © 2015 Grant Thornton International Ltd. All rights reserved.

Risk and reward: putting mobile personalisation at the heart of hotel experience © 2013

46% of millennials agree that being able to check in/out using a mobile device

Act now to welcome 2020 • consumer expectations are evolving as rapidly as mobile technology • differentiate through effective mobile-centric mass personalisation • data analytics to mine insights • digital native Millenials • multicultural / foreign markets • digitise the entire customer journey © 2015 Grant Thornton International Ltd. All rights reserved.

Risk and Rewards • understand cyber security/ personal data risks • maintain the human touch • surprise and delight customers at multiple touch points • cyber- enabled physical • traditional © 2015 Grant Thornton International Ltd. All rights reserved.

The key questions 1. Where is human interaction a value-add and where is techno-based speed and convenience better? By customer segment, at each step in the customer journey? 2. Where can mobile deliver more personalised services? 3. What emerging technologies will play a role in future services? How are you keeping abreast? 4. How you would like to use customers’ personal data and how are you communicating and managing this? 5. Do you have robust processes to mitigate cyber‑risk? © 2013 Grant Thornton International Ltd. All rights reserved.

The digital ready hotel: recruiting tomorrow's talent upping the IT infrastructure and R&D ©

Act now to welcome 2020 • hotels not geared up for digital business era • prioritise investment in talent and technology • the battle for talent is fierce – may require creative thinking /partnering • the cost of technology and R&D may be prohibitive • winners: – hoteliers that can collect and act on data – hoteliers that can integrate cyber with the experience at every step © 2015 Grant Thornton International Ltd. All rights reserved.

Implications • • • staff skill sets ease of use of technology staff roles and organisational structure training (including hotel schools) technology and R&D investment legacy systems © 2015 Grant Thornton International Ltd. All rights reserved.

The key questions 1. In which areas will you need digital talent - now & 2020? • are your front-of-house teams prepared? • have you identified the digital talent needs? • how will you handle R&D? 2. Will you bring talent/R&D in-house, or look for strategic alliances? 3. Do your systems have the capability needed to support mobile apps and big data in real time/"predictive time"? © 2013 Grant Thornton International Ltd. All rights reserved.

48% of guests will not visit the hotel’s website before arrival Six years ago, there were 20 million reviews on Trip. Advisor. Last year there were 170 million © 2013 Grant Thornton International Ltd. All rights reserved.

Act now to welcome 2020 • convenience and price overtaking brand - OTAs and aggregators • brands' relevance - only if they understand deliver on market segment needs and/or have a unique differentiator • impact of technology and brand fragmentation – balance mass personalisation – segment of "1" vs brands per segment – lifestyle hotels • hotel brands will need meaningful content and unique touchpoints in digital age © 2015 Grant Thornton International Ltd. All rights reserved.

challenge of same guest and different needs depending on purpose of travel © 2015

The key questions 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Which guest segments will be most valuable to you over the next five years? What content are these guests looking for, how do they prefer to consume it? What experiences are they looking for, whether travelling for business or for leisure? Can you deliver these experiences in one physical hotel under one brand? Can you fragment your brand without weakening its power? Can you ensure your employees know what your digitallyaugmented, personalised-experience brand stands for and can they deliver on your brand promise? © 2013 Grant Thornton International Ltd. All rights reserved.

New business models: disrupting the disruptors © 2013 Grant Thornton International Ltd. All rights

343% growth in number of Airbnb's website visits between June 2012 and June 2014

Over 1 million rooms available via Airbnb by the end of 2014, up from

Act now to welcome 2020 • wait and see is not a solution • revisit underlying business models and ask how they best meet customer needs: – – multi-pricing destination integrated experiences deconstructing the hotel - physically, organisationally mix of technology touch points, cyber-enabled physical touch points and the traditional – the entire customer journey – mass personalisation © 2015 Grant Thornton International Ltd. All rights reserved.

Act now to welcome 2020 • accept the sharing economy is here to stay • assess the current and future challenge to your brand/property of the sharing economy • act to compete on the sharing economy "benefits"? • integrate with sharing economy elements © 2015 Grant Thornton International Ltd. All rights reserved.

The key questions 1. Are you clear about your unique selling points for target segments? 2. Could you effectively unbundle your pricing, or introduce more dynamic pricing elements? 3. Are there partners you could engage/experiment with, to refresh your offering e. g. the F&B space? 4. Are there more radical business model adjustments? Setting up wholly new room or service offerings? 5. What more could you do to create a more integrated online-offline offering for guests © 2013 Grant Thornton International Ltd. All rights reserved.