Hotel guests want curated recommendations, amenities - not robot concierges

Consumers are seeking personalization at all stages of traveler journey, including during stays at hotels, where they increasingly want recommendations and in-room amenities curated to their liking.

According to a new study from hotel operations platform ALICE and research firm YouGov, a massive 81% of adults in the United States surveyed say they want to receive local experience and hotel upgrade recommendations from hotels.

Of that segment, more than 27% of travelers want nearby dining recommendations, and 21% want experiences or room service and room upgrade recommendations.

Experiences travelers are most interested in include: local food tastings and tours (40%), local guided tours (36%), access to cultural/learning centers (33%) and wine/beer/spirit tours (27%).

Consumers also want technology to enhance their hotel stay - but they don’t want to directly interact with things like robots. More than half of respondents (56%) say they do not wish to encounter robots during their stay, although 52% say they would be interested in touring hotels via virtual or augmented reality.

Some 43% of respondents say they want in-room technology that can be integrated with their personal devices, and many would give up amenities such as a business or fitness center, a spa, room service or fresh towels in exchange for a connected room.

To operate in-room technology, nearly seven in 10 travelers (69%) want to use hotel-provided smart devices, compared to 31% who would prefer using their personal devices.

Travelers would also prefer to use hotel-provided smart devices for ordering room service or housekeeping (63%), but would like to use their personal devices to make dining or spa reservations (59%) and for check-in/check-out (60%).

In addition to technology, hotel guests want their rooms curated to their comfort with homelike amenities.

About 59% of respondents list fast and reliable Wi-Fi as the top desired amenity, followed by their preferred coffee or tea selection (38%) and preferred toiletries (33%) available in-room, as well as the availability of a white-noise machine (20%) and the option to select their room’s layout (18%).