What can the Hospitality Industry learn from Retail?
FDH believe the hospitality industry can learn a lot about emerging technologies from the retail industry.
When referring to emerging technologies in the hospitality sector, the majority of the time we are not talking about brand-new, cutting-edge technologies that have never been seen before. It is more likely we are referring to products based on established technology that has been adapted to the needs of operators in the catering, hotel and restaurant sectors.
Much of the technology that emerges in the hospitality industry originates from the retail sector, where there are more resources and funds available to develop new products. Electronic point of sale systems, stock management and procurement systems, internet-based price and promotion offers and loyalty cards all originated from retail and were developed a few years later for use by hospitality companies.
This trend means the hospitality industry has the advantage of adopting technology that has been tried and tested elsewhere. Of course, there are also technologies that have been developed in the hospitality sector out of necessity. Products like room management and reservations systems as well as health and nutrition systems have emerged from hospitality suppliers because they are specific to the sector and can't be found anywhere else.
The latest trend in hospitality is the search for industry relevant applications to run on handheld devices like PDAs, smartphones and the iPad. Again, these gadgets have been widely-used by consumers for a number of years and only now that they are commonplace are suppliers developing tools to enable customers to carry out tasks like booking accommodation, ordering meals, or finding a hotel or restaurant.
Nick Prime, Managing Director, Fretwell-Downing Hospitality
August 17, 2011
