Wearable tech: Technology in hotels will increase one way or another

Author: Guy Lean

2015 will see the launch of the new Apple Watch, the next in a line of wearable technology that will inevitably be picked up by more of your guests – or your competitors. Last week Tech blogger Robert Scoble reported on wearables at the Intercontinental Hotel in Seoul that tell wait staff when your food is ready. At other restaurants you can order drinks which show up on your watch. In this interview Scoble discusses how this wearable, mobile technology is ushering in an age of context:


Almost every person who walks in to a hotel today already has smartphone, which they may well have used to book their stay.

Wearable technology is the next step. According to market research group Nielson, convenience is the top reason people are buying smart watches, and 35% of owners say they buy them to supplement their smartphone addiction.

The next generation of consumers want life to be fast and efficient. They will continue to invest in new technologies for themselves and hotels should too. Deloitte say that 10 million smart glasses, fitness bands and watches, will be sold in 2014. The wearable devices can offer similar functions to a smartphone and can provide the wearer with real time information about their environment. Owners will want to be able to use their devices wherever they go. If hotels embrace these new technologies they could further streamline processes like checking in. The hospitality industry need to keep updating their technology and processes or they will get left behind by consumers.

Robert Scoble is a technology evangelist and journalist who looks at developments and trends in technology. He owns a Google Glass and a Meta smart watch, the latter of which he had on his wrist when he visited the Four Seasons Hotel in Sydney recently. This technology is already entering the hospitality space and it is a trend set to continue.

  • Robert Scoble, Technology Evangelist, on Google Glass and other wearable developments in technology.

  • Elizabeth Winkle, Managing Director, STR Global on how technological efficiencies are revolutionising hospitality.

  • Peter Shaindlin, Chief Operating Officer, Halekulani Corporation on why hospitality should consider the consumer.

  • Catalin Cighi, Managing Partner, Cain Hospitality Innovation on there being no choice but to embrace technology.

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Video clips produced by ybc.hpgcms.wpengine.com for the Hospitality Channel, including interview from industry conferences such as the IHIF conference as well as specific Hospitality Channel shoots