The SaviOne botlr navigating the halls of the Aloft Cupertino hotel. (Source: Savioke)

This week in hospitality news, TripAdvisor announced its Just for You feature, Skift released a report on the evolving habits of business travelers, and SoftwareAdvice released a report on the guest demand for…robots?

TripAdvisor Announces Personalized Hotel Recommendations

This week, TripAdvisor announced the release of a new Just for You feature, which makes personalized hotel recommendations to users based on their individual preferences and search history on the site.

The new feature will be a continually adapting and improving recommendation tool as travelers:

1. Select their travel preference tags on the new Just For You hotel page
2. Search for hotels and destinations on TripAdvisor
3. Write a hotel review to share their candid travel experiences

CLICK HERE to read more about the TripAdvisor announcement on Tnooz.

The Digital Habits of Business Travelers

Continuing its series of trend reports, Skift released its 27th report this year, Understanding the Digital Habits of Business Travelers. The report highlights some interesting trends, including the rise of the Millennial business traveler. Here are some key metrics:

• 90% of todays’ business travelers expect access to Wi-Fi in hotels.
• On a given trip, business travelers bring with them as many as four digital devices.
• 95% of business travelers own a smartphone
• Over half of all business travelers under the age of 45 are using a smartphone to book travel.

This is a paid report, but a subscription to Skift’s Travel Trends reports is highly useful for hoteliers wanting to keep up with industry trends. CLICK HERE to view the free report preview.

Interest in Robotic Hotel Service Varies Significantly by Age Group

A survey report published by Software Advice found that 56% of respondents reported some degree of interest in using robotic room service. But, the question of whether people are interested in using the service or not is not necessarily indicative of the success of such technology. Excitement about hotel robots is split, with 33% of respondents finding it “not at all excitig,” and 31% finding it “very exciting.”

According to Emmet Cole, an analyst at Robotics Business Review, the varied results could also be a reflection of the novelty of consumer robotics in general.

“It’s difficult to read too much into surveys on consumer robotics at this point in time, because the technology is so new and humans and robots are only really starting to interact with each other in recent years,” he explains.

This theory is reflected in the survey results, when grouped by age. Millennials, or the 18-24 and 25-34 age groups, reported the highest likelihood of choosing a hotel with robotic service, with 27 percent of 18-24 year olds and 50 percent of 25-34 year olds indicating this technology would affect their decision.

So, while robotic service in hotels may seem like a fad today, perhaps in 10 or 20 years, the technology will be improved and human/robot interactions will be more normative.

CLICK HERE to read the full Software Advice report.