When developing and implementing the most cutting-edge innovations to enhance the guest experience, one often thinks of the larger, more luxury brands as being the category leaders.
Today, many of the budget hotels are catching up with the luxury brands when it comes to innovation – essentially leveling the playing field when it comes to providing completely “frictionless” environment for guests.
For example, UK-based budget chain Premier Inn is launching a new hotel brand, Hub by Premier, which offers guest-related technologies that are advanced (if not more) than the offerings from the luxury providers
The hotels chain will offering the following:
- Guests will be able to check-in online via the hub app on their mobile device
- The app will also control light and room temperature and guests can even order food
- Guests can select various TV/radio channels they want to be played even before they enter the room and stream videos from their mobile devices to the 40″ television in the room
- The app can display local shopping and eating places
- Free WiFi
Premier Inn has been running a trial with five of the small rooms in London for over a year, and the first official Hub property will open this summer in the same city — with four hotels opening over the next three years. In addition, 40 Hub hotels are planned to be opened or in the pipeline by 2018.
In many ways, we believe that Premier Inn is changing the game when it comes to hotel innovation by bringing it to the masses. When one budget brand starts down the path, others are bound to follow suit. As a result, we will eventually be living in a world where all guests will come to expect these types of innovations everywhere they stay.
And, in our opinion, this is a great thing.