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Abstract
The digital technology for guests means an easy life, and accordingly to that, our appetite for this lifestyle is insatiable. With each new application or connected device, the digital technology shows us that everything is possible, and one sector in which this transformation is increasingly apparent is the hospitality one, where everything from the check-in process to in-room technology options is rapidly changing, therefore this means constant changes in the behavior of their guests. Nowadays, as automation and digitization continue to proliferate, and guests become increasingly tech-savvy, in response to this movement, touchpoints across the hospitality industry are embracing new digital trends and smart technology to make the customer journey as seamless and enjoyable.
Key words: hotel, hospitality, guests, digital, digitalization, technology
1.Introduction
Digitalization has been identified as one of the major trends changing society and business in the near and long term future (Tihinen & Kääriäinen, 2016). The impact of digitalization will be major; it has been compared to the industrial revolution by several authors (Degryse, 2016; Tihinen, et al., 2016). According to the literature, digitalization, or digital transformation, refers to "the changes associated with the application of digital technology in all aspects of human society" (Stolterman & Fors, 2004). This began with the introduction of the first commonly used commercial websites in the 1990s, where digital technology brought a new level of convenience to guests in hotels. Today, developments in digital technology offer new opportunities to design new products and services. However, creating such digitalized products and services often creates new problems and challenges to hotels that are trying to innovate. In this paper, we analyze the trends that determine the shape of next stay for the guests and discuss the need of digitalization of products and services on innovations in the hospitality industry.
2. Digital technology in the hospitality industry
An article from 1995 (Hansen & Owen) predicts that technological advancements will be necessary for work in the future for hotels. They wrote about "smart cards" that the guest can use as a hotel key, as well as future "kiosks" that would facilitate the registration of guests in the hotels and would save time. Database marketing (consumer segmenting and further improvement of the guest's profile) was a trend 20 years...