TFE Hotels is designing the world’s first hotel based on inputs from the TEDx community and its own team members and guest database.
The Australian-based hotel group hosted a workshop during the one-day ideas festival at Sydney Opera House on 25 May to harness the genius minds of the TEDxSydney audience and two of its most engaging and inspiring speakers, Dr Jordan Nguyen and Karen Palmer, to help design the hotel of the future.
TFE Hotels Chief Operating Officer Tammy Marshall said the responses were outstanding, intelligent, thought provoking and at times surprising.
“In coming weeks we’ll survey our team and our guests and then analyse the results so we can drill down into what it is that people want and set about creating travel and hotel experiences that really inspire and engage,” she said.
The hotel of the year 2020 will be one where connectivity, social interaction, comfort, wellbeing and safety are taken to the next level.
“The key themes that emerged from the workshop were that people want travel experiences that allow them more time – time to themselves and time with their loved ones or business contacts – and they want more meaningful connections. This came up around three key themes: authentic experiences, personalisation and technology,” she said.
Authentic experiences
Australia’s sophisticated traveller wants to move away from generic travel experiences and to have everything tailored to their specific tastes. They want the hotel to help them connect with the local destination.
Personalisation
There was a resounding call for hotels all around the world to “know” their guests better. This was the greatest cause of frustration across the board with hotels around the world.
Technology
There was also an overwhelming call for better technology – technology that allows a more efficient hotel experience and technology that allows guests a better ability to use their devices from the moment they arrive. This is not about replacing human connection, it is about enabling hotel staff to better interact with guests in meaningful ways.
