As attendees rapidly shift from passive to participatory, so too will their expectations for content delivery. This will have a direct impact on the expectations planners have on the support they receive from hotels to assist them in delivering on the attendee’s expectations.
Alicia Tillman, Vice President of Deal Consulting and Business Services for American Express Global Business Travel told us, “Every event organizer has an ultimate goal of creating a better experience for their attendees, sponsors, guest speakers and exhibitors. And those participating in the event want to connect with as many as people as possible. In today’s environment, the best way to achieve these goals is through technology.”
Hyatt Hotels Corporation is heeding the demand for technology-supported meetings and integrating state-of-the-art technology in their properties worldwide, including whiteboard walls, responsive social media screens and an integration within their mobile app with transportation giant Uber for guest satisfaction. The 549-property corporation understands that the landscape is shifting towards mobile faster than ever, and that accommodating new attendee-facing technologies will be more crucial than ever.
“Meeting planners are becoming more and more creative in rewarding attendees who interact and use technology than ever before,” says Gene Hunt, director of event sales at the Grand Hyatt Washington. “They’re marrying concepts such as gamification with technology before, during and after meetings to develop program content – and it’s our responsibility to help them achieve maximum results on their investments in these technologies.”
This insight has proven to be true across a multitude of landscapes. Here are three standouts that you should take note of:
1. Marriott’s Six Degrees App
Six Degrees is a social app that aims to improve guest experiences by getting more patrons at the hotel interacting in real time. It combines a series of physical lobby features, including a large interactive digital screen and a LED table that allows people to interact through their phones and social profiles. To use Six Degrees, a visiting hotel guest downloads the app and connects it to their LinkedIn network. By learning about each user’s background and professional and personal interests, Six Degrees can match up patrons at the hotel. Two people who are both Cornell alum, work for Google and like rock climbing, for example, might be sent notifications about each other so they can meet up during their Marriott stay.
2. Loews Hotels’ #TravelForReal Campaign
Loews has tapped into technology, social media and our need as humans to trust what we’re being sold. The company has traded in hyper-manicured, professionally edited images of their properties and chosen instead to feature crowd-sourced Instagram images on its website. The photos feature real guests and showcase real experiences from their stay.
“Anyone considering staying at Loews can be sure that what they are seeing is real, not the creation of a talented pro,” agency chief creative officer Doug Spitzer told AdWeek. “There are no tricks, wide angle, Photoshopped shots—like people rightfully complain about on social media. ‘Travel For Real’ is the real deal, through the eyes, and lenses, of our guests who loved the time they had at Loews.”
3. The Fullerton Hotel Singapore’s 3D Projection Mapping
The 3D displays at the 2015 Marina Bay Singapore Countdown feature a montage of sketches and graphics projected onto the façade of The Fullerton Hotel. Examples showed iconic images of Singapore’s past, like kampungs and samsui women, before moving on to images of modernity like the city skyline and a Singapore Airlines plane.
This post was originally written for Meetings Mean Business.
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