Oracle research reveals biometrics will play key role in hospitality industry

Oracle revealed the findings of two research initiatives aimed at identifying consumer attitudes to new technologies and how their implementation will affect consumer behavior in the future, which showed that biometrics will play a significant role in the hospitality industry.

Insights from both the Oracle Hotel 2025 and Oracle Restaurant 2025 reports highlight that consumers are most willing to engage brands with new technology as long as they feel that they are in control of their experience.

The research findings also show that hospitality operators should be cautious about implementing automation without personal service.

“Given the heritage of service throughout the Hospitality industry, we’re not surprised that guests want a continued human connection with their food and beverage and hotel brands of choice, despite the emergence of new technologies,” said Mike Webster, senior vice president and general manager Oracle Hospitality. “Our hotel and restaurant management platforms OPERA and Simphony will continue to be enabling investments given their ability to provide a singular view of how guests engage and interact.”

In February, the Hotel 2025 and Restaurant 2025 reports surveyed a total of 250 restaurant operators, 150 hotel operators and 702 consumers regarding their reactions to technology’s role in the guest experience over the next eight years.

The research found that 33 percent of restaurant operators and 72 percent of hotel operators believe that guest recognition via facial biometrics will be in use within the next five years.

In addition, 31 percent of restaurant guests and 41 percent of hotel guests will be more likely to visit an establishment with greater frequency if they are recognized by an employee without having to give their name or show a loyalty card.

Forty-nine percent of restaurant guests and 62 percent of hotel guests believe that having this recognition would improve their experience.

Meanwhile, 28 percent of restaurant customers said they would visit more often and 45 percent said it would improve their experience if they received faster service due to being recognized.

Voice biometrics is also projected to play an increasing role in the hotel and restaurant industries, with 36 percent of restaurant guests saying that ordering through a virtual assistant would improve experience and 17 percent saying they would visit more often, along with 50 percent and 33 percent of hotel guests respectively.

In addition, 59 percent of hotel guests believe controlling their room via a voice-activated device would improve the guest experience.

Hotel operators seem to agree, with 78 percent saying that managing room control and ambiance management via voice activation would be widespread by 2025.

Seventy percent of hotel operators also believed that ordering room or hotel services via voice activation would be adopted by 2025.

Operators also seem to welcome the idea of using voice biometrics to collect customer feedback, with 61 percent of restaurant operators and 68 percent of hotels believe that this will be in use in the next five years.

The research found that wearables will play a key role in these industries, with 51 percent of restaurants and 63 percent of hotels stating that staff activity monitoring via wearable device will be in use in the next five years.

Fifty-nine percent of restaurants and 78 percent of hotels said that employees checking into work and onto workstations via wearable device will be in use in the next five years.

Previously reported, research released by QHotels in February suggests that the conference and events industry will soon be using biometrics for identity verification and security.

Article Topics

artificial intelligence  |  biometrics  |  facial recognition  |  hospitality  |  Oracle  |  voice authentication