Take a A Peek Into the Future – Hotels of 2060
Hotels.com partnered with a futurist from the Institute for Global Futures to do a study on how hotels will be in the future. Here’s a look at the results.
Fast forward to the year 2060 (add 43 years to your current age). Now imagine yourself walking into your hotel room.
Here are some of the things you might find find –
• Using face recognition to enter your room
• Hyper connectivity on every surface
• Interactive TV TV
• Bathrooms with smart toilets, mirrors with real-time news
• Neuro-enhanced aromas from interactive spa walls that sense stress and auto-generate a relaxing sleep experience
• Special towels with pollution wipe nano coatings
• Wireless temperature controls that adjust automatically
• Self-assembling and personalized bed and pillows based on neuro-feedback
• In room-personalized experiences like watching a holographic music concert
It all sounds very personalized, and very…techy. I like the convenience of technology but also crave the outdoors and nature. Does everyone collectively really want every surface in their hotel room to have an interactive touchscreen? It doesn’t sound very comfortable or homey, but maybe houses will have something similar so everyone will be used to it.
I do love the idea of special (clean) towels, bed sheets and pillows. This avoids the issue I have where I can’t tell when my bedsheets had been changed.
Smart Toto toilets are such a treat when I come across them, so I am all for that.
We already have voice activated room controls in some hotel rooms, so I can see how sensors and face recognition aren’t far off.
With current technology there are sometimes glitches (air conditioning occupancy sensor issue, anyone?) and I would expect that to continue as we add more and more “smart” devices. I could see someone with fragrance sensitivities getting over-spritzed by the interactive spa wall, and a TV that won’t turn off because it doesn’t recognize a voice command. There are always kinks to be worked out.
Here is a snapshot of10 anticipated hotel trends of 2060 (in no particular order, according to the study –
1. RoboButlers
We already have RoboButlers at some hotel properties. The Aloft in Cupertino has had A.L.O. Botler “employed” since 2014 that brings guests toothbrushes and runs errands. RoboButlers of the future will be more advanced, perhaps offering food service, concierge services, business advice or education about the local area.
2. 3D Makers in every hotel room
This is the one that I am somewhat dubious about. Here’s the description from the press release –
If taking luggage on a trip is a thing of the past, then you’d have to have a 3D Printer make all of your clothes every time you take a trip, not to mention toiletries. What happens to the items when you are done with them? Hopefully it doesn’t create more waste. It also seems odd to me that with such a large drug problem currently that every person would have access to a 3D maker to create pharmaceuticals on-demand. I don’t even understand how that would be possible, along with 3D printing of computers, but maybe I just don’t understand 3D Printers well enough.
3. Morphing hotels made to order
Rather than a focus on a specific population subset such as the Millennial, hotels would change from one design to another based on consumer votes. If guests don’t like the theme, colors or design of a hotel it could be quickly modified.
4. Neuro-Dreaming – choose your own dream
5. Pop-up hotels based on crowdsourcing
6. Longevity hotel spas
This sounds great. Going way beyond simple massage, spa programs will be based on DNA analysis and focused on personalized needs, preventing disease, and refreshing health.
7. Airport transfer of the future
8. DNA mobile payments
9. My travel avatar
10. EcoHotels on the next level
This one I’m 100% onboard with. Fully sustainable hotels with a carbon neutral footprint, using safe and clean products and excelling in energy efficiency are the way to go.
Here’s a video of the imagined futuristic hotel room –
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dnLEBcoqr8
Of course, there is a certain amount of conjecture involved. Unless my flying car a la Back to the Future is parked in my garage.
