Tag: tourism management colleges in kolkata

Most Innovative Hotel & Accommodation Concepts from Across the World

Most Innovative Hotel & Accommodation Concepts from Across the World

 

While adventure and pristine sights make a good part of a holiday, hotels or inns or even a humble homestay are another major reason most people look forward to traveling. So, in this article today, let us have a look at six of the most innovative hotels from around the world that have truly redefined the meaning of ‘unique’ when it comes to accommodation concepts.

30-second summary:

  • Energy efficiency is one of the hottest concepts in the hotel industry. The Tree Hotel, The Svart, etc., are great examples of hotels that use energy efficiently.
  • Modern Technology and architecture have allowed people to explore remote areas like the Arctic Circle while still living in luxury.
  • Space-saving AI-based design and robotics is the new rage in city hotels like the Yotel.

 

Crisp white linen, the fancy hot tub, beautiful interiors, or the hotel architecture itself, there is more than one aspect that people look for while making their bookings for the hotels. That particularly holds true in the current times where hotels worldwide are changing the very definition of stylish living from castles to tree-houses, marrying functionality and creativity seamlessly to provide unique experiences to customers.

So, while we all are waiting for travel restrictions to ease around the world, we, at Avlon Shiksha Niketan, one of the best tourism management institutes in Kolkata, thought of getting you a list of some of the most innovative hotel and accommodation concepts from around the world that you all can eye for and add to your ‘to-visit’ bucket list. Read on.

Hotels from Around the World that Redefine Unique

  1. The Tree Hotel, Sweden

Every child dreams of a treehouse. Some do it, even as adults. So, if your dream has always been to spend a few days amid nature and live like Tarzan, The Tree Hotel should be your number one pick. Nestled in the trees in the remote Swedish village of Harads, this hotel property has six tree rooms and one state-of-art sauna, perched amongst trees at 13-20 feet off the ground.

Some of the most popular tree rooms are the UFO room (that looks like an extra-terrestrial pod) and the Mirrorcube (lined with mirrors on all sides), giving spectacular 360-degree views of the surroundings. The Tree Hotel has hydroelectric heating systems and combustion toilets to effectively incinerate waste, making it a true friend of nature.

  1. Svart, Norway

This hotel looks straight out of a sci-fi movie and looks as if an alien warlord set up his shop near the Svartisen glacier in the Arctic circle! Well, even if that were true, their choice of location and their energy-first approach is something to admire.

This newly opened luxury hotel (in 2021) is a design wonder and produces more energy than it uses! Svart is the first of its kind energy-efficient hotel complex with 100 rooms, a sustainable farm to feed the four multi-cuisine restaurants, and a design lab.

Equipped with solar panels and hydro-power supplies, the architecture and strategic placement of rooms and facility centers is such that it maximizes solar energy utilization. So, if the Northern lights, Santa’s village, and penguins are on your bucket list, we, at Avlon Shiksha Niketan, would like to assure you that this hotel is definitely your wonderland.

  1. Hotel Kakslauttanen, Finland

Another masterpiece in remote parts of the Arctic circle, this hotel is a testament to technology improving life even in the harshest of climes. Their selling point, glass igloos, and geodesic domes allow you to live like the Innuits but with all modern luxury.

Enjoy the luxurious dance of Aurora Borealis, sip hot chocolate and snuggle up near the fireplace. One night at this hotel is sure to give you the experiences of a lifetime. 

  1. Yotel, New York

So, one for the city lovers, Yotel in the world’s favorite city, New York, takes being futuristic to a different level. These pod-style hotels combine business and luxury seamlessly. Their front desk has a cute nickname, ‘mission control,’ and they offer ultramodern services like self-check-in, a robot concierge called Yobot (isn’t the cutest name for a robot?), and motorized beds that save space in a cramped city like New York.

This hotel is the very definition of space design and showcases optimum utilization of resources.

  1. The Qasr Al Sarab Desert Resort, Abu Dhabi

This list had to include hotels from the middle-east. After all, the middle-east is one of the world’s most popular holiday destinations. The Qasr Al Sarab Desert Resort has 212 luxurious rooms sprawled across the vast desert and truly lives up to its name, ‘Mirage Place.’ The resort is complete with a huge pool, Arabic tents as common areas, a luxury spa, and several restaurants serving local delicacies and world cuisine.

If you stay here, wake up early to see the spectacular sunrise, watch camel caravans dallying their way into the vastness of the surrounding desert or take a dip in the amoeba-shaped pool. We, at Avlon Shiksha Niketan, one of the best tourism management institutes in Kolkata, can assure you that the experience would certainly be worth every penny you spend!

  1. The Green Village Bamboo House, Bali

For all beach lovers out there, here’s our pick (a tough choice, we must admit) for a tropical hotel that is luxurious and quirky at the same time. In fact, we, at Avlon Shiksha Niketan, believe that The Green Village Bamboo House is not just a hotel but a self-sustained community of nature lovers. Every structure (houses, common facilities, hotel rooms, etc.) in this village is made with locally sourced bamboo and offers amazing #instaready photo opportunities.

Staying at the Green Village is the perfect way to live like and with locals while still enjoying the perks of hotels.

Summing Up

While stuck at the homes for more than a year, hoping and praying the pandemic to go away soon, the dream of that perfect holiday is what is keeping a lot of people afloat. Here’s hoping this curated list of innovative hotels is enough fuel to keep your travel fantasies burning till you can pack up and leave on a jet plane! But before you do, check with local authorities about COVID protocols and always mask up. Safety is still the priority.

Bon voyage!

The Increasing Significance of Hotel Reputation Management

Reputation management has been lately gaining ground in the digital world, and the same is particularly earning a lot of prominence in the hotel industry. So today, let us take a closer look at the rising significance of hotel reputation management and the different facets of it.

30-second summary:

  • Sites like Yelp, Booking.com, and TripAdvisor have made sure that consumer-generated content has all the influence.
  • Investing in online reputation management creates the possibility to harness the new and growing revenue stream.
  • Online reviews are crucial resources for hotel managers to identify the results of their work from the point of view of the customers.

Hotel reputation management is all about monitoring and influencing how a hotel is perceived online. Though the concept emerged within public relations, it has shifted its focus towards the newly emergent review sites, search engines, and social media platforms. As such, at present, it involves keeping track of the review sites, posting and engaging on social media, optimizing the website for search, and the likes. In simple words, the online reputation of a hotel is crucial to its overall business, and staying on top of it is what hotel reputation management is all about. It makes a major difference in how the property performs against the ever-increasing competition in the field and registers sustained growth through each financial year.

In a world where 93 percent of the people read online reviews to determine which hotel they want to stay at and 53 percent of the people surveyed wouldn’t book a hotel that didn’t have online reviews, the importance of hotel reputation management cannot be stressed enough.

Keeping that in mind, we, at Avlon Shiksha Niketan, a well-known Tourism Management Institute in Kolkata, will take a closer look today at the different facets of the rising significance of hotel reputation management in current times.

Consumer-generated content can make or break hotel reputations

Before the internet boom, travelers referred to guide books like their very own Rough Guide or Lonely Planet. Get a good review in one of these popular publications, and your hotel’s reputation stays safe for years. But not anymore!

In fact, it won’t be an exaggeration to say that reputations can now change with a single click. One glorious review can make a potential customer consider staying at the hotel, and one full of scathing remarks can turn away customers by the bunch. In fact, studies reveal that when it comes to deciding between two similar properties, 79 percent of consumers are more likely to reserve a room at a hotel with a higher rating.

Sites like Yelp, Booking.com, and TripAdvisor have made it easier than ever for the travelers to share their experiences in real-time, and it impacts the decision-making of travelers more than nearly any other information that is available. Travelers rely more on the words of another traveler, and thus, consumer-generated content has all the influence.

The connection between hotel reputation management and revenue management

In this highly competitive environment of the hospitality industry, online reputation directly impacts sales volume. Efficient hotel reputation management aids you in securing a major competitive advantage. On the contrary, poor online reputation can potentially lead to huge losses. In fact, a one-star decrease in ratings can lead to almost 5-9 percent decrease in revenue.

Not paying heed to negative reviews and comments that come up on page one of Google tends to cost more in lost revenue than investing sufficient resources into efficient hotel reputation management. In most cases, business owners end up spending years creating a positive image of the brand and are surprised by how fast the hard-won reputation takes a hit, and the only way to prevent such an occurrence is by being proactive.

Corin Burr, director of Bamboo Revenue, London, sums up the link between revenue performance and guest reviews: “Of course, there are many contributing factors, but to watch your Revenue Generation Index increase as your Guest Satisfaction Index increases puts more science into the instinct.”

Investing in online reputation management creates the possibility to harness the new and growing revenue stream. After all, the way customers perceive and interact with your business gets directly impacted by your online reputation.

Hotel reputation: An indicator of the performance of the hotel

Hotel reputation management and the data derived from there also acts as a performance indicator for the business. Hotels can take advantage of online reputation as an operational tool, setting it as a key performance indicator as it lets hotels monitor and measure guest satisfaction and its enhancement.

This enables the hotels to establish a ranking or objective to be achieved within a stipulated period of time, recognize strategies and how the goal will be achieved, implement actions and analyze whether the changes are working and making a difference on the online reputation. Furthermore, online reviews act as crucial resources for the hotel managers to identify the results of their work from the viewpoint of the customers since there are often differences between the actual and perceived issues in the operations.

In other words, there are times when the hoteliers are left wondering where they are going wrong if they are doing everything by the book. The varied markers of hotel reputation clearly outline the issues to offer businesses an opportunity to be better than yesterday. If 76 percent of consumers are willing to pay more for a hotel with higher review scores, it makes sense for the hotels to go the extra mile for them, as well.

So, all in all, we can safely say that hotel reputation management has gone from being a possible addition to the revenue strategy of hotels to a crucial element for maintaining competitiveness in the industry. And as a future professional of the hospitality industry, you have a crucial role to play in ensuring that the reputation of the company you join is upheld and glorified consistently. Thus, if you have the ambition to join the hotel industry and wish to get acquainted with the industry-specific know-how that can help you rise as a successful professional in the domain, we, at Avlon Shiksha Niketan, one of the leading tourism management institutes in Kolkata, are right here to guide and mentor you on that path.

As your guiding light in becoming a proficient hotel management professional, we, at Avlon, leave no stones unturned to provide you with the necessary knowledge and hands-on training to help you excel in this regard. Get your skills honed at Avlon Shiksha Niketan to rise and shine as a highly valuable resource for your future employers.

5 Ways Tourism Sector is Most Likely to Rebuild Itself Post Pandemic

The pandemic has hit us hard, and no industrial sector has remained unaffected. But things are gradually moving back to place, and most industries are back on their path to recovery. So today, we, at Avlon Shiksha Niketan, have brought for you a deep insight into the various ways in which the tourism sector is rebuilding itself and what strategies are being put to use to bounce back to its previous glory.

30-second summary:

  • Tourism businesses have amped their marketing efforts to incentivize regional and domestic travel
  • Greater focus is being laid on environmental concerns, social impact, and corporate governance needs
  • Travelers, and thereby businesses, are focusing more on eco-tourism pursuits
  • Businesses are implementing better cybersecurity to deal with emerging data breaches and fraudulency
  • More emphasis on increased readiness and proper implementation of the health and safety protocols

In the setbacks and losses that the world has had to suffer because of the pandemic, several industries have hit major stumbling blocks. And we cannot deny the fact that the tourism sector is one such industry that faced the consequences of the lockdown and travel restrictions. It is a sector that has always held the distinction of being one of the highest contributors to the country’s GDP. However, with the pandemic looming large, the industry faced a serious loss of steady revenue generation.

And yet, the tourism sector leaders have continued to stay steadfast and strong in the face of this adversity. In the last couple of months, all of us have witnessed the efforts that the sector has been pouring in towards improving traveler safety, providing for their workforce, and supporting local communities. In fact, the business leaders are in a bid to take this crisis as an opportunity to rethink their policies and enable the sustainable growth of the sector. And so, here we are today to take a closer look at how the sector is most likely to rebuild itself post pandemic.

  1. Starting with regional and domestic tourism to promote traveling

At Avlon Shiksha Niketan, a well-known tourism management institute in Kolkata, we firmly believe that when travelers start navigating the post-pandemic world, local travel will come to the forefront as a safer, easier, and more sustainable option. In fact, reports suggest that 58 percent of individuals are eager to travel to nearby regions that are accessible by car.

In order to capitalize on the initial stage of recovery, tourism boards and organizations are more likely to focus their early marketing efforts on incentivizing regional and domestic travel. We can expect them to inspire eager travelers to explore nearby destinations and attractions. 24 percent of travelers are already interested in seeking out hidden gems to tell their local friends and family about. Thus, domestic tourism will be the first to get a boost, followed by a medium haul between regions and finally, international travel.

  1. Ingraining greater sustainability in the processes and practices

Studies report that over 73% of consumers are taking note of brands that are making a difference during COVID-19, and that includes making sustainable choices. After all, the lockdown has offered ample evidence of human impact on the environment. Thus, the businesses will have a renewed call to action and adopt more sustainable practices. Regardless of the scale, the businesses are expected to focus more on the ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) spectrum to address environmental concerns, social impact on local communities, and corporate governance needs.

Furthermore, travelers are likely to make a positive difference while traveling, thereby turning to eco-tourism. Thus, businesses would develop their portfolio of natural destinations and highlight their ecological benefits.

  1. Bring greater spotlight on measures related to cybersecurity

With the pandemic making the consumers more comfortable with working, buying, and being online, the tourism businesses will also have to make major shifts towards digitalization. As such, payment processing systems, reservation apps, and loyalty programs connected to digital platforms and digital corporate networks will increase the likelihood of attacks.

Therefore, the tourism sector will focus more on strengthening the cybersecurity measures after the pandemic. Enhanced cybersecurity is required to deal with emerging data breaches and fraudulency and also to make the adoption of new technologies easier. In addition, several job roles in the sector might make a shift to remote work, and as such, more robust security measures will be needed to make that transition smooth.

  1. Focus on implementing and highlighting the prescribed health and safety standards

According to 69% of travelers, cleanliness is a critical component of a travel brand’s crisis response, which is also one of the proofs that safety and health are paramount in the new era. Thus, it is important to keep in mind that even post-pandemic, personal experiences, the dread of being stuck in another region, and concerns about social distancing will continue to guide consumer behavior in both short and mid-term.

As a result, businesses will continue to collaborate more closely with the extended value chains, including suppliers and employees, to make sure of the readiness and implementation of the safety protocols. Also, since the trust between businesses and tourists will be a crucial factor in the recovery of the sector, the sector will keenly focus on promoting the safety measures undertaken.

  1. Enriching the talent pool to have a more multi-skilled workforce

Of course, we cannot conclude this discussion without throwing some light on the post-pandemic world of jobs and careers in the tourism sector. The crisis has clearly outlined the requirement to have a technologically proficient and multi-skilled workforce. Furthermore, the move to remote work has unlocked the potential to hire talent from all parts of the world.

Businesses are thus more likely to target a diverse skillset among the employees to plan for workforce continuity and reallocation of future stocks. They would preferably invest in cross-training their employees in multiple topics and digitally upskilling the workforce, along with recruiting tech-savvy talents across job roles.

All in all, there is no denying that the world of tourism is going to witness a sea change in the post-pandemic era. And we, at Avlon Shiksha Niketan, as one of the best tourism management institutes in Kolkata, are right here to prepare you well for the new and improved world of tourism jobs. Our teaching methodology has always focused on real-world approaches and keeping up with the trends, and these are the aspects that make our young professionals stand out today and tomorrow.

So, if you are planning to launch a glorious career in the field of travel and tourism, join us at Avlon Shiksha Niketan and get going for your future role in full swing.

AI & Automation Revolutionizing the Hospitality Industry

AI has emerged as a revolution within the past few years, and there is hardly any industry left that hasn’t yet embraced this beaming technology. So today, let’s take a closer look at the multivariate ways in which AI and automation have been changing the face of the hospitality industry to make it stronger than ever before.

30-second summary:

  • AI has the potential to improve hotel reputation, enhance customer experience, and drive revenue
  • Chatbots, along with actual front desk staff, ease the process of inquiry and bookings
  • Massive data volumes to learn more about customer preferences and behavioral patterns
  • Voice-enabled technology to let the guests feel at home and receive customized services

The adoption of emerging technologies has become quite a trend in the hospitality sector after receiving inspiration from successful use cases. And one such new tech whose popularity is spreading far and wide by the day is AI and the resultant automation.

In the hospitality industry, the increasing demand for the adoption of artificial intelligence stems from the fact that it has the power to impact and change the sector completely. Furthermore, with the rising need for smart automation of current processes, AI has come to the conventional hospitality landscape with the potential to improve hotel reputation, enhance customer experience, and drive revenue.

Reports suggest that the travel and hospitality AI market is slated to exceed $1.2 billion by 2026, growing at an estimated CAGR of more than 9.7% within this period. This offers ample proof that the sector is readily opening up to the prospects of AI and automation. On that note, we, at Avlon Shiksha Niketan, a renowned tourism management institute in Kolkata, will be taking you in this article today through the various ways in which AI and automation have been revolutionizing the hospitality industry.

Changing the way of handling booking inquiries

Chatbots in the hospitality industry are changing the way customer inquiries are dealt with, thereby turning more visitors into patrons. Thus, it comes as no surprise that 68 percent of airlines are turning to AI-based intelligent chatbots. These chatbots are made to simulate conversation through natural language processing and generation in the native language. It enables efficient, concise, and controlled interactions between computing machines and humans.

At Avlon Shiksha Niketan, we believe that as customers are already in the habit of taking recommendations from digital platforms, the hospitality sector is willingly embracing and adopting artificial intelligence. After all, businesses get to enable greater customer interactions by offering fast-paced delivery service and 24/7 availability.

Built to ease and further refine the workings of the actual front desk staff, conversational artificial intelligence in resorts and hotels fuels the digital reservation process by helping the businesses up-sell their popular services like dinner reservations, body care treatments, and more.

Making the most of the huge data volumes from AI

Hotels are turning to strategic, accurately crafted process automation of their customer care and internal services for reducing service costs and optimizing the operational costs. Furthermore, the integration of AI in hospitality has become more beneficial for guests and hoteliers due to the inculcation of machine learning abilities. To this end, the hotel sales and marketing system has been integrating chatbots software to learn more about changing customer tastes, behavioral patterns, and convincing responses.

Machine learning in artificial intelligence observes the alterations in trends and the delivered responses of preceding agent conversations before it starts to produce its precise responses, personalize offers, and customize suggestions to match the preferences of travel planners. As such, besides enhancing customer services, artificial intelligence also helps to make appropriate decisions depending on huge data volume.

Driving automation through AI and the Internet of Things

The widespread use and adoption of the Internet of Things (IoT) mean that almost every other person uses some kind of wearable device nowadays, and the hospitality industry has been making the best use of this scenario.

Through interconnected devices and sensors, hotel operation systems interact perfectly with the physical world to offer a highly personalized customer experience to each guest. Hotel rooms have been using the present network of technologies along with virtual assistants to take the experience to the next level.

Establishing artificial intelligence in resorts and hotels enables the business to create more prospects to offer excellent services that go a notch above the ordinary. It ranges from suggesting music, books, and spa treatments to guests and goes all the way to automatically notifying the staff for customized meals, complimentary services, and special privileges.

Voice-enabled virtual assistants to enhance customer experience

With the recent advances in artificial intelligence, hotels have started equipping the rooms with smart devices that come with a voice recognition system. Though the top names in the business world began this trend, nowadays, we find even the new hotels and luxury ventures offer this AI-enabled facility.

At Avlon Shiksha Niketan, a well-known tourism management institute in Kolkata, we believe that one of the reasons for hotels to introduce voice-enabled technology is to let guests have a similar experience in their rooms as they enjoy at home through their interconnected devices. The guests can control all the features in their room through Alexa or Siri, and that’s one of the surest ways to make them feel right at home.

Boosting business through perceptive on-premise recommendations

As hotels can now garner heaps of crucial customer data, they have started using machine learning with business-based algorithms to get accurate predictions about customer preferences. Such analytical ability of artificial intelligence keeps the hotels agile in offering services beyond the usual set of offerings.

For instance, think of a guest who has just returned to her room after a long day of business meetings and conferences. Thanks to all the data gathered using artificial intelligence, hotels can offer complementary or add-on services like spa treatments or massages. And a business that goes the extra mile in customer care is sure to earn brownie points from the customer.

The advantages of artificial intelligence and automation in the hospitality industry have already been outlined above. However, the increased adoption of technology does not take away from the fact that the sector will never stop needing the human touch. Guests prefer hearing an actual voice when they call the hotels, and it assures them to see smiling faces greeting and assisting them throughout. Thus, at Avlon Shiksha Niketan, one of the top tourism management institutes in Kolkata, we train and hone your skills to make you the future professional of this sector who not only stays abreast about the latest tech but also boosts business through enhanced industry knowledge and people skills.