Hotel and Mobile Housekeeping App

Operational Insight Paper In the article “Quadriga Launches Mobile Housekeeping App”, the author shows us a new mobile application for housekeeping services. This App – Housekeeper – can largely improve the efficiency in checking and reporting room status through most web-enabled mobile devices. It as well enhances the communication among staff. The App has already been deployed in some hotels and may be applied in more countries and hotels in the near future. The article interests me because it is about technology innovation, which has obtained a lot of attention of hoteliers in the past five to ten years. According to Ian Millar, Deputy Director of INTEHL, hospitality industry is good with technology. It has always been a reactive rather than a proactive industry when it comes to technology. And this needs to change in order to improve internal efficiency and create unique and impressive customer experience. Consider the use of the new housekeeping App in hotels. It will be much easier and faster for room division staff to carry out housekeeping tasks, and as a result, saving time and laborer to a large extent. In fact, the recent years have seen an unprecedented technology development, and such a development has brought both challenges and opportunities to hoteliers. On the one hand, customers have higher expectation and demand for hotels. But it is not easy to keep up with the all the cutting-edge technologies and major online trends. On the other hand, if hotels can follow the rapid pace of technology development and take reactions quickly, they will be more likely to meet or exceed customers’ expectation and earn reputation as well as profit. In terms of room division, one important aspect is in-room technology. Five years ago, I might feel it was just enough to have a TV in a guest room. But today I cannot imagine a room without Wi-Fi. The pervasive use of social media and mobile devices determines