Joe Pine, author, speaker and management advisor

The expectations and wishes of the guests changed after the pandemic – it’s not easy. But if you don’t think about the deferred demand that is released during the current travel recovery period, how are you developing your brand in the near future? Your managers and front-line employees are probably overworked (and that won’t change anytime soon!), So you need a clear vision of the long term before allocating capital expenditures or making changes that distract your team from other important tasks.

This brings us to the concept of the experience economy that has been grown in antecovidian times Jim Gilmore and our current interviewee Joe Pine. This concept forbids hotels not only to think about “heads in bed” but also about how to bring more positive emotionality to the experience from the moment of arrival and stay at the hotel until after the stay and the continuation of the relationship. You are not so much selling rooms as you are selling the pleasure of having a great place to relax. There are many ways to do this to experience your property or your brand is actually so much that you probably have a a book or two written on this case!

More recently, Joe Pine has taken the idea of ​​the economy of experience one step further through what is called the economy of transformation. Thanks to modern technology, this concept describes how it is not only about how businesses can provide a great experience, but also about how these brands can improve the livelihoods of their customers. Offering an abstract example of hospitality, a day at the spa is a great “healing” experience, but if it is accompanied by several lessons for the guest, then this one point of contact can help improve the “well-being” of that guest in the long run. With that in mind, let’s learn from a master of experience.

Based on what you’ve seen, which brands in hotels and restaurants are now making proper use of the economy of experience?

High-end hotels are the ones that tend to get it and have the money to do most of it well. I think of the Ritz-Carlton, Fairmont, the Four Seasons, the Oriental Mandarin and of course The Peninsula. L’Ermitage Beverly Hills is a boutique hotel that makes good use of technology, including a cleaner never knocking on your door when you’re in a room.

The restaurants have a number that follow my long-standing prescription to charge an entrance fee, including Next in Chicago, Trois Mec in Los Angeles, Open Concept in St. Louis and Noma in Copenhagen. In fact, Nick Coconas, co-founder of Next, created the Tock software platform, a booking platform that allows other restaurants to charge an entrance fee. And I will mention SevenRooms, a great platform for getting to know restaurant guests and their preferences.

Can you give any examples of brands that use technology to improve the on-site experience?

In first place in the world is Carnival Corporation with its Ocean Medallion system on Princess Cruises. This platform experience enhances the guest experience for everyone on board, knowing everyone, their desires and preferences and what they enjoy. I would also point to the theme park industry in order to bring technology to the impression of all colors, including 3D virtuality, augmented reality, projection mapping, IoT devices and so on and so forth.

Imagine yourself in a hotel in five years. What technologies are there to improve the experience other than what is now deployed?

I expect that the room itself will become a platform for the individual experience of the guests. Everything will be adapted and transformed according to my needs, desires and desires that the platform of the experience will gain from past visits and will pay close attention to this current stay. For example, no longer view the channel guide on TV; it will feature the channels I watch most often that will never take up screen space. While today I would be happy if somewhere in the room there will be enough light to read, the lighting of the future will match the intensity, color and, ideally, the terrain because I prefer the most. And the customizable bed will be customized the way I like to sleep.

Turning to the idea of ​​transforming the economy, how will this change the hospitality industry?

I think going beyond the stage experience and managing transformations has great prospects for the hospitality industry. In fact, transformational travel is already one of the fastest growing sectors! These are primarily three aspects. First, it is a personal transformation when people can strive for mindfulness, digital detoxification, skill enhancement, or mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual growth. Second, it is a family transformation that goes beyond the home environment to improve relationships with husband and wife, children and loved ones. Finally, social transformations when people want to be a force for change in the world. Even if the main purpose of the trip is not conversion, hotel companies of all stripes should look for the desired job that guests have.

What are the first steps hotels and restaurants can take to get involved?

The first thing I always say is that companies need to understand what business they are in. If hotels and restaurants think of themselves as in the service sector, providing only “good time savings”, then in the long run they will become marketable. But rise to the view that you are engaging in experience by offering “well-spent time,” and this will enhance your ability to thrive in today’s economy of experience.

It probably doesn’t make sense to think of yourself as a transformational business directly – it’s now for fitness centers, medical clinics, life trainers and so on – but recognize the potential to transform your offerings. As we wrote in “New You Business” in the January / February issue Harvard Business Review, you can become part of the overall solution that people use to achieve their aspirations. And if you work hard to use a platform of experience that learns about each individual guest, you will be able to discover not only the functional, emotional and social work they want to perform in the hospitality industry, but also those who wish. Then you can find your role in performing these tasks for your individual guests.

Larry and Adam Magellan represent one of the world’s most published hospitality teams, having more than a decade of material online. As partners in Hotel Mogel Consulting Limited, a consulting practice in Toronto, Larry focuses on asset management, sales and operations, and Adam specializes in hospitality technology and marketing. Their experience spans real estate around the world, both branded and independent, and ranging from luxury and boutique to selected service. They have six books “Are you an ostrich or a llama?” (2012), “Llama Rule” (2013), “Hotel Lama” (2015), “The Llama is Inn” (2017), “Hotel Mogel” (2018) and “More Hotel Mogel” (2020). You can contact Larry at larry@hotelmogel.com or Adam in adam@hotelmogel.com to discuss hotel business issues or book presentations.

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