The Next Big Thing in Hospitality

Here a video of the latest gadget, which is in the latest process of development: Google Glass.

I have published an article about the use of it.

Following a excerpt of it… you can read the whole piece on my website dominikschachtsiek.wordpress.com:

The last big thing should have been interactive menus. And really – slowly some of the most innovative venues are implementing those. Unfortunately there are not a lot of restauranteurs, which completely understood this technology. Instead of simplify the experience, they implement an electronic menu to become geeky; at an expense of the customer. The investment into iPad [or other tablet] menus, doesn’t only include the devises themselves. One massive part of the investment goes towards the human-machine interface. It doesn’t make any sense to use the tablet as e-reader. It just makes sense to use it to give the guest a rich experience and always show the customer, what he/she wants.

I have pointed this already out before: the tablet is so amazing, due to the fact, that even a long wine list or cocktail list, just shows, what the guest wants.

Does the guest want to see the cocktails alphabetical. No problem. Does he/she wants to see the cocktails categorized in their tastes? On a push of a “button”. More information on certain ingredients. Here we go.

This is all more or less implemented in few venues. And I expect that more and more venues, will use its advantages.

But what really is the next big thing? You guessed it already [due to the picture]: Google Glass.

You might think, that it is expensive to fit every staff member [who has contact with guests] with such a device. You might think, that it looks nerdy maybe even stupid.

But it could resolve the biggest challenges, which we have in hospitality [and especially in bars]: guest recognition!

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