Report On Handy Smartphones In M Social Singapore
Introduction
Handy is developed by a Hong-Kong based technology company, Tink Labs, and have became the world’s first mobile system tailor-made for the hospitality industry (Rashith, 2016). It has been distributed across world’s most luxurious hotel brands and groups groups including Accor and Shangri-La (Singapore Tourism Board, 2016). Tink Labs have partnered with Singapore Tourism Board to improve visitor experience and engagement (Rasihith, 2016).
Background of lodging property
M Social is a contemporary lifestyle boutique hotel that comprises 293 rooms designed by famed French designer Philippe Starck (Millennium Hotels and Resorts, 2018). M Social Singapore is widely known to many for the use of technology in the hotel, thus attracting savvy-travellers and millennials (Wong, 2016).
Business model of M Social
Customer segments
Mass segment Target market of M Social has always been the savvy travellers and millenials due to its concept and interior design (SPH Magazine, 2016). Hence, the hotel segmented their guests into mass market which they possess common needs and behaviours – interest for technology and innovation. M Social identified that most of their guests would be keen in having total control to in-room hotel amenities at their fingertips, unlimited data connectivity and free international calls within the destination. With this standpoint, M Social targeted the needs of their guests and provided Handy in all hotel rooms.
Value propositions Newness
The introduction of Handy satisfies an entirely new set of needs where guests previously did not perceive as there were no similar offerings. Originally, hotels industry were highly dependent on the human element but this led to the issue of limited manpower. Service innovation such as Handy was then introduced to mitigate this issue and have increased the hotel’s efficiency, productivity and entire guest experience. This service innovation has added value to M Social as it helps to deliver exceptional guest experience to the hotel. PerformanceHandy provided benefits to the hotel by increasing productivity and resolving the issue of limited manpower. Deployment of Handy allowed staff to deliver better and personalised service through other service touch-point instead of focusing on strenuous time-consuming tasks, thus creating value through improving service performance. Refer to Appendix A for the other factors of Business Model Canvas of M Social.
Unique service innovation
Comparison between Handy and traditional operation
The content below is in courtesy and with assistance of Marketing Executive of M Social Singapore, Mr. Lester Wong. Before implementation of Handy, operators experience high call volume requesting for country code and to connect guests to international calls and other departments within the hotel. However, with Handy’s free IDD (International Direct Dialling) calls and data, it resulted in about 45 to 50 percent reduction in call volume for operators which saves about 15 minutes (5 calls x 3 minute each) per day. Furthermore, concierge staff would have to spend additional time providing directional help, assisting for house-keeping, making reservations for restaurants and also booking of attraction tickets, which can be done effortlessly through Handy. Hence, Handy has alleviated both the concierge and hotel operator’s workload, allowing them to focus on other important queries to provide more personalised interaction instead of such time-consuming tasks (Refer to Appendix B).
Benefits to consumers
Enhancing hotel experience Guests have total control of in-room appliances at their fingertips with the use of Handy (Handy, 2018). Such function allows mobility-disabled guests to control the temperature or lightings with just one touch without having them to navigate around the room. Guests also have immediate access to hotel services, for instance, requesting for housekeeping and booking of conference rooms that allow guests to have almost instantaneous confirmation regarding their bookings (Handy, 2018)Free IDD calls and dataHandy acts as a travelling tool through offering free global calls and data and other city guides that is customised to fit guests’ preferences (Handy, 2018). Tourists can save the hassle on buying tourist SIM cards and other data roaming fees which are costly.
According to one of Singapore’s major telecommunication company - Singtel, these tourists’ SIM cards range from $15 – 50 (Singtel, 2018). Improving destination experience Handy provides a city guide function in collaboration with LUXE City Guide. The guide offers a list of useful contact numbers and directional guides to places of interests and restaurants with occasional promotions and special ticketing deals (Handy, 2018). Since Handy can be brought out of the hotel premises, tourists who are not familiar with the country can utilize this function thus providing seamless navigation within the country and mitigate their concern from getting lost (Refer to Appendix C).
2. 3 Innovation process of Handy in M Social Singapore
M Social had to study the challenges pertaining to hotel operations and understand how technology aid both operations and their guests before they could implement Handy. To ensure feasibility of this deployment, M Social had to work with different parties and departments, following up with a one-month market test for guests’ responses and staff feedback. Throughout the market test, M Social has received positive response from guests regarding Handy. M Social took approximately four to six months from conceptualization to implementation of Handy (Refer to Appendix C).
Future growth forecast of M Social Singapore
M Social is one of the initial hotels in Singapore to integrate technology into their hotel such as Handy, robotics and self check-in kiosks. The implementation of these service innovations have eased the workload mainly for concierge and hotel operators. Staff can now focus in delivering personalized service to guests and manage other complex queries. Moving forward, M Social will be venturing into the introduction of cleaning enhancement which will assist the housekeeping department, progressing towards their objectives of strengthening engagement and satisfaction of their guests (Refer to Appendix D).
Major concerns of M Social Singapore
With the increasing usage of technology in the hospitality industry, it has no doubts that humans fear of being replaced by technology. Therefore, before the introduction of such service innovation, it is crucial that the hotel manages the physiological and emotional aspects of their staff and to provide reassurance that technology is advantageous for them (Refer to Appendix C). Many guests still prefer human contact as it provides a personalised touch. Guests might be resistant to change since they are already accustomed to traditional hotel operations. This gradually becomes a major concern as the main purpose of alleviating staff’s workload and mitigating the issue of limited manpower through technology becomes redundant. Another major concern would be the failure of technology. Although Handy has brought remarkable benefits to the hotel, technology failure will contribute additional workload to staff, resulting in negative guest experience. M Social would then have to provide service recovery to suppress guests’ dissatisfaction (Refer to Appendix E).
Analysis of the innovation
The use of technology in hospitality industry is expanding rapidly especially in today’s click-driven media environment. Service innovation such as Handy has clearly enhanced guest experience and overall productivity for M Social. It is foreseeable that most hotels will adopt Handy to increase productivity and to lessen the workload of concierge and operators. However it will never replace human touch as it lacks human ability to accommodate to individual needs and to reciprocate with emotions and feelings (Miller, 2016). Hence, it is vital for hotels to see it as a supporting role instead of a replacement and to foster an interdependent relationship between service innovation and human capabilities. (Hospitality Tech, 2017).
