Wynn Las Vegas Hires Digital Butlers, Places Amazon Echo in 4,748 Guest Rooms
The World’s Most Gorgeous Hotel Baths: Dedon Island

A premier location for “barefoot luxury,” Dedon’s extraordinary outdoor furniture line is featured in this island resort. Featuring locally sourced yakal wood, indigenous stone, the bath highlights a rain shower from the ceiling.
Visit Architectural Digest to see all the hotel baths that made their list.
The World’s Most Gorgeous Hotel Baths: La Sultana

The marble tub and surrounding columns found in the bathing area of the Dromadaire Suite of La Sultana Hotel is evocative of the traditional palanquins used in camel caravans.
Visit Architectural Digest to see all the hotel baths that made their list.
World’s Most Gorgeous Hotel Baths: Vina Vik

Vina Vik commissioned a unique bathing experience from Splinter Works – a carbon fiber tub that lets their guests leisurely lounge while gazing over the Chilean wine country.
Visit Architectural Digest to see all the hotel baths that made their list.
Hotels Adapting Technology to Generational Preferences
The Cornell Center for Hospitality Research “For Tech’s Sake! Building Customer Loyalty via Generational Preferences” roundtable session focused on key learnings hotels can leverage by understanding the technology “preference gap” among multiple generations.
After providing statistics regarding decision making influences and demographic preferences, Josh Weiss, vice president of Guest Technology Innovation at Hilton Hotels, said “We must be deliberate and thoughtful in how we design, deliver and support technology that stays relevant and intuitive fo all of our guests across generations.”

For example, Cornell’s Senior Lecturer of Information Systems Mark McCarthy asked the audience “how many people expect to use a phone to unlock a hotel room?” He then provided findings from his own research that showed that 55% of people polled don’t expect this capability. The difference in what technology guests want can be seen in their demand for internet access. Guests expect easy reliable wi-fi access in hotel rooms, but fewer expect such access on planes.
In other words: technology for technology’s sake isn’t a sound strategy for hotels. “Such investments degrade the customer experience rather than enhance it,” the panelists said.
More than two dozen industry leaders, along with researchers and students met for the second annual Technology Entrepreneurship Roundtable hosted by the Center for Hospitality Research at Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration. The April 2016 event covered a range of discussions including cloud computing’s impact on consumers’ ability to influence brands, social media’s connectivity between businesses and their customers, the role of generational preferences, customizing technology, and the challenges of adapting to the constantly changing environment.
The World’s Most Gorgeous Hotel Baths: Phulay Bay

Feeling lucky? If not, you’ll be surrounded by four-leafed clovers as a recurring design element in this Ritz Carlton property: from the terrazzo and mother of pearl tub and sinks to the window frame.
Visit Architectural Digest to see all the hotel baths that made their list.
Consumers Act as WatchDogs for the Hotel Industry
The Cornell Center for Hospitality Research “High Tech, High Touch: Highlights from the 2016 Entrepreneurship Roundtable” cultivated key observations about technology and the hotel industry in its 2016 roundtable session.
“The modern era is all about authenticity. You must deliver what you promise, ” said MIT’s Jeffrey Lipton.

“The cloud gives consumers a loud, amplified voice. Companies are held to a higher than ever level of morality and accountability as a result,” Larry Hall President and CEO of Trillium Services Group said.
Even negative, disastrous situations — like the Chipotle E. coli outbreak — provides opportunities if hotels are ready to engage with their customers. “While it may appear that there is no upside in this situation for the company, it served as an opportunity for Chipotle to connect with its customer base, and address the problem, building trust.” the authors of the report shared.
While some might argue that the market has a way of always bearing out what consumers will buy or what they will pay for, panelists seemed to say that consumers may be gaining the upper hand.
Take, for example, a recent Marriott situation, when the hotel curtailed hotpot access, thus requiring customers to subscribe to the hotel’s internet service. A PR firestorm forced the chain to reverse its policy and issue an apology.
The “Voice of the Crowd on the Cloud,” panelists stated that individual consumers unify, becoming “the crowd” in social media. The crowd then serves as social and environmental responsibility watchdogs who keep businesses accountable for their actions and decisions.
The panel also discussed the relevance and importance all hotels face regarding negative online reviews. “Dealing with negative reviews is a pressing issue, and one we dealt with at a previous company of ours. After each guest stayed, we would send out a typical survey with ratings from 1 to 5. If they rated us a 4 or a 5, we would send them to TripAdvisor and if they rated us a 1-3, we would redirect to our own webpage to address the complaint. This was a new way we dealt with reviews and the paradox they can cause,” said Josh Ogle of The Original Agency.
More than two dozen industry leaders, along with researchers and students met for the second annual Technology Entrepreneurship Roundtable hosted by the Center for Hospitality Research at Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration. The April 2016 event covered a range of discussions including cloud computing’s impact on consumers’ ability to influence brands, social media’s connectivity between businesses and their customers, the role of generational preferences, customizing technology, and the challenges of adapting to the constantly changing environment.
World’s Most Gorgeous Hotel Baths: Aman

The furo soaking tub, a key element of the Japanese bathing ritual, is accompanied by other traditional Japanese building materials of camphor wood, washi paper, and Kakou Gan granite.
Visit Architectural Digest to see all the hotel baths that made their list.
World’s Most Gorgeous Hotel Baths: Il Salviatino

Mama Mia! This suite features an 1886 Bruschi fresco and carved, free-standing soaking tub.
Visit Architectural Digest to see all the hotel baths that made their list.
World’s Most Gorgeous Hotel Baths: Conservatorium (Amsterdam)

The soaking tub of the “I Love Amsterdam” suite features Jerusalem sandstone and Oregonian Pine and Hemlock beams as accents.
Visit Architectural Digest to see all the hotel baths that made their list.