We are thrilled about our recent partnership with Virtual Concierge Service (VCS) that connects the Hostfully guidebook platform to VCS’ voice technology. Hostfully and VCS are leading the industry in voice technology by allowing hosts around the world to upgrade their guest experience without spending any extra effort.
Voice technology is changing vacation rentals
According to Pew Research, 46% of Americans already use some form of voice assistant. Further, ComScore predicts that by 2020, 50% of all internet searches will be by voice.
Within the travel industry, vacation rentals, long focused on providing a personalized guest experience, are rising to meet this new demand. Vacation rental travelers, conditioned to use voice technology for search and e-commerce, will soon expect the same for their travel experiences, instead of just swiping or clicking.
This is good news for our industry. Voice technology helps vacation rental managers double down on personalization because it helps them to further customize the guest experience.
So what are the implications of voice technology on the vacation rental industry? How should vacation rental managers prepare and take advantage of this new communications channel?
In this issue of the Hostfully newsletter, we provide several key resources to help vacation rental professionals and managers navigate the new world of voice technology.
Let’s get started!
So what can voice technology do for my vacation rental business?
Within travel, hotel accommodations are already using voice technology. Some Marriott, Westin, St Regis, Aloft, and Autograph Collection properties in the US are all getting voice tech. And in the neighboring real estate industry (pun intended!) agents are trialing voice technologies in their day-to-day business.
Amazon Alexa, arguably the market leader, has invested in integrations with third-party hardware and software to allow customers voice control over thermostats, locks, lighting, security systems, and even IoT-enabled appliances.
Vacation rental hospitality is now beginning to see the promise of voice technology, and it will be a game changer. According to Skift, “When it comes to vacation rentals, the theoretical power of voice has the potential to be truly transformative for an area of hospitality without staff to provide certain services. According to Skift, the following categories have the most promise:
- Providing guest services
- Serving as a virtual guidebook
- Creating a “smart home” environment
- Enabling communication among guests, vacation rental staff, and property managers
