What is mission critical in the hotel guest room: Examining in-room guest empowerment technologies

This study examined 18 in-room technologies and identified the ones perceived to be mission critical for the hotel guests. It also determined the differences in guest empowerment technology preferences and expectations across generations, purpose of travel, and travel frequency. Moreover, it investigated whether the quality of in-room technologies impacts guests' decision in choosing a hotel.;The data were collected through an online survey. A total of 508 people responded to the survey. An importance and performance analysis was utilized to identify the mission critical in-room technologies for the hotels. The analysis indicated that in-room movie on demand services, in-room wireless high speed internet service, high definition television content, in-room electronic temperature control, in-room electronic safe, connectivity panels, and all in one guest room control unit were perceived as being mission critical in-room technologies for hotel guests. The utilization of ANOVA and subsequent post-hoc tests showed that there were significant technology preference differences across the generations and travel frequency. Another important finding of this study was that a majority of respondents reported that the availability of new guest-room technologies would favorably impact their decision to select a hotel. The overall findings of this study provide information that would help hotel managers and owners to understand guests' perceptions of and expectations for in-room technologies. These findings may possibly provide guidance for strategic purchasing, upgrading or implementing in-room technologies.