The Pros and Cons of IoT in the Hotel Industry

 The IoT (Internet of Things) has been accepted in many industries, and the hotel industry is not far behind. The hospitality sector is known to spend huge amounts of money and workforce on labour, energy, and customer satisfaction. All of this expense can be curtailed with the use of IoT. With IoT, the hospitality industry can reduce the costs of labour, increase productivity, and lower their energy consumption. However, just like any other thing, IoT also poses its advantages and disadvantages.  

 

Here are some pros and cons of IoT in the hotel industry: 

 

Pros  

 

1. Better customer experience: IoT-enabled devices in a hotel can make a guest’s stay highly memorable and comfortable. Automated rooms can offer the benefit of daylight harvesting where lights can be autoregulated as per the natural light in the room. Check-in, check-out, room service, locking and unlocking a room, etc. can be done on the guest’s phone, reducing the need for lengthy procedures.  

 
This also provides hotels with data on the guest’s preferences. This can be used to offer the guest the services they like the next time they check-in.  

 

2. Hotel energy efficiency: Hotels can reduce their energy consumption to a great extent with IoT-enabled solutions. Energy management systems can identify when a room is vacant and adjust the heat and light accordingly. This saves energy and ensures better hotel energy management.  

 

3. Better maintenance of devices: Large hotel properties can find it extremely time-consuming and costly to ensure proper maintenance all the time. Checking each room for faulty equipment, such as ACs, electricity meters, lights, showers, etc., manually, can be hard. IoT-enabled devices can do the same in a faster and more competent manner. This informs the hotel if an appliance has broken down before the guest points it out to them, thus, improving the overall experience.  

 

4. Food-safety compliance: With IoT, hotels can keep their food safe and fresh, eliminating instances of food poisoning or customer dissatisfaction. Sensors can be placed on shelves to monitor the temperature for each food item. IoT-enabled devices can also provide information on humidity, pest control, open doors, etc.  

 

Cons  

 

1. Increased chances of hacking: With so much data on the hotel’s system, there is a higher chance of hackers misusing this information. Cyberattacks can take control of a building’s management and put a hotel’s operations at a standstill. Hackers can also ask for a ransom in return, which can cause a substantial loss to the hotel.  

 

2. Customer dissatisfaction: The hospitality industry thrives on great customer experience. An incident such as a cyberattack can compromise a guest’s personal data and cause customer dissatisfaction. 

Final words 

 

Although the cons cannot be overlooked entirely, IoT does offer more benefits to the hotel industry than the risks it entails. Given that IoT is the next big wave of change that the world is experiencing right now, its applicability in the hotel industry is not only interesting but also indispensable.