The Modern Hotelier #157: Balancing High-Tech & High-Touch Hospitality | with Davis Howatt-Lambert
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Steve Carran: Welcome to another episode of The Modern Hotelier. Today we're excited to bring you our conversation between us and Davis Howard Lambert. David, what were some of your favorite takeaways from this conversation? I.
David M.: I really enjoyed meeting him. Uh, you know, most of the people I meet from Jonas, really have a great mindset. I mean, Jonas is one of the few. companies that has this buy and hold strategy, they don't buy companies to sell them. And I think the way they're approaching, and the way he alluded to it, they're approaching, you know, making sure they have multiple products for the industry in that Hotelier is just really key.
Steve Carran: I agree. I agree. And I kind of, along that same line, I loved hearing him talk about. High tech and high touch just his, his, his thought process of humans roles in, in hotels, along with how technology can work with humans to make it a better experience. So overall, I thought it was a, a great conversation. Enjoy it.

David M.: Modern Hotelier, hospitality's most engaged podcast. I'm David
Steve Carran: I'm Steve Carran.
Jon Bumhoffer: And I'm Jon Bumhoffer
David M.: Steve, who do
Steve Carran: Yeah, David. Today we have on Davis Howett Lambert. Davis is the VP of Marketing at Jonas Hospitality. He's a seasoned marketing leader, renowned for his strategic vision and innovative approach in hospitality technology, his collaborative Leader style and commitment to excellence have consistently driven brand growth and enhanced customer engagement. Welcome to the show Davis.
Davis Howatt-Lambert: Thanks for having me.
David M.: So we're gonna go through a couple sections. We're gonna do a lightning round, some quick questions. We're gonna get to know you a little bit better, your background, your, your career, and then we're gonna dive into some industry topics. Sound good?
Davis Howatt-Lambert: great to me.
David M.: All right. What's something that you wish you were better at?
Davis Howatt-Lambert: Well, I think everyone could be better at public speaking, so we'll put that to the test today.
David M.: Right. Uh, what's your most used app on your phone?
Davis Howatt-Lambert: Ooh, that's, uh, that's gotta be a toss up. Probably, probably Instagram. But uh, recently it's been the realtor app. As I look for, for a new host,
David M.: Got it. What's a luxury you can't live without?
Davis Howatt-Lambert: probably I. If someone would, uh, someone would say that I am, I'm anxious to get out on the golf course again as it starts to warm up where I am. 
David M.: If you could trade places with Bond for a day, who would it be?
Davis Howatt-Lambert: Ooh, interesting. I'd probably keep with the golf, golf, uh, side of things, wouldn't mind being Rory recently winning the Masters. That that seems like a great day.
David M.: All right. And what's the best piece of advice that you've received?
Davis Howatt-Lambert: probably to just treat people with kindness and respect. You know, if you are kinda leading in that way, it just makes life more enjoyable and makes, whether it's in the work environment, a better place to work. you know, in social settings it's just treat people with kindness and respect.
David M.: I agree. What's your favorite city and why?
Davis Howatt-Lambert: Ooh. Lot of good ones. I'm probably most partial to Paris. I grew up in Canada. We do French, um, so I did all of my schooling in French growing up. So it's cool to travel somewhere, where you can actually use that skillset. 'cause I don't use it all the time. And just the history that's there is, is amazing. The architecture, the art, the food can't be beat.
Steve Carran: great. Very. Well done. So now we're gonna dive into your background a little bit, kind of what makes you tick and where you're from. So you grew up in Edmonton, Alberta, is that correct?
Davis Howatt-Lambert: Yes. Uh, lived here most of my life, although short periods in the UK and, uh, recently moved back to Edmonton after a decade in.
Steve Carran: Nice. How did growing up in Edmonton shape you into who you are today?
Davis Howatt-Lambert: you know, it was a great place to grow up. good education system. most of my closest friends are still people I went through high school and university together, who've branched off and done completely different and amazing things, whether it's, you know. In the hospitality technology space like I'm in, or we have, um, some bioengineers lawyers, doctors, they've all done quite amazing things and it's kind of just because it was this great place to kind of raise a family, it was a very good childhood.
David M.: Okay, and you went to the University of Alberta and you got a degree in political science, but then you went back and you got a degree in marketing. What caused you to go back and switch to marketing?
Davis Howatt-Lambert: I did political science to start out with ha originally had aspirations of being a lawyer. kind of realized that wasn't gonna be for me. And following the political science path there was either, you know, I. Keep going with degrees and go the academia route or work for some NGOs, something like that, which neither of those were really appealing to me trying to figure out what I truly enjoyed.
And there were a couple of industries that I specifically wanted to work in, one of which was fashion. My, my mother was a professor of fashion history, at the U of A. Actually, my, my wife graduated from that program as well. So I was maybe thinking of, of doing something related to fashion and marketing.
I didn't want to just be a marketer for, to sell things for, for any purpose. So it had to be something that I was interested in. Uh, when we moved out to Toronto, this job opportunity at Leonardo Worldwide opened up, who are, you know, I. The imaging content specialist within the hospitality industry.
I love travel, I like technology. It sounded very interesting to me. So I started there. and really that was my way into Jonas Hospitality and I've been with Jonas Hospitality for about nine years now. It's hard to believe that much time's passed.
Steve Carran: that's awesome. That's awesome. So one of your hobbies I. I don't know if it's a current hobby or if this is something you did in the past, but it was, it's rock climbing. Is that right?
Davis Howatt-Lambert: I have gone rock climbing. did it more as a kid, but my, my in-laws family are really big into that. So, um. You probably saw my, my photo on LinkedIn has me scaling up a mountain in Jasper, which is, you know, a place we love to get away to. And my mother-in-law and my, my brother-in-law are both very avid rock climbers, so he was able to go up and set all the anchors properly. So I felt safe doing it in that environment, but, uh, I enjoy it. I just can't look down.
Steve Carran: Fair enough. Is Jasper your favorite place to go, or do you have another spot that that tops it?
Davis Howatt-Lambert: It's, it's pretty amazing. it was pretty sad last year. There was a devastating wildfire that came through there, actually while we were out there, so, um. Pretty interesting time needing to evacuate in a couple of minutes notice. we got very lucky, um, in that our, our family's cabin, um, survived. But the, the town itself, about half of it burnt down just starting the rebuilding process now, but it is, it is a crown jewel of Canada. Some of the most beautiful scenery you'll see anywhere. Even after the fire, you know, it's a massive national park that's just got so many great outdoor activities to do and love getting up there whenever I can.
Steve Carran: That's great. That's great. Well, now we're gonna learn about your career, how you became the VP of marketing at Jonas Hospitality. So, you started out more on the food service and retail side after college. What did those early days teach you that you still take with you today?
Davis Howatt-Lambert: mean, there's definitely an element of hospitality and to both of those that, that you need to know when you're, when you're coming into this, at the end of the day, we sell software, but we're we're selling solutions to problems that, uh, hotels are trying to overcome. They're really just trying to provide that top level hospitality and leveraging the technology to be able to do that.
So I can definitely see parallels, between the two, especially restaurants, you know, many hotels have restaurants in their lobby and everything. it also teaches you to think fast, you know, deal with unruly customers, everything like that. But it definitely helped from a hospitality standpoint.
David M.: after that, you, Leonardo, as you said. Do you feel like that's your place and now you've found kind of your passion for marketing in the hospitality space?
Davis Howatt-Lambert: Yeah, it's, it's been great ever since. you know, I kind of look personally in my career that I always wanna be challenged. I always wanna be growing. I contrast this to maybe some of my other. Friends who've, you know, maybe bounced around from job to job to find that. But I've been lucky, to be in a position and in an organization that really values professional development and growth and will let you kind of step yourself up and show your own drive and passion, and help you get there.
And so it's always been, there's been a next opportunity for me and something that just pushes me forward to learn more, to do more and, and take on more responsibility. So it's been a great fit.
Steve Carran: That's great. So now you're at Jonas Hospitality and you worked your way up to VP of Marketing. For those that aren't familiar with Jonas Hospitality, can you give us a little bit of an overview about what you all do?
Davis Howatt-Lambert: So we're, we're a family of technology brands, um, specifically in the hospitality space. We're owned by our parent company, which, is in the process of ac Acquisi, acquiring more and more, companies. We're a little bit different from others like that, though we're not, a VC fund. We really pride ourselves in being, a buy and hold forever company.
So whenever we acquire a company, we're really, make. Looking to make them the best they possibly can be, improve their solutions, improve the performance for their customers. And we're just growing into a much more robust kind of full suite service. Um, Since I've started, like when I started with Jonas Hospitality, I was just with Leonardo.
That was kind of my introduction in Leonardo was acquired. we're able to kind of see the synergies between some of our other companies. So around 2021, started almost an internal marketing agency, for a few of our companies, including Jonas Corrum. few years later, sprinter Miller and Spa Soft were brought into it.
Uh, starting this year, you know, we're now responsible for before check-in and, app Tech, one of our newest acquisitions. So we're really rounding out the portfolio and having a solution for pretty much any need that a Hotelier would have across their property or their brand. 
Steve Carran: It's awesome.
David M.: So you hit on some of the companies. Are there other companies and maybe just. Everyone what the, those services and products are that Jonas provides to the.
Davis Howatt-Lambert: Yeah, there, there are definitely a few ones that you know I'm not personally responsible with, but we do have close working relationships. one of the newest ones recently announced Arian out of France is, you know, a kiosk specialty company. obviously the PMSs with Springer Miller and Quorum, spas oft on the spa side.
we also have our sister company, Jonas Club, which is really on the golf side, but. Fits into, you know, the resorts that have, have the golf amenities as well. AB tech, uh, is our newest kind of addition in which is a new space we didn't really have before, which is on the accounting and financial side, which is a great addition to the portfolio.
Was shocked to hear. They've been around for 50 plus years and it's hard to believe that software companies have been around that that long. But they're really an industry leader. Yeah, Leonardo on the website side Tangerine Global in terms of in-room entertainment. The list goes on, and if you ask me again in a few months, I'm sure there'll be a few more to add to that.
Steve Carran: It sounds like anything a hotel needs, they can almost come to Jonas and look at the suite of products and suite of companies that fall under the Jonas Hospitality umbrella. I.
Davis Howatt-Lambert: Absolutely. That's kind of what we're trying to do. You know, we do have other elements of our, our larger parent organization that are in different industries and they try and keep them a little bit more separated. We take more of a hybrid approach. I. That understands that hoteliers need all of these different ones in connection.
So while we're all independently run companies and you know, we can focus on developing really feature rich products, and solutions, we've integrated through our, our other technology, our Jonas Arc integration platform to really be able to provide you everything that you would need to run your hotel efficiently.
Steve Carran: That's awesome because we hear all the time on the podcast how technology not talking to each other or not having those open APIs and just that communication not flowing freely between systems is such a burden for hotels. So love to hear that you all are, are tackling that issue. 
Steve Carran: So now we're gonna get into more of the industry thought section of this podcast, and I'm excited to hear your perspective on this since you do work with so many different companies under the Jonas umbrella. So how do you feel that technology is going to reshape the guest experience in hospitality?
Davis Howatt-Lambert: I I think a key here is personalization and, and using data to be able to really help provide that personalization. So. It starts with every single touch point that you have. So online is, often a very first touch point when someone's researching, you know, their website, making sure that there's personalized content.
And You know, for someone like me who's a golfer, can, do you have the imagery on your website that that appeals to me that that's more front and center? Or can you do little interesting things like looking at what. Timeframe they're booking. If you're a a four Seasons resort and they're looking in the winter, are you showing skiing imagery versus, you know, beach activity if you're coming in the summer?
Things like that, really help from that first initial, touchpoint. And then when that booking's made hotels collect so much data on the guest really. But it's How did they unlock that? when you have something in place that, like a customer data platform is very important as a way to create a, golden master record of each of your guests and really have that available across all of your, systems.
So when you have that, you know, you can have basic things like. the front desk greeting people by name because they know who it is. They can ask how their massage appointment that morning was, you know, if they'd like to make any changes to their itinerary while they're at the at the state.
Housekeeping can look and see a preference of. You know, memory foam pillows 'cause someone's allergic to the down. there's really tons of options. Restaurants as well, you know, having someone's dietary restrictions held up, seeing their past, uh, history if they've stayed before. So you can make recommendations on what type of dishes or maybe wine pairing they'd like with it.
it really just gets to that point where when you take. The data and really have access to it and give the same access to everyone. Each touch point that you have with someone can be a truly personalized experience and improve the guest experience.
Steve Carran: That's awesome. That's great.
David M.: So continuing on that, is the future of hospitality more high tech or high touch, in your opinion?
Davis Howatt-Lambert: It's tough. I kind of want to cop out and say both. Um. I think it's one thing where every, every hotel needs to adopt technology in certain ways. there's some that can go fully high, high tech. for example, I was, I had a work trip in the fall and it was something where I knew I was going, arriving late.
I wouldn't be at the hotel much. I just needed a place close to the office. Easy to get in and out. It was one, the only staff that was in this hotel was housekeeping, who would come once a day to clean, clean the rooms and change 'em as they're over Everything check in done on my phone, ki a store entry.
You know, I got in late, so I was just, boom. As soon as the taxi dropped me off, I was in bed 15 minutes later and I was refreshed for the next morning. Now that's not gonna work. For everyone. not sure if you guys have been watching, but White Lotus has been pretty big in our household and they, uh, they start every season with a boat arrival, where then there's like five, five staff that are there greeting all of these people by name.
You know, if you're getting off this boat and there's just a kiosk there welcoming you instead, it's not, really gonna have the same level of expectations that the guests have. Another ongoing thing throughout the White Lotus season this year is they, uh, they were trying to get everyone to get rid of their phones at this high end wellness resort Unplug None of them wanted to get rid of that because they we're all so connected to our phones. So even in those really highend. Luxury resorts, there's ways of incorporating technology to improve it. You know, having automated itineraries come out so that you can see that, and that can be online, it can be in your, your app that you have, can even get it to be displayed on your TV daily.
Like, you know, you turn on the TV in the guest room in the morning and you can see it's like, oh, a spa appointment at 11, tea time at 4:00 PM whatever it is. So there's all these ways of embracing technology, and I think everyone will. It's just some specific use cases will be able to go fully high tech and that'll help them in terms of staffing costs, like the hotel I stayed at in the fall.
And then I think the other ones are more just needing to leverage that technology to improve that personalized guest experience that they can deliver on.
David M.: We'll get John to edit in the White Lotus Music during that answer.
Davis Howatt-Lambert: Oh, it's a great song.
Steve Carran: Beautiful. Beautiful. So, kind of on that same topic with technology and humans, what is the future of how humans are gonna play? What role are they gonna play when we are kind of moving towards more of a, a tech-driven hospitality industry?
Davis Howatt-Lambert: I think it comes down to a return to. More customer focused hospitality. you know, the tools that are coming out now, to be able to speed things up, really allow. the Staff to spend less time doing these, manual chores and instead having that data in front of you to be able to focus on the hospitality side.
so using the itineraries example again, we had one customer who was doing this manually, for only a select few VIPs, but they'd have to log into each system separately. You know, the PMS, their spa system, their golf tea time, their restaurant reservation system. It would take 45 minutes to an hour to compile these itineraries, which are.
Great. And the guests really like, but they could only deliver that for, you know. Couple dozen a month. Now it's all automated through our system and they produce 5,000 itineraries a month, and every guest has access to it. It gives them the control, it also gives the, the staff the ability to see everything about it and then, you know, provide better, better recommendations, better services through it.
so I think there's a lot of opportunities. For, for guests to improve there. I think there's also certain technology that's coming out, that will allow some hotels to, may maybe move some staff offsite, some hybrid or remote positions. you know, thinking around, call centers, reservation centers, things like that, especially for a group of hotels.
we have great solutions for that. Now that someone without a lot of information about every single property within that, that portfolio would be able to go in and provide recommended advice, book everything for them, and do that. And that might be something that you need on, on staff. you know, other things like.
Kiosks, while they might not fit in the white lotus, they're great in other properties. So, um, having those there, frees up time for your front desk staff when you don't have to be helping every single customer, because some will want to go there naturally. but then the ones that you do spend time with, you can have more in depth conversations.
You can, you can provide that level of service that they expect 'cause you're not trying to get them through to help the next person after them. So I really see it as a way of. Improving efficiency a bit, to be able to return and focus on that true hospitality.
Steve Carran: That's great. That's great. So I have a follow up question to this kind of what you think is gonna happen next. last year, boutique independent, more. More lifestyle brands really took off having a phenomenal year with RevPAR growth. this year a little slower. But do you think with technology there's gonna be more diversification of more of these independent properties where we're gonna see some that kind of, like you said earlier, are all automated with maybe one or two people on premise, and then there will be those properties where it is.
More personalized and it is that high touch more, more touch points than, you know, a traditional property where you know, you might have a mobile check-in or something like that. Do you think we're gonna see more properties kind of diversified over the next few years? I.
Davis Howatt-Lambert: I'd say so, and I mean, you, you've got it on the independent side, you know, each independent has full control to, to provide the service and brand their hotel the way that they want to. I think you're even seeing it on the chain side a bit with, you know, maybe kind of properties that don't carry the main flag.
But are are part of that collection and have a unique Yeah, exactly. A lot of soft brands that are, that are providing a unique value set. And so when I stayed at that completely contactless or human less hotel, that was, that was great. I'm not, I don't wanna stay there every single time I'm gonna travel, you know, it, it has a specific use case.
So whether it's more in the form of. Boutique wellness retreats for people who are going away for that. you know, golf destinations that are, that are a big thing. Corporate hotels, I think everyone will try and. Try and find their specific niche. 'cause that's really the main thing. Like when you're, you're selling yourself, you're selling your hotel, you're selling a story, what is it that someone's gonna get?
And people need different experiences for each different type of travel they take throughout the year, whether it's business, travel, leisure, if you're going with your family or it's a weekend away for husband and wife, you know, there's, there's always room to get a little bit more granular and a little bit more specialized.
Steve Carran: Agree a hundred percent. Well said.
David M.: So you touched on it already, but can you. Really just talk about how data ai, you know, which is the buzzword everyone was talking about, how, how is that gonna improve operational efficiency and hospitality?
Davis Howatt-Lambert: AI is definitely, definitely the buzzword. Uh, you can't talk about the future of hospitality without mentioning it. I think it's important though to take the step back. From AI and talk about the data as the key thing. If you have. Bad data inputs, you're gonna have bad data outputs. It doesn't really matter how good the AI technology is if you're feeding it bad information to begin with.
So probably like I have seen, Google's experimenting with AI on their search results and sometimes their responses are great, and other times they just completely miss the point of what I'm asking about. You know, we're still in the early stages and we're refining it. It's only gonna get better.
So for us it's really about consolidating that data, which is where customer data platform is very important 'cause it houses all of your guest data. Once you have that all in one place, instead of in siloed systems across your hotel where you maybe have four different profiles for the same person, that all has different information tied to it.
When you consolidate it, you can then feed it through a lot of these interesting tools and it can help you with predictions on terms of, When you should send the right marketing content to someone based off of their history, you know, if they're. They've been at the spa before. It's a good fit into this specific segment.
AI can go beyond that and, you know, the generative side, of it can really help with even crafting that messaging, whether that's subject lines or the copy in any of your marketing materials. it'll help you make better decisions, you know, around pricing of your rooms moving forward. I can see, what strategies you do there to maximize your, your RevPAR.
Really the, the future's endless and AI's really just gonna be a, a tool for us. I think. I think some people are a little overblown with kind of the fear of AI coming in. but you've gotta stay in touch with, um, what's happening and what's changing. Learn how to leverage these tools. Don't get caught by the buzzwords.
Just 'cause it says it's AI doesn't mean it's a useful tool and vice versa. So, It's about choosing the right, right tools that are going to improve that efficiency for you and take hours out, give you back hours in your day that you're otherwise spending doing manual tasks. So it's a big focus for us on every one of our, every one of our companies are working on AI initiatives, but again, we wanna make sure that what we're releasing is.
Valuable and, and is actually that, rather than just smacking an AI label on it and, and trying to say that's what it is.
Steve Carran: Very well said. I am gonna cut that clip what you said about for the people that are scared of ai and anytime I talk to somebody who's scared of ai, I'm gonna send that clip over. 'cause that was just really well said on your end, Davis. so. One question I'm curious about here, everybody here has sold technology to, to hotels, but what are some of the most important things to consider when hotels are selecting the right property?
How are, how do you find that technology? 'cause there's so many different technology companies out there. How do you find the one that's the right fit for your property?
Davis Howatt-Lambert: I think, one of the most important things to consider is you're selecting a partner. some companies might treat their, their customers as just like another line on their balance sheet, but for us, we really pride ourselves in focusing on true customer centric. product development and everything there.
So, you know, and when someone has an issue, issues will always come up regardless. Instead of needing to spend, you know, hours scouring a customer community for an article that, that solves the problem you're having. You know, all of our customers, you know, the phone number they can call, pick up the phone.
Most of them know our support agents by name or their account managers at least, you know, they get those issues resolved immediately. And they look at it and truly lead our development. We don't want to come and look that. This is how we think technology should go. We wanna understand our customer's needs and build based off of them to solve solutions.
So we really guide that and put our customers really close to our developers even. It's very rare to have developers on a call with a customer, but we'll do that just so that we can get something done that truly meets their needs rather than trying to have that. Problem translated between four or five different departments.
So internally, we're breaking down silos the same way that hotels are trying to break down silos with their technology, to get the right solutions out there. so really I think it's about choosing the right partner that values you, understands your needs, and you know, as basic as gonna pick up the phone when you call.
David M.: So, as more and more technology is made available to hotel users, is the future of hospitality technology heading more towards best of breed solutions or all in one solutions in your opinion?
Davis Howatt-Lambert: I feel like this is circular, and depending on when you ask me, it'll one will be leading, will be leading the other. you know, there's advantages to all in one solution. Single billing. you don't have to deal with as many demos, contracts, you just have that. you often get solutions that are maybe a mile wide but an inch deep and they don't have that, that deep functionality where someone needs that always leaves the door open to startups coming in, you know, creating one specialized product that really excels and is feature rich and you know, those then push best of breed back more towards the top.
Then those get acquired by the larger companies, comes more to an all in one solution. So I find it's quite circular. where we differ a little bit is we're trying to bridge the gap between the two. As I mentioned earlier, we're, we're a family of best of breed solutions. So each, each company has its own dedicated development team, account managers, everything like that, so they can focus on creating the best product that they manufacture.
But we. We then combine all of these together through our Jonas Arc integration engine, so you can pick and choose to basically create your own unified platform of John Jonas hospitality products. However, we don't limit you. We're not like, okay, you have to buy all of our products or that if there's a specific product that, that you want added in, that can be connected in through Jonas Arc as well, so you can really custom build your own platform.
That is pretty much an all in one. Made up of entirely best of breed solutions. And then you get the best of both worlds in my mind.
Steve Carran: That's great. That's great. Well, so we have been asking you questions this whole time, so we're gonna turn the tables and, uh, we're gonna let you ask David and I a question.
Davis Howatt-Lambert: Oh, a little. A little bit more preparation here would've been nice. Let's, so let's see.
Steve Carran: See, we gotta keep you on your toes a
Davis Howatt-Lambert: Yeah. Well, I'd be imis if I didn't ask about, uh, customer data platforms as that's a big focus for ours. It's something that's a relatively new technology. how do you see kind of customer data platforms, replacing CRMs potentially, or in addition to CRMs to really help, hotels understand their data, data and leverage their data?
Steve Carran: Man, I'm glad you're asking this question now. I learned about CDPs, uh, while I was in California, while we were actually talking to, another customer about this. So, David, I'll field it first. I think like the one thing that CDPs are really gonna help out with is, you know, the personalization, um, and how.
You can just create an overall better guest experience from a, from a CRM perspective to using a CDP. I just think it's a little bit more personalized and it's kind of that it seems like that next phase of CRMs that it just makes sense to introduce more CDPs to the industry than, you know, CRMs in general.
They just have more capabilities, more personalization, seems that they're able to handle kind of all the data, not just, One part of the hotel stay, they're able to encompass everything, activities, restaurants, you know, spas, golf, every part of the guest journey into kind of the CDP to, to create, a more, more customized journey for the guest.
So I think we're gonna see a lot more of them. And, I don't know how many people, how, how familiar folks are with CDPs. but I think it's gonna become kind, I don't know, as big as ai, but it's definitely gonna become, an acronym that we hear more and more.
David M.: For me, I'll, I'll take a little different angle. For me, it's just the adoption of even getting to the point where you're using data to, to better enhance the guests stay. And I think that's one of the biggest, you know, one of my pet peeves is you always talk about, you know. We've been talking about personalization and using guest data for many, many, many years, and we're an industry that it makes so much sense to use that data, but yet hotels don't. And so for me, I. It absolutely is critical, and hoteliers should be really just taking advantage of that because I think everybody wants that. Everybody wants some sort of personalization and wants to feel like the hotel or where they're staying knows a little bit about them, especially when it's a property that you've stayed several times.
So for me it's just a, it's kind of like it. There's gonna have to be this wake up moment where hoteliers just say, we've gotta use the data that we have and do a better job.
Davis Howatt-Lambert: Yeah, absolutely.
Steve Carran: Nice. Nice. Well, we got one more question for you Davis, our producer, John, he's been listening behind the scenes here, so we're gonna kick it over to him for one final question before we get you outta here.
Jon Bumhoffer: I like the part where you were talking. About like the high tech versus high touch and where you kind of, where different hotels fall on that, that spectrum. And I don't think there's a right answer. Every hotel's different, but where I think it makes a difference to the guest is the marketing and expectations set.
Like you, you referenced your recent stay where there was really no staff outside of h housekeepers, but if that was marketed differently and you were expecting something different, you would've. Maybe had a disappointing stay. So how would you like encourage hotels to get a handle on one, what their hotel is for, or who their hotel is for, and how to correctly set those expectations with the technology and or, or where they fall on that high tech, high touch spectrum, like to set those proper expectations.
Davis Howatt-Lambert: I mean the, that hotel that I stayed at in, in particular, Was very clear about it. And I think it starts with your website, as that's the one place where you can truly control your messaging and you make it clear there. So I, I knew what I was getting into with that one. In the other cases where you're going to maybe a more midscale property or something like that, I think adopting the technology is more just about providing additional options.
It's not that this is, this is just replacing and this is the way we're gonna do it. Little things like, you know, having your PPOS being able to take payments at the table, by scanning QR codes, that's becoming more of a norm. I'm not always gonna want to pay that way, but if I, you know, gotta catch a cab and make my, make my way to the airport quickly, my server's busy.
That's a great addition to have. Same sort of thing. It's like having a kiosk in your, your lobby to help with check-ins. I might not always go there if there's no line at the front desk. I'll go and talk to someone and do that, but you know, if that's gonna get me through faster, we're all used to using them at airports as well.
It's, it's very commonsensical to do that. and you know, other things like going back to the website, One of our solutions we have includes, uh, a chat bott or an AI reservation assistant. And within that, it's like we probably all had some negative experiences with chatbots over the time. They're getting a lot better though, and it's great for answering, really basic questions, but it can also just have one of the staff jump in and take on, take over the conversation so that you have a one-on-one with a real person.
It's not that it's just like we're replacing all of the communications you have with a chat bot. It's like we're giving you this new channel, we're allowing you to communicate this way to get something easily, but we're also still bringing in that human touch. And I think whether you're talking kiosks, the POS payment, anything that's getting a little bit more high tech, it's just about giving that option unless you want to go to that extreme and really via staff less hotel.
David M.: Well, that does it for another episode of The Modern Hotelier. This is where Davis, you get to let people know how they can get in touch with you, how they can learn more about Jonas. So plug away.
Davis Howatt-Lambert: You can visit us jonashospitality.com. just recently launched a new version of that site, um, highlighting a bunch of our companies. That's the best way to, to find out high level where they all are, can link out to all of our many brands that we have. To find out more about the specific ones. Uh, you probably also see us at trade shows coming up, you know.
High tech, we're always there. Um, see you at the hospitality show. you can always reach out to me directly, I guess.
David M.: All right. That's great. Well, that does it for another episode of The Modern Hotelier Most Engaged Podcast in hospitality. For those of you who are watching or listening, we appreciate you and we thank you for joining us, and we will see you again soon. Thank you, Davis.
Davis Howatt-Lambert: Thanks for having me.
Steve Carran: Thank you.