The connected digital economy has had a great impact on the way the industry works and what hotels offer, as Carlo Gagliardi of PricewaterhouseCoopers discusses in this TV show.

Connected digital economy and a new generation of consumers

A lot of players in the hospitality industry are doing their best to become more digital. But I think like many players in a number of sectors, we are looking typically at the traditional touch points, which is research, booking and checking in and checking out, which is all great and good. But I believe that there is a huge area of potential during the stay, so between check-in and check-out and after the stay. So during check-in and check-out, technology nowadays can capture a lot of information that tells the hotelier what your goal as a guest is and it is incredibly valuable. And after the stay new generations are much more keen to link their stays in time and in space. They want to tell their friends what they visit in the world if it’s a leisure objective or for their travel. So I think the industry has got a long way to go to take advantage of what digital can do for them. The interesting development is that the move from some hotels to provide Wi-Fi for free or a very interesting rate I think is a good sign of digital potential exploitation by the industry. The Hospitality Channel will continue to follow discussions around the connected digital economy.  

Some say that the age of big data is upon us. In this TV show Carlo Gagliardi of PwC explains why big data it is even bigger than it seems.

The age of big data is just beginning

In the defence of the hospitality industry, I think big data is a contentious topic because some analysts say that you have to embrace it, without it you won’t go anywhere. And some other analysts are a bit sceptical about it. The truth is that the volume of data is exploding in our faces. Just to give you a stat, which I found scary when I read it, 90% of all the data digitally captured in the world today has been created over the last two years. But the majority of this data is noise. So I believe the hotel industry, the hospitality industry needs to look at big data but with clarity of what they use it for rather than just have a swim in a sea of big data for the sake of it. The loyalty programmes are a toe in the water of big data. If you enjoyed this video about the age of big data, why not watch more TV shows on The Hospitality Channel?