Hospitality Design - October 2011 - 75

forecast: richard saul wurman

perspectives

on the record
TED creator Richard Saul Wurman shares his predictions for the hospitality industry
I’m usually a bit lost when I travel. I always revel in the joy of relief when somebody holding a sign with my name on it picks me up at the airport. The anxiety ﬂows out of me. Somehow, I become immediately less worried about how I’m getting to where I’m going; I’m not lost anymore. Travel is about being lost, being found, adventure, and having a good meeting. I make my hotel, for at least part of my journey, the center of my universe. I get up there in the morning, I go to bed there at night, and as much as possible, I like to do things that I can walk to from there. Prediction No. 1: More contextual information On an ideal trip, my universe is a 10- or 15-minute walk from the front door of the hotel. Therefore I think it’s the obligation and the service of each hotel individually to provide me with an understandable, dynamic map that gives me possibilities and availabilities from the front door of my hotel. I know they like to sell expensive breakfasts, but I would like to know what coffee shops, what restaurants, what convenience stores, what drug stores, what things of interest—whether they are museums or parks or covered ways— are possible from this universe that I’ve artiﬁcially created when I chose to visit that place, that hotel. My ﬁrst prediction for the hospitality industry therefore is that in the name of better service, hotels will begin to provide guests with useful information about their surrounding areas. That’s the soft prediction I have about the hospitality industry, which is not so difﬁcult to do. Prediction No. 2: Luggage expedited This hard prediction is about walking out of the front door of my house and arriving at my hotel room to ﬁnd my bags there, unpacked, unfolded, toothpaste on the counter, toothbrush plugged in, and the TV turned on to CNN. That’s a little more difﬁcult to do, but there are pieces of that that are starting to fall into place at good hotels. Prediction No. 3: More virtual connectivity My third prediction of central networks by small groups of individuals. This is already in the works in several hundred locations around the world, but will soon be ubiquitous. Prediction No 4: Friendlier spaces for conversation My last prediction is really more of a desire: less thumping elevator noise and less harsh bar and restaurant noise, which prevents the pleasure of conversation and dialogue. You can solve the information problem in No. 1, and you can certainly solve the logistics problem in No. 2. Prediction No. 3 is an eventuality, and No. 4 is my wish. is both opportunity and challenge: the extremely rapid growth of the various telepresence systems, which today cost six ﬁgures, will soon be available on the ﬂatscreen TV in your room and on your tablet. This will lead to rooms or pods for such virtual meetings and development

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October 2011

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