InnSpire Improves the Digital Guest Journey

STOCKHOLM—Technology company InnSpire is working on becoming “the hotel’s best friend,” according to CEO Martin Chevalley.

“We have learned that there are so many general managers, chief information officers, owners and others out there who feel overwhelmed by the abundant options and multitude of technology players who each offer one small piece of a solution that is difficult to manage without single unified platform,” he said.

With that in mind, InnSpire aims to help guide hotel teams to take ownership of managing the delivery of a comprehensive guest experience, from the perspective of in-room controls, casting of content, TV channels, streaming services, music, games, room service and more.

“For us, this means helping to drive increased revenue while driving guest satisfaction, and basically offering a turnkey digital roadmap—and bringing it to life,” said Chevalley. “We realized we are sitting on so much expertise that wasn’t being fully utilized. Now with our turnkey approach, we can offer so much more value for our customers and really help them make all the right choices—bringing great effectiveness as an added benefit.”

InnSpire has been working with the Viceroy Hotels & Resorts brand for several years, and the tech company is currently working on enhancing service at Viceroy Los Cabos in Mexico.

“The hotel wanted to deliver on the promise of a luxury experience and saw InnSpire as key to helping its guests have access, through the television and mobile devices, to all of the amenities, services and information that the hotel offers to enhance their experience—all while improving the entertainment and streaming experience,” he said. “Allowing the guest to book a spa while poolside or get the perfect bottle of wine delivered to their room, not only helps to drive additional revenue but it makes for a happier, more satisfied guest who spreads the good word. We, of course, hope to continue deepening our cooperation with Viceroy over the coming years, and our voice-control project together with Volara is a great example of that.”

Mobile access to stream content, or order products and hotel services are increasingly important to guest. Chevalley sees seamlessness as the next step forward.

“InnSpire has won an HTNG award for our streaming solution; it is one of the most popular features in our platform,” he said. “That function is something that we have delivered for many years and is becoming more common and expected in the marketplace. Today, the landscape is quite scattered, and there are too many tools and interfaces that the guests have to deal with. We believe that the guest should not have to care about which device they should use for what. It should all be the same natural and seamless experience regardless, from booking to arrival to using the hotels’ entertainment features to check out—and coming back again. Our digital guest journey aims to create exactly this: one consistent interface and experience throughout the entire guest journey.”

InnSpire has experienced significant growth in the past three years, and Chevalley expects it to continue in 2019.

“We continue to learn so much from our customers’ wishes and ideas, our installations and from the hotel guests,” he said. “Using that data and customer feedback to continue to innovate, improve and enhance the next-generation solution is truly exciting and what we believe will continue to drive the expectations forward for our partners and their guests. So, in short, we’re very much looking forward to the various product launches we have coming up over the year together with our major partners worldwide.”