A Study on Potentials to Develop Smart Rooms for the Hotel Industry in Sri Lanka (Special Reference to Five Star Hotels in Western Province)
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Date
2017
Authors
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Publisher
Uva Wellassa University of Sri Lanka
Abstract
ABSTRACT
Over the last decade, hospitality industry has been evolved at a rapid pace. Previously,
hospitality companies made significant efforts to create a variety of new facilities for
guests to enjoy, as well as to increase guest satisfaction by meeting customers'
growing expectations. Even today, there is fierce competition for providing unique
amenities to guests both inside and outside of the room. The concept of smart room
with automated, highly efficient use of technology is the best solution. The way the
world is evolving towards more technological advancement is unavoidable, and thus
changes in the dynamics of a guest room are also evolving over time. A smart room
can have a wide range of features and structures. The systematic literature review of
the study has recognized the gap in the lack of research has taken place to identify the
potentials to develop smart rooms for the hospitality industry. Therefore, the research
study aims to examine the potentiality of developing smart rooms for the hospitality
industry in Sri Lanka. With that, the study has three objectives and main objective is
to examine the hoteliers’ perception of Smart rooms. The study was conducted by
using the qualitative method underpinned by phenomenology research approach. A
sample of ten general managers and IT managers from five-star hotels will use to
collect data for the study using purposive sampling technique. Collected data was
transcribed and analyzed using thematic analysis. Structured interview method was
used to investigate perception, potentiality of implementation as well as opportunities
& barrier to implementation. Results indicated that, Sri Lankan hotels are not much
familiar with smart room concept and the technology as well as limited knowledge on
smart technological tools. This study contributes to the literature by providing a
detailed mapping of the existing literature on smart rooms and tourism studies, which
pose a greater challenge for hotel industry development in the current circumstances.
Based on the findings, researchers recommend fully developed AI smart room
technology for new and up-coming hotels.
Keywords: Smart Rooms (SR), Smart Technological Tools. Automated,
Phenomenology
Description
Keywords
Hospitality, Tourism and Events Management degree programme (HTE)