Sunday, 6 November 2011
Wednesday, 2 November 2011
The Chosen Concept
As I have introduced in the Customer Need section the two major needs of the deaf and hard of hearing people are effective communication with the providers of services during their trip and independent travelling. If these two needs are fulfilled the customers will be likely to make the most of their journey. Using modern technologies it is possible to meet these expectations and it would not only enable deaf people to travel without interpreters, but would also let them gain amazing experiences out of their trip.
First of all, travellers with hearing impairment often face issues concerning the communication with the providers of services. In the ‘‘Healthy Travel: Don‘t Travel Without It!‘‘ handbook for travellers I have read a statement: ‘‘Any traveler who is deaf or hard of hearing should, of course, always carry a notepad and a pen or pencil to communicate in writing whenever necessary.‘‘ (Zimring and Iannucci, p. 26 ). However, in the 21st century, smartphones could replace such old ways of communication with the providers of services as probably the majority of people are always carrying their telephones anyway. In the following way, this would make communication much more convenient and modern as deaf people would not need to ask individuals to write on a paper or print symbols on their palms. Especially it would be useful when the deaf or hard of hearing people travel alone and without an interpreter. There is a number of different situations when this type of communication would help during the journey, for example, when checking in a hotel or choosing and experiencing tour or excursion.
In November 2007, in the United Nations, Bangkok, Thailand an event called "International Conference on Accessible Tourism" was organized. The author was Muhammad Akram who is a deaf person himself and he provided a presentation with a title of "Accessible Tourism from the Perspective of Deaf and Hard of Hearing People". During the event he shared various problems and experiences from his personal travels. For example, he indicated that deaf customers staying in hotels can not contact reception from their rooms and if they need anything they have to go to the reception themselves. In contrast, any other customers can use telephones provided in the rooms and call the reception (Danishkadah, 2007). Nevertheless, using the smartphones text and email messaging is available which could be applied in this type of situations in order to improve deaf consumers‘ experiences while staying in a hotel. What is more, if a hotel offers special services for deaf customers, for example, a person in staff who knows sign language, video calls could be used. For instance, Apple iPhone 4S can offer convenient video calls as there are two built-in cameras, one on the front and one on the back (Apple, 2011).
Secondly, a lot of people want to take tours around the place they are visiting. However, people who have problems with hearing or are deaf might often feel disappointed as they feel that their expectations of a tour were not fully met. ‘‘A guided tour experience for deaf people would require the tour operator to provide a sign language interpreter or a printed copy of the commentary.‘‘ (United Nations, 2003). When deaf or hard of hearing people are taking excursion in a group they often face various problems. For instance, not all people can clearly see a guide telling information about the object or place in sign language. This issue often occurs when a certain visited place is very crowded. Thus, the usage of a smartphone and a special mobile app with an integrated augmented reality option would make the most significant contribution to improving holidays during the tours and excursions. Particular objects and places could be recognized by the augmented reality and the information about them could be provided by watching a video where a guide tells about that object or place in sign language. Facilities like this would make a tour or excursion much more convenient and interesting. People with hearing impairment would no longer need to follow the guide and always be tense. They could enjoy their tour with family and friends. Moreover, it would allow deaf and hard of hearing people to experience much more flexible excursion as they could plan the route of the tour by themselves. It also means that they have a choice either they want to know the whole detailed story of the place/object or just to watch a short video which contains basic facts.
Personally, if I could choose I would like that someone else tell me information during the tour rather than reading facts in a brochure or a guidebook. That is why I consider that video information for deaf people would be more interesting if they prefer to travel alone or can not afford a tour guide who knows sign language. Reading the brochures about famous places or objects during the tour might not seem very appealing to many people. In addition, it definitely would not have that strong effect on remembering information.
To sum up, if deaf and hard of hearing people are willing to use modern technologies they have much more independence when travelling. They can explore the places around individually and fully enjoy the tour. Individuals are able to plan the route and time by themselves and in the following way feel independent and flexible. What is more, they can communicate with the providers of services in a much more convenient way. Finally, deaf or hard of hearing would not feel left out or feel uncomfortable due to the hearing impairment. In other words, they can enjoy their independent travel and make the most of it.
First of all, travellers with hearing impairment often face issues concerning the communication with the providers of services. In the ‘‘Healthy Travel: Don‘t Travel Without It!‘‘ handbook for travellers I have read a statement: ‘‘Any traveler who is deaf or hard of hearing should, of course, always carry a notepad and a pen or pencil to communicate in writing whenever necessary.‘‘ (Zimring and Iannucci, p. 26 ). However, in the 21st century, smartphones could replace such old ways of communication with the providers of services as probably the majority of people are always carrying their telephones anyway. In the following way, this would make communication much more convenient and modern as deaf people would not need to ask individuals to write on a paper or print symbols on their palms. Especially it would be useful when the deaf or hard of hearing people travel alone and without an interpreter. There is a number of different situations when this type of communication would help during the journey, for example, when checking in a hotel or choosing and experiencing tour or excursion. 
In November 2007, in the United Nations, Bangkok, Thailand an event called "International Conference on Accessible Tourism" was organized. The author was Muhammad Akram who is a deaf person himself and he provided a presentation with a title of "Accessible Tourism from the Perspective of Deaf and Hard of Hearing People". During the event he shared various problems and experiences from his personal travels. For example, he indicated that deaf customers staying in hotels can not contact reception from their rooms and if they need anything they have to go to the reception themselves. In contrast, any other customers can use telephones provided in the rooms and call the reception (Danishkadah, 2007). Nevertheless, using the smartphones text and email messaging is available which could be applied in this type of situations in order to improve deaf consumers‘ experiences while staying in a hotel. What is more, if a hotel offers special services for deaf customers, for example, a person in staff who knows sign language, video calls could be used. For instance, Apple iPhone 4S can offer convenient video calls as there are two built-in cameras, one on the front and one on the back (Apple, 2011). Secondly, a lot of people want to take tours around the place they are visiting. However, people who have problems with hearing or are deaf might often feel disappointed as they feel that their expectations of a tour were not fully met. ‘‘A guided tour experience for deaf people would require the tour operator to provide a sign language interpreter or a printed copy of the commentary.‘‘ (United Nations, 2003). When deaf or hard of hearing people are taking excursion in a group they often face various problems. For instance, not all people can clearly see a guide telling information about the object or place in sign language. This issue often occurs when a certain visited place is very crowded. Thus, the usage of a smartphone and a special mobile app with an integrated augmented reality option would make the most significant contribution to improving holidays during the tours and excursions. Particular objects and places could be recognized by the augmented reality and the information about them could be provided by watching a video where a guide tells about that object or place in sign language. Facilities like this would make a tour or excursion much more convenient and interesting. People with hearing impairment would no longer need to follow the guide and always be tense. They could enjoy their tour with family and friends. Moreover, it would allow deaf and hard of hearing people to experience much more flexible excursion as they could plan the route of the tour by themselves. It also means that they have a choice either they want to know the whole detailed story of the place/object or just to watch a short video which contains basic facts.
Personally, if I could choose I would like that someone else tell me information during the tour rather than reading facts in a brochure or a guidebook. That is why I consider that video information for deaf people would be more interesting if they prefer to travel alone or can not afford a tour guide who knows sign language. Reading the brochures about famous places or objects during the tour might not seem very appealing to many people. In addition, it definitely would not have that strong effect on remembering information. To sum up, if deaf and hard of hearing people are willing to use modern technologies they have much more independence when travelling. They can explore the places around individually and fully enjoy the tour. Individuals are able to plan the route and time by themselves and in the following way feel independent and flexible. What is more, they can communicate with the providers of services in a much more convenient way. Finally, deaf or hard of hearing would not feel left out or feel uncomfortable due to the hearing impairment. In other words, they can enjoy their independent travel and make the most of it.
Sunday, 23 October 2011
Customer Need
The most important need of deaf and hard of hearing individuals when travelling is independence and efficient communication with the providers of services.
For the majority of people holiday is often about relaxing or exploring and most importantly about spending time with their family, relatives and friends. However, people with a loss of hearing often can not travel without an interpreter, which means that they have to travel with one more stranger person in order to help them communicate with the public and the providers of services. As a result, the travel becomes not that personal and can even be disruptive to excellent holiday experiences.
What is more, if deaf or hard of hearing individuals go on tour or excursion during their holiday they need to find a guide who knows sign language in order to experience an informative and interesting excursion. This often happens when travelling in larger deaf or hard of hearing groups, which also means that people need to adapt to the whole group‘s wants rather than going and seeing places only that you are interested in. Of course some people could argue that deaf people can use tour guidebooks or brochures and in this way travel alone and without any commitments to other people. But what I indicate is a more convenient and enjoyable way of travelling for this particular group of people. To put it in other words, deaf people are already able to travel alone, but I suggest to look at their travelling from a different angle and involve modern technologies which will make their travel experiences more enjoyable and satisfying. Saturday, 15 October 2011
The Initial Journey
It was rather difficult to find an idea for this blog as there are so many innovations and technologies involved in hospitality and tourism industry already that make our travelling experiences brilliant.
However, I accidentally read an article about one deaf man‘s (Jim Actor) and his wife‘s travelling experiences. He was telling about several difficulties that deaf people face when travelling. After reading this article I thought that some modern technologies could actually improve travelling experiences of deaf or hard of hearing. Hence, I decided to focus on special customer needs of deaf and hard of hearing people.I think it is important to pay attention to deaf and hard of hearing people as there are huge numbers of them and they have the same wants and expectations of travelling as other people. According to Jamie Berke (2010), the deafness guide, there are no reliable deafness statistics as these numbers are always changing and some people do not identify themselves as having a hearing loss. However, it is estimated that there are from 22 million to 36 million deaf and hard of hearing (Berke, 2010). These are significant numbers and I truly believe that issues concerning people having hearing problems and particularly their travel experiences require much more attention than they get at the moment.
Travelling for people who have problems with hearing is rather limited today. First of all, this is because they need interpreters to help them during the whole trip. Secondly, they have to travel with other deaf or hard of hearing people if they do not want to be left out and enjoy their journey in the same way as other travellers. Lastly, if deaf or hard of hearing prefer to travel alone they might face lots of problems at destinations and particularly during the tours or excursions.
In order to improve travelling experiences of this particular group of people businessmen or organisations could use modern technologies like a special mobile app or screens which would provide information in sign language. It would make their journeys more enjoyable and satisfying. Thus, I will focus on a special mobile application that contains a number of facilities in order to improve travelling of people with hearing problems.
Saturday, 1 October 2011
In-Room Technology/Entertainment
As the demands of consumers are increasing, hoteliers must think of new innovative ideas to attract guests and to stand out. As a result, in-room technology is becoming more and more advanced and has many services on offer. In general, in-room technology makes one's stay at a hotel convenient and comfortable. It provides guests with services created for business and work as well as entertainment.Nowadays in many hotels you are offered to use free wireless (Wi-Fi) high-speed Internet. Also, guests are able to watch TV and use devices like telephone or fax machine/copier. These services are to ensure a productive stay of business customers, however it can be useful to leisure guests too.
Furthermore, in-room technology can offer customers many various services in order to make their stay more pleasurable. For instance, guests can enjoy in-room movies or listen to music. Also, if you come with children they can play computer games. Some hotels even start offering up-market services like iPod or MP3 players to their customers for an additional price.
As I have mentioned before, in-room technology is becoming more and more sophisticated. Apart from all services mentioned above, guests can do much more things while operating special in-room technology system provided in the room. For instance, customers can control lighting, adjust room temperature, set alarm clock, open curtains or even book a flight just by using the remote control or control for touch screen.
In-room technology in Aria Hotel
However, hoteliers face issues that must be considered before purchasing and installing in-room technology. Firstly, they need to decide what in-room technology they would like to offer to their customers and at what price. For example, they might decide to provide iPods at free of charge but they must think of customer needs, as guest might want his/her own information/songs/contacts on the iPod. In this way, the provision of free iPods will neither satisfy customers nor give profit to the hotel. To avoid problems like this, it would be useful for hotelier to read reviews about in-room technology of both customers and other hoteliers. Another problem might be the installation of a particular in-room technology as some might require to change the infrastructure. One solution to this could be to use 'Plug and Play' systems. Finally, hotelier must consider the price of in-room technology installation and maintenance.
A happy guest is one that will refer and return (Nick Youle, 2011). As hospitality industry is very competitive, hoteliers need to become familiar with new technologies in order to make guests' stay more enjoyable and restful. In this way, they will build good reputation and ensure loyal customers.
References
- 41 Hotel [Online]. Retrieved from: http://www.41hotel.com/rooms-and-suites/in-room-technology
- Aria's In-Room Technology (2010) [Online video]. Retrieved from:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AP2IoL7MK9Q [Accessed 30 September 2011]. - Benson, P. (2011) 'In-Room Technology: Hoteliers Embrace In-Room Technology', The Hotel Industry Magazine [Online]. Retrieved from: http://www.hotel-industry.co.uk/2011/05/in-room-technology/ [Accessed 29 September 2011].
- Bradbury, D. (2005) 'In-room technology', The Caterer and Hotelkeeper Magazine [Online]. Retrieved from: http://www.caterersearch.com/Articles/02/06/2005/57638/In-room-technology.htm [Accessed 29 September 2011].
- Hallett, T. (2007) 'CEOs Must Know IT--Or Else', The Bloomberg Businessweek Magazine [Online]. Retrieved from: http://www.businessweek.com/print/globalbiz/content/mar2007/gb20070305_080635.htm [Accessed 30 September 2011].
- Hospitality @ Comet 'Supplier press release: New technology set to bring hotel rooms to life', The Caterer and Hotelkeeper Magazine [Online]. Retrieved from: http://www.caterersearch.com/Articles/15/08/2011/339807/Supplier-press-release-New-technology-set-to-bring-hotel-rooms-to.htm [Accessed 1 October 2011].
- Ledrew, S. (2011) In-Room Technology: A guide to getting the best hotel in room technology solutions for your business [Online]. Retrieved from: http://www.business.com/guides/in-room-technology-13716/
- Mollman, S. (2007) CNN In-room entertainment: What offerings, at what price? [Online]. Retrieved from: http://edition.cnn.com/2007/BUSINESS/06/05/hotels.entertainment/index.html [Accessed 30 September 2011]
- Thomas, D. (2011) 'Is there a future for in-room entertainment?', The Caterer and Hotelkeeper Magazine [Online]. Retrieved from: http://www.caterersearch.com/Articles/19/04/2011/337883/Is-there-a-future-for-in-room-entertainment.htm [Accessed 1 October 2011].
Monday, 26 September 2011
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