Pervasive connectivity: The thriving hotel of the future

The landscape of business and leisure travel has been forever changed by the convergence of such factors as dwindling natural resources, oversubscribed and blurred personal versus professional time commitments, and burgeoning expenses. The hotel industry has been seemingly slow to adjust key aspects of their core business model to take into account to these weighty forces. In the 21st century, these traditional business models of the hospitality industry are no longer simply disrupted by emerging technologies; but now, these disruptive forces carry with them the power to decimate. The purpose of this paper is to propose a new model for the industry to consider. Though not yet validated, the model is technologically rooted in pervasive connectivity and economically based on sustainable development and operational practices. There are two critical aspects of model: 1.) There is a confederated and distributed approach to technological and economic ownership of the service delivery platforms and 2.) Sustainability is a core driver as opposed to an afterthought (e.g. resulting “tax” benefits of initiatives). The authors propose that this synergistic approach may help to ensure the timely adoption of a broad range of pervasive connectivity services to embrace to achieve sustainable development practices for economic and operational advantages.