Hotels are not a high-frequency consumption industry, but they are an important and indispensable part of the tourism industry. Is it possible for a relatively closed private space to become a new consumption scenario?

"New retail" has brought innovation to the industry. In order to open up "people, goods, and places", e-commerce giants have stepped aside and explored the possibilities of hotels from different dimensions.

Taking different paths

Both giants, Alibaba and JD.com have taken two different paths. JD.com has proposed new concepts, while Alibaba has already implemented the hotel.

As early as 2012, JD.com had launched a hotel booking business. However, under the attack of OTA giants such as Ctrip, Qunar, and Elong at that time, JD.com, as an e-commerce company, did not have core advantages in establishing and maintaining offline resources, so it also fell into obscurity.

Six years later, JD.com is once again targeting the hotel industry. On October 25, JD Travel held a hotel strategy press conference, officially announcing JD’s four major strategies of hotel scene expansion, member empowerment, two-way purchasing, and panoramic marketing. However, this time it changed the method and idea of ​​​​to build an "unbounded hotel."

"Borderless Hotel" is reminiscent of the concept of "borderless retail" once proposed by Liu Qiangdong, that is, "infinite scenes, boundless goods, and seamless connections between people and enterprises." Now it seems that it is nothing more than opening up a new situation of "people, goods, and places" in the hotel scene.

After more than two years of intensive preparation, Alibaba’s physical hotel has attracted a wave of attention as soon as it was launched. It is called FlyZoo Hotel, and its Chinese name is Fei Zhubu Ke. This “future hotel” is located on the east side of Alibaba’s Xixi Park in Hangzhou. From booking registration, to check-in experience, to check-out, most of the services are provided by robots, which is full of technology.

It is understood that Ali Future Hotel can be described as a "new species" jointly created by multiple teams within the Ali economy. Fliggy designed the full-link experience process; DAMO Academy is responsible for the hotel innovation research plan, Alibaba Cloud provides stable and secure big data underlying services, and the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (A.I. Labs) has launched the latest designed smart robot; the Intelligent Scenario Division has completed the research and development of the hotel's entire digital operation platform, AI smart service center and smart scenario system; Tmall International has launched 7 national theme rooms, and Tmall and other platforms provide a supply chain for hotel furniture and bedding - it is worth mentioning that in the future, furniture, bedding and other items in the guest rooms will support one-click online ordering after taking photos with the App. In the future, hotels may become a major testing ground for Alibaba's "new retail" strategy, and these accumulated capabilities may be empowered to other companies in the hotel industry.

JD.com is interested in IP

IP crossover has been one of the hottest topics in the hotel industry in the past two years. Since the word "IP" spread from the cultural circle to the hotel industry in 2015, faced with the homogeneity and model bottlenecks of the hotel industry, joint IP play has gradually become the norm. Many hotels have joined forces with IP brands to create "new species" and try to get a share of the pie through IP. Whether it is music, movies or social IP, they have left a deep impression on customers. However, some people in the industry believe that the large-scale development problems of IP hotels will affect the hotel's profitability.

The Lan Ou Hotel under Shangmei Lifestyle has cooperated with the British Museum, a world-renowned IP, to allow customers to perceive art in a creative and youthful way, and with the help of the museum's high-quality cultural products, the content has become an entrance to business.

Nearly a hundred hotels in Sanya have cooperated with Ctrip to launch more than 200 "Youyou parent-child rooms", with the "Youyou" IP integrated from accessories to decoration.

Jinjiang Magnolia has taken a unique approach, using its own Shanghai genes to create the IP characters of "Mr. Yu and Miss Lan" to express Magnolia's brand spirit and exquisite lifestyle.

Whether it is cooperation with big IP or its own IP, it can bring unlimited possibilities to hotels, and what JD.com wants to do is that "IP".

Hou Kuiyu, general manager of JD.com’s lifestyle and travel business department, said that JD.com will join hands with 1,000 world-renowned physical brands and 1,000 hotels to create nearly 20,000 retail experience rooms to provide consumers with fresh and interesting accommodation experiences.

Early in its previous cooperation with Narada Hotel, JD.com had launched a “Jingzhuofang” project. Put 35 categories of its own electric toothbrushes, latex mattresses, LED makeup mirrors, etc. in hotel rooms. If guests like it, they can place an order directly.

In addition to products, JD.com also wants to create experiences, and collaborates with hotels to create personalized accommodation spaces and bring out an "Internet celebrity hotel". In addition, it can also create interest-themed rooms in hotels, such as e-sports, beauty, movies, animation, books, etc., and create exclusive IP-themed rooms for different interest groups.

Ali loves playing with technology

Technology brings not only convenience, but also freshness. Fresh technologies such as AI, facial recognition, and concierge robots make traditional hotels fun.

InterContinental Hotels Group has jointly launched smart guest rooms powered by artificial intelligence (AI) with Baidu in China. After taking the lead in upgrading two hotels in Beijing and Guangzhou, this year the group will launch 100 AI smart suites in hotels across China.

At the same time, Marriott International will take the lead in launching the "face-swiping" check-in service at its hotels in Hangzhou and Sanya.

Many medium-sized hotels have also begun to deploy smart guest room services: tourists can book a room through their WeChat program, check in through facial recognition technology, use a given password or their mobile app to unlock and enter the room, and finally check out by pressing a button on their app after check-in.

And these technological elements, Alibaba’s hotels can be said to include them one by one.

When entering the lobby, guests are not faced with the front desk, but instead are greeted and guided by a robot "Tmall Elf Lucky Bag". You can check-in with your electronic ID card on your mobile phone or check in by swiping your face in the lobby.

Based on guest identification covering all scenes in the hotel, the senseless elevator control and touchless door control will automatically perform face recognition, intelligently light up the floor where the guest has checked in, and automatically open the room door; with the help of the senseless body control positioning system, the elevator will automatically respond to the waiting moment when the guest leaves the room.

Entering the room, the guest’s exclusive room butler Tmall Elf smart speaker has been awakened and can directly control indoor temperature, lighting, curtains, TV, etc. with voice.

Even checking out, you only need your mobile phone to operate it. As long as you are willing, you will almost never encounter "living people".