Go wild, indulge or kick back by the pool ─ the bracelet that’s the key to holiday cool
- Summary:
- A co-innovation use case from Melia and Oracle could change the nature of the vacation, says Oracle's Neil Sholay.
What’s your holiday dream? Go wild? Indulge? Kick back by the pool with a glass of something cool?
The holiday realty though…not so much. Lock yourself out of ─ and your cash in ─ your room. Not enough money with you to buy that ‘must have’ in the mall. Miss a spur of the moment romantic dinner because your card is by the bed. Stress over where to put your wallet when you’re windsurfing in a skin-tight swim suit. Sound familiar?
Now imagine a holiday where cash and IDs and cards and keys are a memory as distant as the world you left behind. A holiday where everything ‘just works’ without a second thought. A holiday where all the resort has to offer opens up to you with the wave of a wrist. And crucially ─ a holiday where no wallet spoils the line of your Speedos.
Melia Hotels International has imagined that holiday ─ and turned the dream into a reality, working with Oracle. In just four months, they have developed a personal passport that marries beautiful form with efficient function with new levels of guest freedom. And it looks great, whatever you’re wearing.
The journey
Seamless experiences are central to Melia’s business model as it launches a new breed of resort ─ offering different vibes depending on a guest’s whim. From adrenalin-fuelled adventure to sumptuous shopping to laid-back luxury, Melia’s new resort has it covered. The trick is transporting customers from one experience to the next ─ taking them on a journey through a resort without borders.
With summer 2017 in full swing, Melia began looking to see how customers could be eased through its multi-themed resort.
Working with Oracle, Melia’s Digital Technology Group went from initial framing to ideation to workshopping to prototyping to final customer presentation in 4 months. With Agile methodologies keeping them ahead of a rapidly evolving brief, the team developed and delivered a step change in wearable hospitality tech ─ the Melia Bracelet.
The Melia Bracelet of course gives guests keyless access to their rooms. But there’s more: the Melia Bracelet allows guests to pay for everything across all three ‘vibed’ areas of the resort. The bracelet also allows guests to tailor interests and buy add-ons based on them as well as enabling cash and card-free mall shopping. It also allows the hotel to know where guests are ─ adding another level of safety and security ─ whilst empowering better planning, based on factors such as footfall.
This is a device that harnesses and integrates Oracle technologies, such as Oracle SOA Cloud Service, Oracle Mobile Cloud Service, Oracle Stream Analytics and the Oracle Database Cloud Service, to create the kind of seamless experiences that Melia’s predominantly young and tech-savvy customers expect in every other aspect of their lives.
The reality
Imagine a holiday where your hotel room unlocks itself as you approach, welcoming you with your choice of music and lighting. A holiday where your preferences tailor experiences to enhance your stay. A holiday where you book dinner at a restaurant you’ve never seen but are sure to love, buy a new top from the hottest label (with a personalised discount) and get your name on the VIP list at the best nightclub with the flick of wrist.
That is now a reality at Melia’s Sol Katmandu Park Hotel and at the newly opened Calviá Beach The Plaza.. And because it’s been built on Oracle’s cloud platform, it will evolve, with plans to adopt AI to bring new levels of personalisation to the holiday experience and drive in-resort revenue.
Co-innovation has enable Melia to bring its imagination to life. The project started with an idea and will to improve guest experience, and proves that by combining expertise in hospitality with business and technology innovation, it’s possible to take truly transformational ideas and turn them into reality.
So go wild! Indulge! Kick back by the pool with a glass of something cool! The choice now really is yours.
Happy holidays!