ALE and Bowo upgrade hotel stays

Cristina Grigoras

May 21, 2019

A partnership and a personalized digital solution that upgrades the guest experience and meets hotel operational needs

This blog is the beginning of a series on our hospitality partnerships, and this week we feature Bowo. Winner of the Innovation Award at FoodHotelTech 2019 with its in-room digital experience solution, and Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise in the hospitality industry partner, Bowo is a rising star in the industry. We spoke with Jonathan Chanière, the co-founder, about the company, its history and the partnership with ALE. 

What is Bowo's mission?

Our mission is to transform a simple stay into a personalized, customized experience. We combine optimal service with a minimal investment to offer travelers an experience that exceeds their expectations, with the right offer at the right time! Our solution represents much more than hardware and software. It allows us to build a strong link between hoteliers and travelers, between their needs and the know-how of the staff, between their satisfaction and the hotel performance. Thus, beyond technology or marketing, we are committed to making the guest’s journey - both from the point of view of hoteliers and travelers - even more unforgettable.

How do you see the current guest experience?

When talking about a hotel experience, whether in the city or elsewhere, it should be close to attractive tourist sites, as well as to enriching artistic and cultural activities. To improve the guest stay, it's essential to offer the opportunity to live diverse and varied, authentic experiences.

What makes the difference in guest experiences?

Authentic, local surroundings make for a great guest / tourist experience. What’s important to a hotelier is to be the focal point of their guests’ stays, not just as hosts, but as someone who recommends local tourist attractions. This allows you to anchor your establishment locally, bringing nearby shops to life and creating links between the various businesses in your area.

No one knows your area like you do, so share your experience with your guests! They need you, both for your precious advice, for your feedback and for your favorite experiences.

What is technology’s role in this?

The role of technology is to simplify access to information, make the guest experience more fun and seamless, and remove communication barriers. It allows travelers to explore the must see places from their hotel room and through an interactive city guide. It is more convenient for a client to have permanent access to information, rather than leafing through printed or laminated brochures at the hotel reception desk.

What is Bowo's offer?

Bowo believes that a digital solution that offers a personalized service improves the user experience. It is based on:

• An innovative product that improves the room experience and facilitates access to hotel offers

• An artificial intelligence that anticipates guest needs and allows them to personalize their stay

We provide a full solution, installed in each room, consisting of a tablet, a docking station, and a dedicated application. Travelers can access the related services offered during their stay, and enjoy personalized entertainment such as: "Chromecast your best Netflix series on your room TV,” “Listen to your Spotify selection with connected speakers,” or “Browse the city according to your interests.” Becoming informed, organized, and entertained has never been easier during a trip.

In addition, our solution allows hoteliers to provide visibility of hotel expertise and services, transforming marketing campaigns into targeted notifications and monitoring guest satisfaction in real-time. This degree of personalization can only increase guest loyalty. And since we are talking about advantages, let's not forget the optimization of operating costs, thanks to simplified management!

"Tailor-made" has long been the prerogative of the luxury world. Can we say, today, that it is now available to all hotels?

Custom-made products have remained synonymous with rarity, selectivity, aesthetics and exclusivity. Bowo works on these four areas every day. And the Bowo solution makes it possible to combine optimum service with minimal investment to offer a superior guest experience. An exclusive and personalized experience thanks to carefully selected quality services, all on an visually appealing application, loyal to the brand-image of each hotel.

What is the relationship with Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise and how does Bowo integrate with Alcatel-Lucent solutions?

We work with the largest hotel partners, including ALE, a major actor in the hospitality industry. From the beginning, Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise has expressed an interest in our partnership, resulting in a dynamic, and now well-established, collaboration for better guest services across the industry.

Below are two common applications:

• Already available in some Bowo equipped hotels, ALE's Rainbow solution, available on the Bowo tablet, allows hoteliers to maintain human contact with their guests. To put it simply, the guest benefits from the Bowo experience and can call and discuss, at any time via the tablet, with the relevant hotel team’s contact. The addition of Rainbow features - chat, voice, even video (if necessary) - between guests and hotels allows an extension of user panels, while guaranteeing hoteliers a higher rate of transformation in service sales.

• We are currently working on the development of a simple common solution that will allow hoteliers to equip their hotels with ALE rooms phones, particularly the 8088 digital telephone, which will integrate the Bowo service brick. The guests will be able to get informed, consume and book services directly from the screen of their room telephone.

We look forward to working with ALE on technologies of the future.

Learn more about Bowo.