The Google Glass Guest

I recently came across an article in Hotel Business Review, entitled “How to Deal with Guests Who Use Google Glass” by Technical Marketing Manager, Brandon Dennis. I found it remarkable and in some ways disturbing. Google Glass is a new wearable computer with an optical head-mounted display. Worn like eyeglasses, Google Glass displays information in a smart phone-like hands-free format, which interacts with the Internet via voice commands.

Now here’s the potentially troublesome part. Like a smart phone, Google Glass includes a camera that can clandestinely shoot pictures and record videos, when activated by a simple voice command or even a wink of the wearer’s eye. Furthermore, Glass can instantly upload and publish these videos on various sites, including You Tube. In my book, “The Art and Science of the Hotel Concierge,” I acknowledged that technology would continue to change by leaps and bounds. I spoke of the thrill in discovering what the future would hold, recognizing, of course, that there would likely be threats along with the thrills.

Let’s think for a minute about Google Glass. The Internet has already given us Yelp, TripAdvisor and Twitter, just to name a few of the review mechanisms hotel guests and customers of any business for that matter can use to share their reviews and opinions with a push of a button. With Glass, the feedback loop reaches a whole new level. With a wink of an eye, a customer can unobtrusively take a candid video of a harried and overwrought service provider as he/she “loses it” during a difficult encounter. Within minutes, the video can be recorded, posted and possibly go viral. Pictures paint a thousand words, and a business’ reputation can be tainted with a wink of an eye.

Now, let’s reframe this! I‘ve always liked to take potentially disturbing developments and find the silver lining. In this case, my silver lining was inspired by the silver screen! I’ve often equated service with the performing arts. Google Glasses aside, I often liken the hotel lobby or other customer facing venues to a theater and the staff as actors. The customers of course, are the audience (and in the case of the Google Glass customer, the film maker!) It’s the staff’s responsibility to act in an exemplary manner, to project professionalism and keep negative feelings and personal problems from rising to the surface. Google Glass or not, it’s lights, camera, action!

The work venue is our stage and every staff member is a star of the show. New technology makes it even more real, more inspiring and a great deal more universally visible. I’d like to think real-time technology gives us the opportunity to showcase our businesses as Academy Award winners.

I encourage you all to read Brandon Dennis’s article for a more in-depth exploration of Google Glass and how it might be used as a valuable tool for marketing our hotels.