Meet 30% of users’ physiological needs and 70% of their spiritual needs.
After nearly a year of preparations, Atour opened a new hotel “Ador LAB” below the Shanghai headquarters. As its name implies, this is Atuo’s laboratory for exploring the future hotel form. It has only 2 floors and 14 rooms. However, unlike ordinary closed laboratories, Atour LAB is directly open to the public to obtain first-hand feedback from users on new products.
Yadoo LAB is a completely new intelligent hotel: the machine replaces the room card and part of the labor, self-service check in, brushing face Enter the room and check out with one click of your mobile phone; the robot can lead the way and also deliver meals; in the guest room, Tencent Dingdong provides intelligence Voice interaction and will chat with you It will also help you switch lights, curtains, air conditioners and TVs.
But the intelligence of Atour Lab’s exploration is a little different. The first is Based on the scene, not only explores the fourth space of “Accommodation +”, but also explores the accommodation forms under different travel scenarios such as singles, colleagues, girlfriends, etc .; the second larger difference is Atuo emphasized that technology brings not only smart devices, but also upgrades to thousands of people and “smart as soon as possible.”
At the product level, this time Atuo LAB also released an upgraded version of Atuo 3.0, as well as two new brands A.T.House and ZHotel.
Atour 3.0 retains the characteristics of Atour ’s products, such as mobile reading, humanistic photography, and “what you see is what you buy” products in your room. Based on this, 亚 朵 3.0 adds a smart experience and superimposes lifestyle scenes such as fitness, video and tea in the guest room.
Ador 3.0 — Homecoming Suite
A.T.House is an insight based on user needs, trying to break the boundaries of traditional hotels. A.T.House Marketing Manager Gan Tang said that the biggest feature of A.T.House is product innovation from the perspective of users.
For example, the team survey found that the two consumers living in the twin room may be “familiar strangers”. Although they are in the same room, they hope to have a more private and independent space. Therefore, the team decided to change the two beds back-to-back.
This layout has increased Cleaning difficulty and corresponding costs, sacrificed Conversion of standard rooms into double rooms Flexibility. But When designing the product, the team put the identity of the hotel practitioner aside and first think about what kind of hotel the user wants. As for how to find the balance between cost and user experience, it is a process of continuous product iteration.
A.T.House — MakeMake Twin Room
ZHotel is a new product tailored for the “Generation Z” crowd. The ZHotel team Long-term research on the values and consumption views of Generation Z in first-tier cities, and found that the lives of contemporary Chinese young people are changing: The first is the era of personalized accommodation. The second is the increasing demand for social interaction among younger groups.
“Meet 30% of the physiological needs of young users, and 70% of the spiritual needs of .” Xuejun, the person in charge of ZHotel, said that ZHotel attaches great importance to the spiritual and entertainment experience of Generation Z and wants to be a Intelligent, living and social accommodation space.
Take the “Inspiration Corner” of ZHotel’s guest room as an example. ZHotel designed a car with multiple functions by itself. It integrates vinyl music machines, Bluetooth speakers, publications, Mini Bar and other functions. Consumers can enjoy high-quality blackGlue music, while taking out cold beer or beverage from the side refrigerator, you will also find in the drawer a gift specially prepared for the user.
ZHotel — Duo Duo Double Room
The founder Ye Lüyi has repeatedly told that the label of Atour is defined by the user, and the future products are also determined by the user. However, the industry’s matching of consumers is relatively lagging, so Atour has been pursuing “take half a step” before consumers.
I recently interviewed Ye Lüyi again, and talked with him about the story of the birth of Atour LAB, and his thoughts on the future hotel form.
Here is the conversation (edited)
: Why did you consider setting up the Atuo LAB project? As an experimental hotel, what content has Atuo LAB tested?
Yelü 胤 : We started to prepare this project from the beginning of 2019, because we feel that there are a lot of good innovations and ideas in hotel products and operations, and we hope that there will be operable entities to undertake . Many companies’ laboratories are not right, but if they are not right, they will not get the first-hand information of real users and no feedback. So we thought about going straight to the outside in the beginning.
Our theme this time is “Wise and Different.” Everyone is now exploring intelligence, but Atour is exploring smart services. There are two differences. First, we believe that intelligence should be based on the scene, and the new brands released this time are based on this. For example, it integrates sleep and other functions, such as fitness, tea drinking, and watching movies; there is also a business trip, and also with girlfriends, couples, colleagues.
The second difference is that the so-called intelligence of the industry is more at the level of smart devices, but these are extensions of human hands and feet, we think It should be an extension of human wisdom. What the hotel industry really thinks about is how to evolve from smart devices to smart services. This is the future direction, and it is also expressed by Atuo LAB.
: How can technology bring “smart services”? How to understand the application of future technology in hotels?
Yeluga: Atuo LAB combines the existing technologies well, hoping to provide services through the insight of the crowd. This time it is mainly reflected in three aspects, face recognition, guest room voice interaction, and APLUS.
In addition to giving users a better experience, the intelligent service explored by Atour LAB should also be thousands of people, which is the standard personalized service that Atour has been exploring. At the same time, the timing of providing services is also very important. You will appear immediately when the user needs it, and do n’t bother when it is not needed. We call it “Recruit as soon as possible” .
Although it hasn’t been fully realized yet, it must be a trend in the future. Technical development will play a big role in this process, but machines cannot replace humans, they are more human-like and provide services people are still very important.
: This time Atuo LAB released the new brand ZHotel for Gen Z. What considerations does Atuo have in terms of user groups?
Yelü: ZHotel is aimed at the younger generations, which generally refers to younger people, who are more demanding and personalized users. We have always believed that Future products are determined by consumers, but the matching speed of an industry to consumers is relatively lagging behind, so we must keep up with the speed of consumers and put After 95, after 00, make the things you like first.
In fact, today, Atour now has 458 hotels and nearly 900 contracts. We are facing a broad market, serving customers of all ages and meeting their different needs. Today, it is difficult for us to distinguish customer groups by age. If we want to give a label, it is “a young user”.
ZHotel
: Will the related content explored by Atour Lab be gradually applied to other hotels in the future? Will there be similar projects in the future?
Yeluga: Of course. With the iteration of products, there will be large-scale promotion in the future, and we have established a clear mechanism. Each new brand has an independent person in charge, but what is explored can serve many other brands. These are public resources. And not just hardware products, there will be more content factor applications.
I believe that Atour LAB is just the beginning. New technology and content will come out next year, and there will be new LABs. The hardware is not easy to change, but the content and technology can be quickly iterated.
: How does the team maintain sensitivity and explore the state of innovation?
Yeluga: In fact, it is continuously contacting customers and constantly watching the changes in the industry. We did not understand Atour as the accommodation industry, everyone is a space operation industry, and the trend of space operation is everyone’s research.
We will learn some of the more advanced space products, and consider making our own innovations after digestion and absorption; in turn, there will be many people who come to our school to visit and learn. Everyone innovates through interaction. But Yaduo ‘s innovation is more focused on the content, which also has a certain era, we are thinking about how to turn the content into a part of the product.
: Can you summarize the hotel industry in 2019 with a few keywords?
Yeluga: One is the hot and cold alternation. In 2019, the market as a whole is declining, but at this time hotel investors are more willing to come in because they can get good resources.
Second is The rise of the new generation, young people have gradually become mainstream, and your tags are user-defined. Brand changes, product development, accommodation Experience changes around this change;
The third is service improvement. This year is a year in which the service improvement of the entire industry is relatively fast, because the new generation is not the most concerned about how cheap you are. Only on this basisTalk about the value of the price.
: So for Atour, what is the key word for 2019?
Yeluga: We set three goals in early 2019 . One is Regaining the confidence of the industry, we have introduced peace of mind systems, such as disposable rags, peace of mind cups, bathrobe packaging, etc., so that consumers can clearly feel the health The guarantee of quality can also make the staff of rest assured that they can serve them better;
Second is New species, we have made a lot of brand and product innovations, and born the basic models of ATHouse and ZHotel. Netease strict selection, etc. The scale of IP hotels is also doing well.
The third is to redefine the way of life. We define our products around the rise of the new generation. Including important new retail, sales have increased five-fold in 2019. Next year we will focus on promoting sleep products.
: What is the company’s plan for 2020?
Yeluga: In 2018, we proposed a three-year strategy of “one core and two wings”, and 2020 will be the year of victory. “One core” refers to the user experience as the core to make users live more satisfied. We will do more content space, including more community center hotels.
“Two wings” means “take the fortress and be intelligent”. On the one hand, you need to get more good positions. On the other hand, you need to be more intelligent. Use technology to bring users For greater convenience, also use technology to improve the efficiency of franchisee management.
Recommended reading
Yadoo Hotel Yelu: Building a fourth space with a hotel entrance | The future of space < / p>