According to Allied Market research, the luxury resort market will see growth from $95 billion to $160 billion from 2022 to 2031. The luxury hotel industry has always focused on the location aspect as the success factor and many of these resorts are spread over large areas.
Guest transportation by golf carts from any place in the resort to selected destinations such as beach, pool, restaurants and sport courts is one of the major services of the resorts. People may not wish to walk in the resorts because it is too hot, the destination is too far away or the topography is tough. Transportation is, therefore, a must. But this service is probably the most challenging one for the hotel management.
To ask for a cart, the guest calls the front desk, which then asks a team member to get a cart and pick the guest up. The team member looks for a free vehicle and a dedicated driver is sent to pick up the guest. The problem starts when there is no vehicle or driver available, or when there is a vehicle but the battery in the vehicle is dead. Team members then must wait until a vehicle is freed. There is no feedback to the guest about the problem and therefore, in many cases, the guest is left waiting with no idea of when the vehicle will come. This is not the level of service a guest in a luxury resort expects.
In addition, many resorts have limited number of vehicles, as the cost of the driver is very high. For example, in North America or Europe, the cost of a drivers in two shifts could be $48,000 to $60,000 annually. Over five years, that comes to $250,000 to $300,000, while the cost of the vehicle is around $15,000. This leads to a pressure on management to reduce the number of vehicles.
A Promising Solution
With the development of autonomous vehicles, an autonomous golf cart looks to be a promising solution for these issues. The solution includes a vehicle, a reservation app and site management dashboard for hotel management.
At check-in, a guest gets a link, which is used in a smartphone to reserve a vehicle either immediately or for a future time. The system automatically informs the guest of availability and when the vehicle will arrive to its pick-up location. The guest sets a destination and the vehicle starts riding autonomously to its destination.
Resort guests may have multiple destinations—like picking a child from the pool and continuing on to the restaurant. Upon arrival to its destination, the guest may select another destination or release the vehicle. By monitoring the charging on each vehicle in the fleet, it is possible to plan the charging time to fit in with known pick-up times and location needs.
Management can, at any time, receive key performance indicators on the level of service, such as the maximum and average time a guest was waiting, what the usage level of the fleet is and how many vehicles were available at any given time for a service. This helps management improve the service, like adding more vehicles if needed. If there is an issue while the vehicle is in motion, it immediately alerts management to solve the issue in real time. In addition, management gets accurate data that could improve the service in general on the facilities of the hotel.
Cost Savings
The cost of hiring drivers could get to hundreds of thousands of dollars over five years. A driverless cart could provide significant savings in operating expenses for the resort, which could lead to a higher number of vehicles and better service.
Autonomous vehicles can also prevent accidents that not only injure guests, but can potentially damage the carts.
Besides transporting people, autonomous vehicles could be used also for transporting goods in the resort like food from the kitchen to restaurants or bars across the resort, or spare parts for maintenance staff.
Eli Doron is chief technology officer of Carteav.