Hotel of the FutureA day in the life
05:45
Dawn
ExCo showcase
Hotel of the Future

A day in the life

One hotel manager, one shift, with Hotel of the Future technology woven into moments from dawn to dusk, supporting our teams and enhancing our guests experience.

Begin the day↓
0107:00Morning

The walkaround

Navigator
In developmentFY27 rolloutEnabled by devicesFuture automation
The moment

Throughout the day, Navigator is being used to manage compliance, assurance and daily team activity. Reviewing outstanding actions, maintain visibility of key operational tasks and provide confidence that standards are being consistently met is the overall ambition here.

Giving managers confidence

I always know what needs to be done, when it needs to be completed and where to find support when I need it, 24/7. Tasks, SOPs and Operational Guidance are all in one place, and give me confidence that my hotel is operating safely and compliantly.

Navigator helps simplify that challenge by bringing key compliance activities into one place, providing clear visibility of what needs to be completed, highlighting overdue actions and supporting consistent execution across our hotels.

Screen recording Plays in a pop-up
0209:00Morning

The pre-arrival check

Ops Workbench, intelligent automation
Proven at NECRFP underway
The moment

Ops Workbench leverages AI to manage pre-arrival checks, enabling teams to focus on anticipating guest needs and planning ahead with confidence. It pulls reservations and guest requests together from every channel, recommends the action to take on each one, and raises a Navigator task for anything needing a human decision. The team starts the day on the exceptions, not the routine.

Proven at the NEC

It is the same story Navigator starts on the walkaround: put the right data in the team's hands at the right moment, and people make different, better decisions. The NEC proof of concept ran in recommend mode only, extracting the data to show exactly what we can automate in the future.

The vision

Automation is not about replacing people, it is about freeing them up. The vision is to fully automate where we are confident and recommend where we do not meet the threshold, covering pre-arrival checks, card-not-present payments and the rest of our seven priority automation opportunities. We are selecting our partners now, narrowing a list of eleven down to four to present. Less admin, more time with guests, and a smoother operation for our hotel teams.

Screen recording Plays in a pop-up
0311:30Late morning

Rooms ready sooner

Housekeeping and Smart Key Drop Box
PilotingVision
The moment

Smart Key-Drop is about as simple as it gets. A guest taps & drops their key in the box, Opera is automatically updated to say the room is now empty, alerting housekeeping that the room can be cleaned. No checking keys by hand, no waiting around to find out a room is free.

What that unlocks

You get to see room status as it happens, rotas can be better managed, housekeeping can clean the right rooms first and get rooms back on sale quicker. For the guest, fewer knocks on the door before midday, and more opportunities of an early check-in.

How it works
  1. Guest leaves the room
  2. Taps their key on the Smart Key-Drop on the way out
  3. Room status changes in Opera straight away
  4. Housekeeping works from a live, up-to-date list of the rooms now available
Filmed on site Plays here
0415:00Afternoon

Arrivals, their way

Kiosks and Mobile Keys
Live now and rampingTranche-1 rollout
The moment

Over 200,000 guests arrive at a Premier Inn each week, and arrival is about confidence, choice and a warm welcome. Guests are either steered to the kiosk, can check-in on-line before arriving or the desk handles the exceptions. Mobile Key takes a guest from arrival, direct to their room. Their wallet, our welcome.

Mobile Key, on the guest's terms

Provision in the app after checking in online, or scan a QR code at the front desk once on-site. The room is allocated at 3pm on the day of arrival, or 11am with Early Check-In.

Plays in a pop-up
Express ModeEasy Check-inPower ReserveAutomatic room updates
Why guests self-serve
ControlDecide how and when to check in, and skip the queue without being forced into tech.
ReassuranceConfirmation they are expected, and confidence the room and key will work.
Choice, not replacementSelf-serve is an option. Physical keycards and the team still matter.
0518:30Evening

Dinner service

Food and Beverage, Oracle Simphony and Order and Pay
Live nowOrder ahead piloting
The moment

The restaurant fills. Team members take orders at the table on handheld Simphony. Guests who prefer to self-serve use Order and Pay at the table, or, new for us, order ahead to collect at the counter.

The flow we can build first
  1. Choose the restaurant, shown as online
  2. Pick how to order: table service, pickup or pre-order
  3. An allergy prompt steers dietary needs to a team member
  4. Browse the menu with prices, calories and dietary tags
  5. Add an item and pay, with an optional tip and clear VAT
Made personal

With better guest data, we already know what a guest enjoys, their dietary requirements and the offers most relevant to them, however they order. The right recommendation at the right time helps guests discover food and drink they will love, and frees the team to create memorable experiences.

Live demo · Pej
QR code linking to the Order and Pay demo site
Try it on your phone
Scan with your camera, or click the code, to open the Order and Pay demo site and walk the flow yourself: table service, pickup or pre-order.
Walk the Pej flow →
The visionary flow
Their wayServed by a team member, ordering independently, collecting for their room, or arranged in advance.
In the appBrowsing, ordering and paying sit seamlessly inside the Premier Inn app.
Knows the guestPreferences, previous choices, stay context and dietary needs shape menus, offers and recommendations.
Confident choicesDietary and allergen information is always to hand, so choices are informed.
Clear updatesOrders are placed and paid for quickly, with updates throughout the journey.
0621:00Night

Optimising inventory

Food and Beverage, Crunchtime Net-Chef
PilotingVision
The moment

Service winds down and a stock count begins. The team counts their Food and Drink on handheld devices, several people at once, supported by an offline mode for use in the fridges and cellars.

What that unlocks

Tomorrow's deliveries arrive with the right products in the right quantities, ordered automatically using AI-driven forecasting. Optimised stock levels reduce waste, reduce stock holding and protect margins.

Screen recording Plays here
Also woven through the day

Next Gen Contact Centre

Not every moment of the guest journey happens inside the hotel. Queries before, during and after a stay are handled by the Contact Centre, where the team see a single real-time view of the guest and resolve things on the phone or over WebChat.

It is a hidden part of the journey for our hotel managers, and it brings huge benefits for the guest journey and our teams: queries resolved before they ever reach the front desk, and more time for the hotel team to spend with guests.

07Proving now

The Model Hotel of the Future

Birmingham NEC, our live test bed
Test bed liveNorth star
The moment

The day closes at Birmingham NEC, the Model Hotel of the Future. A joint Technology and Operations initiative, it is the north star for how our hotels will operate, and a working hotel where new technology is brought to life and proved with real guests and real teams before it reaches the estate.

The prototype journey Plays in a pop-up
The principles
Guest and team centricTechnology enhances the guest journey and aids team members in their role, without creating friction.
Smart and seamlessNo fragmented technology or processes, with security and resilience built in from the ground up.
AgileNot everything will be a success. Fail fast and learn the lessons.
08Coming soon

The admin, handled by Microsoft Copilot

Microsoft Copilot Premium licence, personal productivity
Coming soon In planning
The moment ahead

Microsoft Copilot Premium will fit around the day, not sit in front of it. Working on the move, between hotels and between tasks, the manager hands the admin over as the shift allows: emails triaged and replies drafted, documents and P&Ls reviewed and summarised with the exceptions flagged, the next meeting prepped. Less time pinned to the desk, more of the day where it matters, with guests and the team.

What Microsoft Copilot will pick up
Email managementBusiness analysisP&L reviewsTeam meetings
Plays in a pop-up

One manager's day, today

One shift, and Hotel of the Future woven through it. From Simphony to Mobile Keys, the programme is enabling our teams through different projects, supporting the guest journey at every step, and bringing technology to life that works for our teams and our guests.

Hotel of the Future, a day in the life.