The Use of Apple Glasses for Augmenting Guest Services for Lodging and Hospitality Bridging Healthcare (H2H)

The Use of Apple Glasses for Augmenting Guest Services for Lodging and Hospitality Bridging Healthcare (H2H)

by By Fred DeMicco and Jackie Guzman

Now, more than ever, people are concerned with protecting and improving their health. Rather than simply take a vacation to relax, tourists are seeking wellness opportunities at resorts where they can maintain their exercise regimen and eat nutritious meals. For example, Six Sense Ibiza opened in July of 2021 and includes a longevity center where technology is used to detect a person’s biological age. The goal is to identify the aging factors and develop a plan to slow the aging process naturally. In Greece, the Amanzoe resort and spa uses technology at their Cellgym to hinder aging at a cellular level (Miller, 2022). All over the world, the hospitality industry is using innovative technology to provide advanced service to guests. Tourists are now turning to resorts and spas rather than their family practitioners for their health and well-being needs. This article examines how hotels, hospitals, Medi-Spas, etc. can leverage technology to provide the advanced and focused high level service experience for the hospitality industry. One answer is to stay ahead of the curve is by implementing a new consumer technology, such as the soon-to-be:  Apple Glasses.

What are Apple Glasses?

Apple Glasses are rumored to be Apple’s latest project in the works. While Apple has not confirmed this project, it is believed that Apple is creating augmented reality (AR) glasses that will work in conjunction with the iPhone. The iPhone will host the processing power of the glasses, allowing the glasses to stay sleek. The glasses will likely look like standard glasses to onlookers but will provide an AR experience to the viewer (Kovach, 2021). The exact details and applications of the glasses are unknown, but the possibilities of AR glasses are endless and will likely grow in the years to come.

Apple Glasses for Enhanced Service

While there are endless possible uses of AR glasses, one application is in the customer service setting. More specifically, hospitality and medical personnel could wear Apple Glasses to provide better service to their guests and patient/guests in a health setting.

In the Hospitality Bridging Healthcare (H2H) setting, Apple Glasses could be used as a monitoring tool so that doctors and nurses can check on their patients and be alerted if their patients need help. The glasses could, for instance, display a patient’s vitals or alert the nurse if the patient’s vitals are not at safe levels. The patient could also have a button that they can click if they need help, and the click can alert medical staff nearby and allow them to speak to the patient through the glasses.

Apple Glasses can be used to identify patients. When a nurse walks into the patient’s room, they can be given basic information on the patient such as name, age, weight, medical history, etc. Alternatively, the nurse can verify this information with the patient, input important notes into the system, and when the doctor walks in, they can have all the essential information at their disposal, right in front of their eyes.

Reduction in medical errors is another advantage of better technology (Cooper, 2019). Apple Glasses can be used to prevent medical mistakes. Perhaps a surgeon could wear the glasses while performing surgery. If anything appears to be going wrong, the glasses can alert the surgeon and help correct the mistake in real-time. Alternatively, an expert across the world can access the glasses in real-time and help the surgeon in the operating room. This could be critical in rural areas with less access to specialized physicians. Medical residents could also wear the glasses as a training tool to help them better understand the procedures they are observing.

More accurate diagnoses could also be the result of AR glasses. For example, a doctor could wear the glasses to diagnose a skin condition. Perhaps the doctor has their own ideas of the condition, but the glasses could narrow down the possibilities to reach an accurate diagnosis faster. If the patient is off-site, these glasses could also be used to communicate with a doctor to help receive a proper diagnosis from the patient’s home. Think of the many similar ways the Apple glasses could be used in hotels and other hospitality settings to serve guests more effectively. For example, read about Hilton Hotels below.

VR glasses can be a powerful tool for teaching empathy. Hilton has used VR glasses to show its corporate team members what it is like to clean rooms after guests have left. Virtually walking through the housekeepers’ 62-point checklist is magnitudes more powerful than simply reading it. This exercise allowed the corporate team to empathize and understand what some of the employees must do on a daily basis (Kover, 2020). Hospitals could benefit from a similar exercise, but from the perspective of the patient. This could help hospital doctors and nurses better understand the patient perspective.

Apple Glasses for the Patient/Guest Experience

Just as the Apple Glasses can aid medical personnel, these glasses could also enhance the patient experience. Improved communication between patient and doctor is a great benefit to advanced technology (Cooper, 2019). The glasses could have a virtual medical portal that would allow medical staff to communicate with the patient. This portal could give the patients updates on their progress or allow them to view frequently asked questions and answers.

Depending on the severity of the patient’s ailments, Apple Glasses might have an even greater function outside of the hospital or doctor’s office. The glasses could remind patients of certain habits or activities that they should have or do. If a patient is prescribed daily medication, the glasses could remind them. If a patient is prescribed to eat healthier or to take daily walks, the glasses could remind them of this as well. If a patient has particular exercises they must perform, they can watch proper form through their glasses and record themselves doing the same.

Conclusion

Wearable technology is quickly evolving and will continue to grow. We already carry our cell phones everywhere we go. Many people use smartwatches to constantly be connected and improve their health and well-being. It appears that augmented reality glasses are the next wave. The hospitality industry is already using the most advanced technology to improve customer satisfaction and utility, and the industry is already moving into the medical space. The sooner the medical industry can take advantage of the technology to improve patient experience, the better for the Patient/Guest experience. Similarly, the Apple glass technology can serve a highly effective purpose in augmenting the hotel and hospitality guest experience. New innovations and creativity are welcomed for a high touch and valued guest experience as described in this article.

References

Cooper, P. (2019, Oct. 18). How Technology IS Improving the Patient Experience and Health Outcomes. Forbes. Retrieved January 24, 2022, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2019/10/18/how-technology-is-improving-the-patient-experience-and-health-outcomes/?sh=ea4eae6cb9e7

Ericson, S., Robertson, J., and Bodnariuk, J. (2021, June 12). The Matador Messenger. Retrieved January 24, 2022, https://matadormessenger.com/news/2021/06/12/apples-new-ai-glasses-apple-glass/

Kovach, S. (2021, Nov. 26). Apple’s computerized glasses will be as powerful as a Mac and launch next year, top analyst says. CNBC. Retrieved January 24, 2022, from https://www.cnbc.com/2021/11/26/apple-ar-glasses-to-launch-in-2022-according-to-top-analyst.html

Kover, A. (2020, March 10). A new perspective on hospitality: How Hilton uses VR to teach empathy. Facebook Technology. Retrieved January 24, 2022, from https://tech.fb.com/a-new-perspective-on-hospitality-how-hilton-uses-vr-to-teach-empathy/

Miller, S. (2022, Jan. 24). Hot Hotels for 2022. Wall Street Journal. https://www.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/TMvjaNy5EZbN96ZLZ4lU-WSJNewsPaper-1-24-2022.pdf

Pennic, J. (2016, June 30). How Virtual Reality Can Improve Patient Experience in Healthcare. HIT Consultant. Retrieved January 24, 2022, from https://hitconsultant.net/2016/06/30/virtual-reality-patient-experience/

Poole, A. (2021, Jan. 22). Apple Glasses – everything we know so far. The Gadget Flow. Retrieved January 24, 2022, from https://thegadgetflow.com/blog/apple-glasses/