What the future looks like
In the decades to come, travel will be transformed by technology and environmental concerns. Here are some of the ideas that may shape our future travels
MOBILE HOTELS
The first consideration for every property you book is its location, but what if the hotel could move to where you really wanted it? Cooper Carry Architects won 2019’s Radical Innovation Design Award for Hospitality for its “Connectic” concept. The octahedral structure can be installed anywhere – for example, for temporary use in a park or green space, attached to an existing building or filling a space between buildings.
CLEAR VISION
Hotel operations software company Guestline predicts the widespread integration of glass walls that can double as voice-controlled TVs or become digital wallpaper. Bathrooms will also be clad in glass, although a simple voice command will make them opaque when you’re looking for privacy.
GOING UP IN THE WORLD Students Ruslan Mannapov and Airat Zaidullin won the student category of 2019’s Radical Innovation Design Award for Hospitality for their “Rooftop Hotel Gardens” design – metallic and glass modules allowing additional rooms with great skyline views.
AI BEDS AND SMART MIRRORS Smart mirrors will be installed in hotels of the future, according to Yotel. It surveyed 2,000 UK travellers and 72 per cent said they expected hotels to have hyperintegrated walls with interactive mirrors by 2050. Respondents also said they expected AI-assisted beds that morph to fit the sleeper’s body shape and sense sleep cycles, and retract when not in use.
BIOMETRICS AND VOICE ACTIVATION
You’ll pay for your hotel using fingerprints, iris scans and facial recognition, as well as unlock room doors, according to Oracle Hospitality’s report Hotel 2025. Sound scary? Well, Yotel asked travellers what they envisioned in hotels in 2050 and 88 per cent favoured facial recognition for room access. Voice commands are expected to regulate lighting, air con and heating in hotel rooms, according to Guestline, and smart showers will detect the optimal temperature by registering the heat levels from a guest’s touch.
AERODYNAMICS
e “Flying V” (above) is a prototype being funded by KLM and developed by a Dutch university. Its aerodynamic shape reduces fuel burn by 20 per cent compared with an A350 and the passenger cabins, cargo hold and fuel tanks are located in its wings, which t within existing gate infrastructure. KLM says the design would “improve passenger experience, from the seating layout in the wings, to the design of the seats and bathrooms”. Airbus recently trialled wing tips that ap in the wind (right). ey are designed to move like an albatross’s wings to minimise the e ects of turbulence.
GOING ELECTRIC
Electric aircra are coming, but their capabilities depend on the development of batteries. ere are more than 170 companies working on electric and hybrid aircra projects, from Airbus and Boeing to start-ups such as Wright Electric. Rolls-Royce is working on the fastest-ever all-electric aircra (right), set to y this year, and has teamed up with Airbus and Siemens on the E-Fan X, a two-megawatt, hybrid-electric engine for commercial aircra due to debut in 2021.
e biggest markets for such aircra would likely be short-haul airlines and private aviation. Easyjet says it wants to y routes such as London-Amsterdam with electric planes by 2027, although critics say this is overly optimistic.
Long-haul electric ights are a distant prospect. As Airbus’s chief technology o cer, Grazia Vittadini, points out, batteries that are 30 times more e cient and “energy-dense” than they are today could still only y an A320 one- h of its current range with half of its payload.
THE NEW SUPERSONIC
e US Department of Transportation and Federal Aviation Administration say they are “taking steps to advance the development of civil supersonic aircra ”. Boeing has partnered with US manufacturer Aerion to develop a plane (see artist’s impression above) that would y at Mach 1.4 (approximately 1,600km per hour). Meanwhile, Boom Supersonic is building a Mach 2.2 aircra that it hopes to y by mid-2020, and Lockheed Martin has a contract with NASA to build a “low boom” demonstration aircra .
STREAMLINED SECURITY
A new generation of sophisticated security scanners is emerging that will eliminate the necessity for liquids to be put in plastic bags or shoes to be removed. Combined with facial recognition, such devices will transform how travellers pass through security. In the near future, security measures could simply involve an escalator ride through various face and body scanners, or may even be carried out on public transport en route to the airport.
BETTER BIOMETRICS
Biometrics are well under way to revolutionising how we navigate the airport. As well as getting you through check-in, security and boarding without a passport or boarding pass, facial recognition will likely be used to let adverts target passengers based on age, gender or mood, provide lounge access, and as payment for shopping.