Tokyo, the Park Hyatt and the Art of the Hotel Arrival

Colin Nagy, head of strategy at Fred & Farid, a global advertising agency, writes this opinion column for Skift on hospitality, innovation, and business travel. “On Experience” dissects customer-centric experiences and innovation across hospitality, aviation, and beyond.  Most hotel arrivals are dreadfully mundane, even at high-end hotels. Either it is the familiar cadence, or a brand leans a little too hard on the R&D lab to innovate in ways people don't actually want. You arrive, hopefully don't have to wait in line, give some basic details and a credit card, and get shown to your room with a rudimentary run through of the hopelessly complicated commands to open the blinds. An earlier column lamented the rise of cost-cutting, artificial intelligence gone wrong, and the dark temptations that this new technology aff