The risk of getting infected with the coronavirus is still very much in the minds of people that the idea of travel presents uncertainty. Lockdowns have been eased, but the hospitality industry is still scrambling to entice people to book.
Enter technology, which offers the great potential of reviving the multiple sectors of the hospitality industry. But how?
It's clear that the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the integration of new tech into hotel operations. This is the part that we don't often see, but the basics are pretty visible. In order to boost consumer confidence, hotels and restaurants are encouraging the use of masks and contactless payment solutions. Everywhere we see signs remind us of social distance and regularly sanitize.
On a more technical side, nearly every kind of service on Earth can be accessed through mobile devices. Appointments are done via apps and tangible menus have been replaced with scannable QR codes.
Instead of deploying on-property personnel, customer service is now done through live chats or chatbots. Companies are now offering remote access to concierge or front-desk functions. Now, the need to come face-to-face with hotel employees has been eliminated.
All a hotel needs, is cloud-based software, and its back-office functions can be performed with ease, from assigning staff duties to coordinating housekeeping systems. Customers are now being encouraged to use self-service tech in case they prefer to do things by themselves. And this can be advantageous to them too, given there's a lot of personalization options that come with self-service. Using this kind of cutting-edge tech has quickly become paramount for businesses to stay afloat.
The challenges that the hotel industry needs to face are great, and the road to solving them will seem never-ending. But these challenges are also opportunities to innovate and be creative.
As for airlines, they need to rethink their strategies in order to stay profitable in the middle of a pandemic. Surely, they will have to invest in new tech that can screen passengers and disinfect the interiors of planes.
Today's hotels are practicing keeping rooms empty for as long as three days in order to make time for cleaning and sanitization. Airlines will find it difficult to implement the same measures, but passengers will definitely encounter stringent processes to ensure health and safety.
The new normal will be a difficult time for the hospitality industry since it's the type that relies on hoards and hoards of people for monetization. However, if we are to survive, we need to comply, innovate, and live the way the world wants us to live.
