The post pandemic is driving changes to customer behavior and expectation

The surging COVID-19 had a significant impact on consumer behavior. Hoteliers all over the world acted quickly to mitigate the impact on operations, laying off employees, cutting costs, reducing touchpoints, and other measures until given the green signal to reopen. Thus, complying with and adapting to shifting consumer behaviors will be critical to the hospitality sector’s recovery. In order to gain and sustain customer trust, hotel operators need to adapt quickly to meet consumer demands by reconnecting in a manner that meets their expectations.

Simultaneously, hoteliers need to optimise their operational efficiency and adaptability while taking into consideration all contingencies in the hospitality business. Hoteliers are concerned about the rate at which emerging hospitality technology is dominating the industry and how it is set to have a huge impact on guest experience. Without the assistance of comprehensive hospitality solutions, the company is shifting at an unexpected cost in its history, attempting to make keeping track of predictive analytics, dispersion, room rate plans, and guest requirements a hassle that would necessitate a rapid workforce to keep standards.

With the help of innovative hospitality solutions, the industry is moving at an incredible rate in tracking predictive analytics, room rate plans, and guest expectations that would otherwise necessitate a massive workforce to meet demand. Modern hotels in the hospitality industry have recognized the benefits of innovation and have already implemented automated hotel management systems. This allows them to make the most of their employees, services, and facilities in order to boost their business productivity while improving the overall experience of hotel guests.

The pandemic Covid-19 has forced the world to undergo a continuous economic crisis.  Touchless technology and innovations have been helping hoteliers to successfully transform ineffective and disengaged processes into workflows that are completely advanced, centralized, streamlined, and seamlessly integrated. Hoteliers are more productive as a result of the use of automated systems, which makes it easier for them to facilitate their routine, repetitive work. While this digital technology emphasis continues to persist, it results in a constant rise in the hospitality market. It is enlightening to see how our hospitality industry, which was among the first to be affected by the bad thunderstorms, is moving swiftly and staying focused on understanding and quantifying the operating and economic impact on their operations.

As technology unwind constraints, many hoteliers will be responsive to innovative advancements such as self-check-ins and check-outs, touchless payments, app-based services, augmented or virtual reality, and others. This should be interpreted as an invitation for hospitality organisations to drive innovation and engage in digitalization. Hoteliers are likely to maintain restrictions on hotel capacity, social distancing, and other factors in an attempt to prevent the upcoming wave of virus infection from spreading. Guests were becoming more aware of whether or not a hotelier was taking preventative measures during this pandemic. Although it is essential for hotels to preserve their benchmark quality of goods and services, hoteliers are much more assertive in providing exceptional services in accommodating guest service.

How can hoteliers adapt to changing guest expectations?

In general, hotel guests now expect to receive personalized and authentic service throughout their stay. Everything which tends to fall short of these expectations is able to expect negative feedback from the guests. When a guest used their mobile to discover a hotel nearby, they would anticipate the results to be personalized to their location, time of day, and even previous preferences and reservations. That would be the scenario across the whole of the booking process and during their stay, requiring the hotel to preserve the level of interaction and keep records of their respective guests’ interests. Inevitably, hospitality innovation has changed guest perceptions since they begin to have an unsurpassed sense of freedom and comfortability during their stay. There were times when guests booked their accommodations over the phone, in person at a hotel, or via a booking agent. In contrast, in the new norms Online travel agencies (OTAs), hospitality online sites, and online booking engine platforms are dominating the current industry.

Guests can now directly access any details digitally, with mobile reservations in particular growing at an alarming rate. Moreover, hospitality technology has given them the anticipation that their behavior and priorities will not only be recognized, but will also be utilized to provide even more personalization to guests’ experiences in the future. Hoteliers could optimize the following to accommodate the changing guest experience:

• Utilize technologies such as guest apps to develop more effective methods of promoting loyalty.
• Implement unique technology to obtain a competitive advantage.
• Accept automated marketing prospects and implement with new functionalities such as machine learning to gain new consumer perspectives.
• Utilize hotel innovation such as hotel Property Management System (PMS) and online booking engines to optimize hotel operations
• Deploying virtual technology to enhance guest experience.

How hoteliers can adapt to new challenges and thrive in the new normal

1)Constantly Enhance Hotel Hygiene and Safety

Since the hospitality industry returns to full force business operations, hoteliers should do everything feasible to offer a hygienic environment for guests. Authorities will require hoteliers to obey safety guidelines and procedures, yet it is the responsibility of the hoteliers to enforce those regulations in a manner that accommodates their business as well as customer experience. All hospitality establishments will want to implement strict, regular sanitising procedures as well as necessitate the use of masks within the vicinity of the hotel. Social distance, as well as regular hand and respiratory hygiene, are the primary preventative measures for COVID-19 transmission measures. If the facilities do not allow for proper physical separation, the occupancy should be reduced. Although it is likely that guests are already aware of physical separation, hand washing, and respiratory hygiene, they should be reminded frequently as part of hospitality practice.

Practising a good hygiene influences guest satisfaction which in turns deliver a memorable experience through unique amenities and personal touches. Hoteliers must maintain flawless safety hygiene in order to maintain loyal consumers. This is because guests are likely to be more concerned about hygienic practices than ever before, and therefore it is the accountability of hoteliers to re-establish customer trust by providing measurably cleaning services. Utilizing HotelX, contact tracing feature, our solution will greatly assist hoteliers and local authorities in better handling traced cases. This contact tracing feature involves the process of identifying people who might have come into contact with an infected person. Consequently, this will restrict the spread of infection. Modern hoteliers can use the following approaches to maintain hygiene and underline their hotel’s engagement with guest safety and health:

• Specify cleaning procedures and frequency of occurrence.
• Provide hotel employees with personal protective equipment (PPE).
• Make use of digital signage and contactless payment systems.
• Emphasize hotel hygiene guidelines, such as installing hand sanitizer and regularly sanitizing high-touch areas.

2) Deploying Touchless Hospitality Technology

It is crucial to emphasise that hotel operators should continue to engage in their properties despite the unexpected challenges posed by the pandemic. Furthermore, hoteliers will undeniably be under pressure to reduce operating costs in the coming months. Hoteliers should take the corresponding measures to audit their current technology to ensure that their existing platforms are not increasing productivity without limiting operational efficiency.

For instance, a cloud-based hotel Property Management System (PMS) can improve productivity, boost revenue, and enhance the comfortability of the guest experience. Besides that, real-time accessibility, booking competence, revenue capabilities, and direct integration with direct booking engines are all possible with cloud-based systems. The best rationale for choosing a cloud-based PMS is that the solution streamlines hotel operations and processes, including bookings and scheduled guest activities. HotelX, PMS enables hotel businesses to manage front-office processes such as bookings, invoicing, guest check-in and checkout, room allocations, as well as assigning maintenance tasks. This allows hoteliers to integrate administrative functions across all departments as the solution enhances operations, saves time, and assists in improving the customer experience.

Similarly, deploying a Guest App allows guests to book accommodation conveniently on-the-go, eliminating human interaction. The solution allows guests with a series of functionalities to check-in and check-out online, access their room with a digital key, make in-room service requests, have access to other tailor-made services. The AI-enabled facial recognition and ID scanning capabilities of the touchless hospitality solution can decrease the need to touch highly contaminated screens and surfaces. Additionally, features such as keyless entry, mobile scanning, smart rooms, and mobile check-in provide guests with more control over their stay.

Deploying an elevated experience that resolves the safety concern with touchless technology aids in convincing guests to feel contented throughout their stay. Touchless hospitality technology also assists hotel operators in creating a more personalized, fascinating experience that will establish stronger ties and sustain guest loyalty. Ensuring a sustainable and personalized experience will be vital to post-pandemic recovery to establish the hospitality business while taking it to greater heights. The following are some of the primary advantages of implementing touchless hotel technologies:

• Safety for guests and hotel staff 

• Convenience for guests and hotel staff

• Increases hotel efficiency and productivity

• More personalised guest experience

• Facilitates communication

3) Provides A Tailored Guest Experience

Customer engagement is essential in the hotel industry to provide an exceptional guest experience. Fulfilling the guests’ necessities could go a long way toward creating everlasting customer satisfaction and loyalty. Leveraging an adequate hotel solution, it is viable to provide a customised hospitality experience. Transparent, beneficial, seamless interaction between guests and hoteliers is among the most effective ways to achieve a high level of customer satisfaction in the hospitality sector. In order to provide a unique way in which guests will utilise the hotel space, a sustained focus on guestroom capabilities and innovation is required. For instance, upon arrival at a hotel, guests may prefer to check-in to their respective room instead of waiting in the lounge. Facilities, enhanced technology, and tools should indeed be provided in rooms to cater to these types of uses. Instead of eating a meal at the hotel restaurant, guests these days prefer in-room dining.

Adding to that, with the innovation of QR code scanning, modern hoteliers could see even more opportunity compared to physical menus. A QR code can direct customers to a link to order and pay on their mobile phones. QR code menu for instance allows for contactless placing of order and payment for guests reassure them who are concerned about high-touch surfaces. Apart from that, digital menus for hotels give guests immediate access via a QR code, allowing the ordering experience entirely in their hands. This gives guests a high degree of confidence that their safety is well assured throughout their stay in a hotel. In fact, hoteliers could use QR codes to track customers previous orders, allowing guests to conveniently reorder in their upcoming visit. Besides that, guests can make requests through an in-room voice recognition device via a mobile app utilising the hospitality technology.

HotelX’s Guest App optimizes touchless interaction and communication, which improves the digital guest experience. The solution also assists in increasing revenue by providing premium features and real-time advertising through targeted promos that promote guest loyalty through a unique touch. This application is routed directly to an operation process where guests can request anything from anywhere in the hotel vicinity. This saves the user from having to carry out a traditional control function such as pressing a button. It also reduces the time it takes to respond to guest requests and allows for a more personalized guest experience.

Whenever it comes to guest interactions, hotel operators should emphasise more individual channels of communication. Effective communication has grown tremendously, and modern generations, in particular, are much more familiar with quick responses than those who call or send emails. As a result, hotels must adapt to new innovations and communicate with their guests in a more personal and interactive manner. For example, hoteliers should create a more personalised booking experience for their guests by incorporating their chatbot with an online booking engine, allowing them to make a booking simply by conversing with the chatbot. This not only simplifies the process, but also creates a memorable experience, which can lead to an increase in productivity and efficiency.

Conclusion

The hotel industry needs to be aware of shifting consumer preferences. The removal of travel bans and the execution of the vaccine are sufficient to encourage people to travel again. Competence, safety, and convenience will be critical in uplifting the hospitality industry, where hotels will need to play a significant role in creating a sense of security. Consistency with hygienic practises, strict SOP compliance that emphasises safety regulations and measurements are among the crucial initiatives that hotels will have to comply with.

As the severity of pandemic crises has increased in recent times, hoteliers have indeed started to thrive in this brand-new digital world by incorporating the latest technology into their business operations. Consequently, hoteliers will adapt to the new norms, services, and customer expectations in order to better serve customers while increasing profitability. Numerous hospitality businesses are still figuring out how to navigate the exciting new world of digitalisation.

Hoteliers are emphasizing streamlining and revamping travel processes, as well as constructing the right technology needed to fully leverage digital technologies to provide a more flawless guest experience. Businesses in the hospitality industry must ensure that their guests have an exceptional experience as they are constantly seeking for digital approaches to fulfil their needs. Looking for a digitize and streamline your hotel operations, visit our website at https://ifca.asia/solution/hotelx/ for more information’s.