How technology is helping the hospitality industry to recover from the pandemic

Lee Copland, Managing Director, EMEA

It is not news that the Covid-19 pandemic severely impacted the travel and tourism sector. In the Middle East, the global crisis in the West hindered the significant growth in the industry, which contributed US$ 270bn to the region’s GDP, or 8.9% of the economy.

However, the sector is historically very resilient, and business travel resumed when certain restrictions were lifted. This was quickly reflected at the Dubai 2020 Expo. In October, when the event opened, hotel occupancy reached 80.7%, according to consultancy firm CBRE.

New hotels are opening their doors, and a grandiose project is well underway: Ciel, the world’s tallest hotel upon its completion (360 metres high), is set to launch in 2023. Before that, all eyes will be on the 2022 FIFA World Cup, hosted by Qatar from November next year. With over 1 million visitors expected to attend, Dubai and Abu Dhabi will also benefit from the event with easy connections to Doha.

With so many events planned, travel and tourism in the Middle East are on the path to recovery. Technology innovation plays a big part in this new age of tourism, with health and safety at the forefront of the comeback.

Attentive and efficient service 

Travellers count on excellent customer service worldwide, but in parts of the Middle East, it goes up few notches to provide a luxury stay guests have come to expect.

This means being immersed in every client’s needs to provide them with the best experience. Hotels are getting a helping hand from technology. The integration between visitor management and access control technologies frees staff to focus on bespoke service, whilst connectivity with databases such as Microsoft Directory and property management systems such as Oracle’s OPERA allows hotels to automate and digitize processes.

Smartphone apps are also enhancing the visitor experience. Using secure QR codes guests can enter 5-star hotels and exclusive beach clubs, for example. COVID vaccination certificates and PCR or lateral flow results can be requested electronically ahead of time, avoiding bottlenecks and frustration at reception desks, ensuring 5-star welcomes are not hampered by the pandemic. The same applies to departures, by ensuring guests access hotel testing or details of local testing facilities to support a hassle-free return journey. By digitizing manual tasks, this significantly frees up reception and back-office staff to be allocated to more rewarding and customer-facing roles.

In terms of mitigating risk, this level of automation is less prone to human error and demonstrates to authorities and health and safety inspectorates that security compliance and duty of care responsibilities are being met.

A solution for all

These digitized processes are also being used by mid-market hotels, creating new efficiencies in how they welcome guests, manage visitors, deploy staff, and handle vital logistics and services.

If a hotel is equipped with the latest generation of visitor management solutions, guests can have a whole digital stay. Before arrival they receive a QR code sent to their phone, allowing a virtual check-in, with all the information needed for their trip: it gives them wayfinding information, access to the hotel, their room, a parking spot, and information on how to access other guest services such as restaurants, gyms, etc.

The solution avoids unnecessary queues on the reception desk, which can be frustrating for business travellers, especially after a long flight and on a tight schedules At the same time, hotel management teams have a complete real-time overview of occupancy levels without the hindrance of paperwork. When a guest checks out, their access to the facilities can be automatically suspended.

Technology enhancing security

But it is not only guests who can benefit from a digitized system. Service providers, couriers, caterers, delivery drivers, and regular staff also use the same visitor management solution. Their activity is tracked through the system: which doors they’ve opened, where they’ve parked, how long they stayed on site. Once a delivery arrives, for instance, there is no need to check via intercom, from the entrance gate to the control room, if expected; the QR code carries all the necessary information.

Using the same approach, hotel managers and their permanent and contract staff benefit too, with smooth onboarding and offboarding, the elimination of clunky time and attendance systems, and instead have the ability to use designated entry and exits to track working hours linked directly to payroll.

Ultimately, integrating visitor management with an access control system, complete with video surveillance, gives security controllers a comprehensive panorama of a hotel and its perimeter. From a single interface, they can check the whereabouts of staff and service providers, taking immediate action in case of an incident. If anything unexpected happens, managers can respond quickly and efficiently, while knowing exactly who is on-site at all times.  In case it is needed to investigate an event, they can check the system minute by minute, better yet when accompanied by video surveillance footage.

Supporting the future growth with tech

The travel industry is on the way to recovery, but it is not an easy path. The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) set out key measures to accelerate recovery: allowing fully vaccinated travellers to move freely irrespective of their origin or eventual destination; ensuring common recognition of all vaccines approved by the WHO; committing resources to the COVAX initiative to provide adequate global vaccination. This last point would, according to scientists, be the only way to try to avoid new variants emerging.

But one thing is sure: the way people travel has changed forever. With contactless technology now part of our everyday lives, hotels are also reaping the benefits while providing guests with the assurance of enhanced hygiene measures. Visitor management software allows hotels to offer their guests enhanced while becoming a crucial tech element of their overarching security and safety solutions.

We are yet to see the travel industry reach the same levels as pre-pandemic. According to PwC, it will take three to five years for tourism to regain the level of demand it enjoyed in 2019 in the Middle East. Yet with the technology Maxxess can provide, hotels and hospitality venues will be well equipped for this long-awaited comeback.