Mehul Sharma

Founder & CEO, Signum Hotels & Resorts

With the advent of modernization & technology, there is bound to come a point in time now and then which marks a defining point for various sectors in the industries. Although, the advent of digitalization began around the 1950s after the departure of the deadly pandemic the digitalization process has picked up the pace even more so.

In the Hospitality sector where comfort is the driving force, the connection of the sector with digitally built portals, apps, and websites has made the hoi-polloi capable of booking hotels from the opposite corner of the world serving the utmost convenience to them. There existed visible bureaucracy in the simplest of registration processes while booking hotels which had been a burden for the hotel industry. Following the new Deutschland, Austria, Confœderatio Helvetica (DACH) rules in the year 2020, the digitalized registration process has been initiated in a decentralized manner to get the required data while reducing bureaucracy.

The pandemic had seeds spread deep down, making the contact-less interactions a part of the new normal! After the digitalization is being used on a vast scale, guests from anywhere can be offered a contact-free check-in/check-out, leaving less work for reception staff giving them more time for clients who prefer a more personal experience.

In the current times, Gen Z millennials are also known as the digital natives form a significantly large proportion of travellers because of their close interaction with the technology at an early age, they are more likely to book a hotel in a hassle-free contactless manner. The guests are no longer bound to use the travel agencies and brochures because everything is simply a web search away.

In the modern scenario, the digitalization process has evolved from just providing for bookings. A 24*7 Live chat on any hotel’s website allows a viewer to ask questions and get a speedy response from the hotel team. Moreover, it has also penetrated the market for city tours, car rentals, and airport transfers which earlier were managed via the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system of the hotel.

The first and foremost step in fully digitizing a stay is to provide online check-in and check-out service. On a more extensive scale, the use of digital keys for accessing the guest’s room can be used to fully avoid reception encounters. The digital key being a modern tool, can be used on an app or Bluetooth on the guest’s cellphone to access their allotted parking garage, gym, and the rooms.

The creation of interconnected tech has converted consumers’ expectations and behaviours. The modern, tech-savvy traveller is equipped with information and desires to experience valued. Now, there’s a call for a frictionless, hyper-customized experience at each touchpoint of their journey. And virtual transformation technology together with AI, robotics, IoT, cloud, cell, and AR/VR underpin a successful visitor stay. From mobile compatible websites, apps, and contactless check-in, to integrated Wi-Fi espresso makers & biometric rest room tiles, there are countless approaches to create a great customized stay for your visitors.

A few of the most popular and effective ways to improve customer experience digitally include the implementation of an adaptive leadership mindset to develop a customer-centric product, leveraging customer data to spike up the subscriptions to increase experience, and developing an omnichannel experience for providing the tech savvy guests with a pre-defined seamless multifocal experience.

Contact-less encounter at hotel receptions along with online bookings of rooms and city-wide tours is something which our leading brand Signum Hotels and Resorts has fully adapted to.

Brands need to examine and evaluate the prevailing visitor experience with what they prefer. With insightful records in hand, decision-makers should modernize merchandise and offerings, supply modern answers and enforce agile fashions of their enterprise way of life and operations. This will bring about growing a significant visitor experience. In this ever-evolving scenario, organizations that prioritize virtual transformation tasks can advantage purchaser loyalty, future-proof their business, and be resilient.

Digitalization is a stone in the way toward the development which can be used to build the foundations of a strong hospitality business in the modern era.