Ms Rakhi Purohit

General Manager Revenue, Lords Hotels and Resorts

Post pandemic, business lifeline of a hotel has seen a good pace with huge integration of digitalization. Most of the customers are tech savvy and look forward to offers and discounts on a stay or F&B promotions, including wellness and recreational facilities, which can be availed directly through a digital platform that includes a hotels’ website, WhatsApp announcements; email marketing, social media posts, where the touchpoint is virtual.

In recent times, hoteliers have invested more on user-friendly booking engines, which have accomplished guest booking experiences with just few clicks. Moreover, the experiences are complimented with interesting offers that are irresistible to overlook. But a customer’s decision-making process hugely depends on an online guest review that expresses the hoteliers’ service quality, thus creating positive customer satisfaction. Making it a strong marketing tool, the online reviews come in the form of comments, photos, and feedbacks in the social media handles, which inwardly fosters sustainable tourism. A check-in and upgradation process have also become smoother with online booking, which has also made rectification of booking glitches an easier task. Guests also enjoy ease of making payments by virtual credit card or bank transfers, which have their own secured card verification codes that are according to the policies mentioned on the hotel’s payment site.

Generation Alpha is already well tuned with the online booking. But, as per an industry report it has been estimated that nearly 69% of 60–69-year-old prospective travellers and 36% of over 70’s too browses online regularly to book a staycation or plan a trip. And, more and more travellers are expecting digitalized, flexible service options that include exciting offers, discounts and added values.

Packages have always been the strength of a hotel promotion, which specifically generates more bookings via its brand website. An online festive bonanza campaign or a season-based promotional offer generates immense response and massive ROIs to a said property. This has also indicated an upward increase on the year-on-year growth in room nights.

The management of a hotel endeavours to provide both the guest as well as the hotel employees an easy access to the best of today’s technology in order to thrive and experience the true spirit of hospitality. With digitalization in place, travellers today have more power to pick and choose the best that the industry has to offer.