In her last interview with Expresso Sunday, Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president, stated:
While “learning to live with the virus”, a European community faces another substantial problem. For many countries, strongly dependent from tourism, loosing their potential profit from this economy sector can lead to serious struggles in future. To understand better how the problem can be diminished on the level of entrepreneurship, we advice to have a look how smart solutions are implemented in different economies and learn from their example.“I think we are going to find smart solutions for having a summer vacation. Maybe a little different, with other hygiene measures, with a little more social distance, but it is impressive to see that we will find solutions”.
It is vital right now to acknowledge that the world would never be the same. More social distancing, more hygiene routine upgrades, and even more businesses steps into virtual world. Right now, during outbreak, hospitality must find the answer to the questions:
Day by day, more and more hospitality professionals try to think outside the box, and that’s what they know now — hotels are to go digital, starting from automation of processes, staff optimization, ending with services for remote contact with clients.How will we work after the pandemic? What are the measures we need to do to keep our guests safe?
It was said long time ago, and now the whole market repeats — we need to upgrade our approach to hotel operations, revolutionizing them bit by bit, harmonizing with constantly developing world. The pandemic teaches us not only social distancing, but fulfilling our needs via smartphone, in one click, without any effort.
The society likes comfort, likes to feel safe and that’s all hotels need to know to start searching for digital solutions to be quickly and painlessly implemented in operating process. Needless to say it must be cheap, effective, not contradicting with other IT development and easily manageable, without interference of third party companies (e.g. hotel can manage content without calling tech support 3 times a day).
There are many solutions on the market, and your choice should be made according to substantial needs. Do you need to reduce the amount of staff members (I hope not)? Or it’s better to optimize their operations with mobile solutions for management so they have more structured workflow? Or you’re very much concerned about your guests safety or cosiness and prefer to improve guests experience first?
First of all, think about your hotel. What do your line managers and staff need, or what is essential for your clients after the pandemic — no one knows it better than a GM or hotel owner.
Secondly, don’t be afraid to spend some money on IT and marketing now, although search for cheaper solutions or negotiate with companies for special prices or subscription terms. We all face the same problem and can imagine how is it to be in your shoes.
Thirdly, think about the market you’re operating in. Right now, it’s time to work together, and united we will overcome everything. If you find a great mobile solution — share it with other hospitality professionals. Spread the information, teach, learn from others. And I suggest choosing mobile development or any type of software, that allows to be added to the community, to the digital pool of different hotels. There’s a major advantage of using IT products like aggregators (e.g. booking websites, where all hotels are listed, or the same task and staff management systems for all hotels with set amount of functions, but personified accounts for each):
- no money spent on IT development;
- a new traffic channel, since this type of products are marketed on users by companies themselves;
- a stable product, tested and ready to implement immediately;
- no need in learning how to use — customer-friendly interface;
- significantly smaller price comparing to customer IT development or other software with customization;
- personal contact can be still maintained, but via guest smartphone.
Will this attitude of social distancing through the smartphone affect hotels image and performance? I don’t think so. People get used to ordering food and goods online, so it won’t be rude to offer people hotel services online. You’re thinking about their health first and hotel processes optimization second. Same for communication — the messenger era dictates its rules, so hotels have to adjust. As customers usually quickly ask their friends and family about something in WhatsApp, Facebook, Snapchat or else, they can do the same with receptionist in the chat with translator, implemented in the mobile app for hotel.
To enter a new post-pandemic world you need to see how your customer lives at home now to make them feel “at home” in your hotel — safe, comfortable and cherished. And the reality says “go digital”, like they use modern devices — smart TVs, smart lighting system, smart bathrooms, Amazon Echo, smart home systems, smart cars.
Maybe it’s time for hotel to become “smart”?