HOTELS & HOSPITALITY
DRIVING DIGITALISATION
As sustainability becomes non-negotiable in the hospitality industry smart property solutions offer a ray of hope, says Sanjeevv Bhatia, Chairman of SB Group and CEO of Netix Global BV.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE), which is synonymous with hospitality par excellence, mandated a set of sustainability requirements for hotel establishments last year. This sweeping regulation was timed to complement the upcoming Expo event and the UAE’s imminent bid to host the COP28 — both having strong sustainability and climate action focus. While the objective is as clear as day, it left hoteliers and the hospitality industry stakeholders with a unique dilemma: How to optimise energy systems and utilities without disrupting guest experiences?
This dilemma is understandable, taking into account that hospitality is the most experience-driven real estate vertical, where reputation hinges on service quality. So, cutting corners and revamping the services and amenities could disrupt the guest experience and, in turn, the business outcome. State-of-the-art hospitality properties, with their embedded smart systems and sensors, will be better positioned to align with sustainability mandates, while their relatively older counterparts have multiple challenges to reckon with. And, as a result, hoteliers and facility managers are increasingly in the market for solutions that can optimise existing systems with minimal costs and operational downtime.
Smart property solutions: The hospitality
industry’s digitalisation drivers According to a study, the global smart hospitality market is set to grow at a CAGR of 21% from 2020 to 2027. This growth can be linked to ongoing sustainability
24 | TOMORROW’S FM
adjustments as well as the pandemic-induced increase in digitalisation across economic sectors. But the adoption rate is particularly high in the service economies like the UAE, thanks to increased accessibility of enterprise-grade solutions that can optimise legacy building management and automation systems.
Such brownfield actions are possible due to the availability of smart property retrofits, which can integrate multi- vendor legacy systems. In the hospitality industry, where hotels typically rely on 40-50 vendors, seamless integration can unlock unprecedented efficiencies. This method, popularly called the ‘Android approach’ to property operations and maintenance, creates an open- protocol ecosystem that is programmable and flexible for value additions — much like the mobile Android OS. This enables hoteliers and particularly the frontline departments like FM to achieve operational productivity and unlock multi-fold value.
So, how do smart retrofits digitalise relatively older hospitality properties and empower stakeholders?
Real-time management and centralised control Hotels accompany a wide range of systems, including but not limited to HVAC, lighting, central boilers, guest room management systems (GRMS), BMS, and access control. In relatively older properties, however, these systems
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