Technology
to top tourist spots, have often been a secondary focus. As such, these hotels will need to make structural changes in how they attract and retain leisure customers. Compared with business travellers, leisure travellers want more guidance through the booking process and more information about the destination. They spend differently than business travellers. It is less about specifics and convenience and more about adding services on the fly after the initial booking, in the spirit of discovery and adventure. Delivering for leisure travellers will take on added importance because there will be more of them in 2022.
The new face of business travel While business travel demand will lag behind leisure travel, it is not a thing of the past. This is especially true in the US, the world’s most popular business travel destination. Business travel overall in the US is expected to increase in 2022 compared with the previous year and, according to an analysis by Kalibri Labs, by Q3 it is projected to reach 80% of 2019 figures. While a full recovery is not expected until 2024, global business travel is projected to increase by 14% in 2022, with the US and China seeing the largest upswing of 30% projected growth. With large-managed corporate travel down – and
likely never to come back exactly as it was before the crisis – small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) will lead the way in business travel’s 2022 recovery. This continues a trend that began in 2020, when the volume of SME travel was down, but not to the same extent as the rest of business travel during the height of the pandemic.
Leaders across hotels, airlines, car rental suppliers
and travel management companies have indicated that their SME accounts came back relatively quickly coming out of 2020, and are continuing to outperform corporates today. They attribute this to the fact that smaller companies started to return to the office faster, and as part of this, put their people on the road sooner. They also believe that SME travel is buoyed by fewer travel restrictions and more flexible travel policies. These leaders are seeing growing demand from smaller consulting agencies, law and accounting firms and retailers, and expect more of the same into 2022. The SME sector represents an upside opportunity
for hotels to fill midweek occupancy and balance highly anticipated leisure demand patterns. This is a largely untapped market – one that was often squeezed out by the largest corporate negotiated segment. For hotels to take full advantage of this opportunity, it will be important to establish contacts with prospects and understand the needs of this segment. Speed and convenience will likely continue to be important, but SME business travellers will certainly focus on health and safety issues more so now than before. ●
Hotel Management International /
www.hmi-online.com
Technology trends to watch
Technological advancements are playing an increasingly important role in allowing the hotel industry to respond to travellers’ changing needs and preferences. The biggest technology trends expected for 2022 and beyond are listed below: ■ Keeping it human with technology: The personalisation of technology will take another leap forward, with hotels using digital technologies to ease workloads and further satisfy each individual guest with a unique guest experience. This includes everything from food and beverage options and fl exible check-in and check-out times, to expanded room bandwidth for all traveller segments. While luxury hotels are especially known for service defi ned by a personal touch, hotels of all types will use more technology tools that help them gain an understanding of customers, progressively enhancing guest experiences and meeting or exceeding established service standards.
■ Remapping the guest and staff journeys: Mobile self-service devices are allowing guests to navigate the traditional guest journey much more effi ciently – from booking to checkout – without having to interact directly with staff. As a result, hotel employees are spending less time on tasks, such as processing check-ins, and can pursue initiatives that can make a greater impact on customer service.
■ Shifting in-house technology solutions: For years, larger hotel chains have had in-house teams developing their own property management and central reservation systems. But a lack of integrations, compatibility issues, and compliance problems – along with the cost of keeping these solutions relevant and agile – creates challenges for in-house teams. With many hotel groups restructuring during the pandemic, and an industry-wide focus on recovery and growth, more hotels will move from in-house tools to ‘off-the-shelf’ offerings from industry vendors. This shift will not only reduce operational costs, but also improve service offerings to employees and guests.
■ Expanding the use of agile PMS: Property management systems (PMS) are the hub of hotel operations. With near exponential growth in the apps that ‘hang’ off the PMS, fast, simple, and low or no-cost integrations are a necessity for continued innovation and an effi cient technology ecosystem. No PMS provider can meet the demands of every hotelier. As a result, hotel operators will increasingly turn to a PMS solution that has a growing network of integration partners that offer expanded capabilities.
Source: American Hotel & Lodging Association Hotels turning to technology to get future-ready
Which, if any, of the following technology or software systems have you upgraded (or consider upgrading) to support future hotel business opportunities like non-room revenue?
26% Reservation systems 23%
Property management Revenue management
Point of sales devices CRM and/or loyalty databases
Marketing and
advertising campaign management
Channel management/ distribution
Guest messaging Upgraded pre-pandemic
20% 24% 34% 20% 29% 35% Upgraded in 2020 Considering upgrading in the future Source: Oracle Hospitality, ‘Back to Hospitality; Getting Smarter and More Profitable in a Post-Covid World’ 24% 28% 21% 26% 30% 21% 26% 32% 18% 22% 34% 17% 35% 33% 29% 28%
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