Over the past few months, the hotel industry has suffered unprecedented drops in visits and tried to move ahead by adopting new safety and social distancing measures.
As of now, saying times are bad for hospitality might not be quite true as the industry begins forging its path to recovery. According to the STR forecast, there are first signs of performance improvement.
The weekend of 29-31 May showed that Germany and the Netherlands reached 23% occupancy. Also, we can see the first occupancy green shoots in Austria and Switzerland.
Experts expect the situation to improve by the end of 2020 or the beginning of 2021. However, on the way to return to normal, hoteliers should be ready to embrace new standards, health and sanitation requirements, business policies, as well as adopt the technology.
In this article, we are going to reveal changes and trends, which will contribute to the progress in the hotel industry.
The evolution of customer’s preferences
Travel industry analyst Jay Sorensen introduced IdeaWorks’ April report by saying “People love to travel, and business people need to travel.” He also admitted that even though travel will return, some elements of it will be very different.
For many, these changes will be abrupt. Arne Sorenson, the CEO of Marriott hotel, said, “COVID-19 is having a more severe and sudden impact on our business than 9/11 and the 2009 financial crisis combined.” Still, he is optimistic about the hotel business in China and the US as it emerges from coronavirus lockdowns. As of now, the chain has reopened all of its hotels in China and reached an occupancy rate of 40%. The demand for hotel rooms in the US is also recovering, having an occupancy rate of 20%.
Now people are craving fresh air and outdoor activities, so the next trend to take into account is spending vacations closer to the natural sites. Wellness services will be popular as well, as people are concerned with maintaining their health more than ever. There is also a paradox of post-coronavirus traveling. Clear that people have little money. Yet, they are saving an extra $100 each month for this summer travel season at luxury resorts.
In general, there expected short stays in local hotels where guests could spend time with their families, far from crowded places. So it will be wiser to concentrate on this specific target audience in the near future.
Traveling by car to domestic destinations that are not far from home is another major post-pandemic trend. The majority of travelers admitted that they feel safer while traveling by their own vehicle. For example, Airbnb apartment managers admit that there were about 90%-95% of foreigners in the south of France before the crisis. But today, the demand is entirely from France.
At the beginning of 2020, we saw that hospitality spaces embraced non-digital pleasures like vinyl records or books. However, all those newly ignited appreciation for these objects and experiences are no longer allowed. Tactile engagement with objects requires more disinfection. What’s more, new regulations and reopening guidelines offer to remove such objects from interior design.
Besides, Jay Sorensen expects that the so-called “a la carte” pricing in a post-coronavirus world will be problematic as customers are now more sensitive to any attempt to increase fees. Instead, bargain prices and voucher sales will stimulate traffic.
Right now, the world is full of noise pulling our attention in multiple directions at once. Hospitality seems to be moving toward creating grounding, holistic experiences for guests, providing them with mindfulness and elements of self-care like a spa and wellness retreat based on the Nordic tradition of open-air cold baths. Together with ticking the self-care box, it also provides that elusive connection to nature while minimizing guests’ environmental footprint during their stay.
Also, guests increasingly want convenience and independence. This leads to adopting integrated technology making the hotel experience more digitized and executed via smartphone.
A technological revolution in the hotel industry
Face-to-face interactions were the basis of communication between guests and staff. The stay typically started from warm greetings at the reception desk. And during their visit, customers have always been directly supported by management and personnel. However, the “new normal” in the industry implies as little interpersonal communication as possible.
Customers are concerned about their safety, and they want to know if the place where they are going to stay is properly disinfected. Not just “cleaned”, which means that there are no traces of dirt and dust on the surfaces. In the case of “disinfection”, all surfaces should be also treated with detergents, such as, for example, diluted bleach solutions.
Therefore, cleanliness visibility will become an essential part of the hotel marketing strategy, and it is inevitable. To ensure that disinfecting measures are taken seriously, consider making special groups of cleaning personnel who will be systematically wiping down and cleaning surfaces in the public spaces. It is really important to make the process of disinfecting visible. If visitors don’t see it, then, from their point of view, it simply is not happening.
Now, the hotel stay is going to be much more personal and in many ways technical, as people are very conscious and thoughtful about how to maintain social distancing.
Many hotels scan the body temperature of their guests on the premises, before letting them in. To do so, they are investing in thermal scanners and non-invasive thermometers. Some companies present inventions specifically designed for maintaining physical distance in public spaces. For instance, a special device that reminds guests to take a few steps back if they are standing too close to the reception desk. And Marriott, in its turn, plans to improve its disinfecting routine by using electrostatic sprayers with “hospital-grade” disinfectants.
In addition, IT-companies are busy with developing apps that could make guest´s stay fully digitalized. State-of-the-art Hotel Management Systems allow turning a smartphone into the “hotel in a pocket”. This is how brand new “digital hotel” operates:
● Guest’s journey begins by booking a chosen room online. It takes customers only one button to click to access everything that your website can offer. The booking system allows customers to select a room rate, bed size, preferable meal types, creating a personalized experience.
● Mobile сheck-In option helps guests to avoid unnecessary interactions with staff. All that the customer has to do is to fill in the online form with personal data and sign it digitally. After arrival, the guest has to show a special code from the screen of the smartphone and then get the key. That is the whole procedure!
● During their stay, guests can order meals and services without leaving their rooms and talking to anybody. The only things they need are Internet access, QR-codes, and their phones. All of the conversations about the details could be held via Mobile Live Chat.
● The Digital payment system supports all types of transactions, so guests can pay via a mobile app for their stay and ordered meals and services (e.g., taxi, or even a swimming pool rent).
A glimpse of hope
The most important thing is – even if people are frightened and feel uneasy right now, at the same time, they are eager to travel. They miss this opportunity, spending their whole time at home. And after the COVID-19 crisis finally recedes, we will see an all-time uprise in the hotel industry. To accelerate it, hotels should let customers see that it is safe to stay in their setting, as well as offer effective solutions that help meet all the new hygiene and sanitation requirements.
In response to the above, HotelFriend provides Digitization Package, which includes the following solutions:
1. Marketplace - commission-free room booking.
2. Voucher sales - immediate revenue generation.
3. Cloud-based hotel software - every employee can work remotely, including a home office.
4. Information app - everything you need to know about the hotel.
5. Service order app - social distancing is achieved with any customer orders.
Stay tuned, keep safe and connected during and after the outbreak.
Public relations: Stephanie Moench
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