Technology and digitization have become the perfect allies for the hotel sector and many vacation homes during this pandemic and there is no doubt that it will be the key to leaving the crisis behind and taking the customer experience to another level.
We all know the deep crisis that this pandemic has generated in the tourism sector and the serious economic damage it has caused, we are talking about a fall of close to 40,000,000 euros, according to official figures from the Deloitte company. This has brought with it massive closures of vacation rentals and the bankruptcy of many hotels, however, there are those who have managed to stay on their feet, using strategies such as long-term rentals, in the case of vacation homes, or the reinvention of some hotels such as long stays for business or for well-known digital nomads.
What is certain is that technology has played a fundamental role in the recovery of the sector and this has been shown by the Minister of Tourism, Reyes Maroto in his speech at the TIS 2020, who has affirmed that it is a fact the duty of the state to promote the digitization of the sector and the adoption of artificial intelligence, proposing an investment of 355 million euros for the recovery, improvement and modernization of the sector.
It is a fact that hosts and owners of vacation rentals must adjust to the new era and the new requirements that have been standardized as a result of the covid. Such is the fact that according to a TechYhotel Project investigation on the implementation and use of technology in the hotel sector, carried out by the ITH in 2019, it ensured that 73.5% of hotels plan to invest between € 5,000 and € 25,000 in technology. And this figure increases considerably in hotels with a high level of technological implementation, of which 4.8% place their average investment in technology between € 50,000 and € 100,000.
Now, how could the use of technology generate happiness for my clients?
Simple, it is proven that we have reached a situation in which the client is more digital than the hotel or holiday accommodation, so he must hurry and implement solutions at the forefront of technology that allow him to be up to par, meeting his expectations and advancing the customer experience.
Most guests today do everything through their mobile, applications that facilitate their day to day, they opt for digital payments, remote accesses, for everything that allows them to save time and tedious processes.
But this is not only something that is seen in very young people, the so-called millennials or Generation Z, no, digitization is a tool that has even transcended older people, who have been caught off guard by technology, but they have had to update and address it for their benefit and that of their customers.
But, what is the key for clients to feel that they live a better experience?
The key is to put the customer at the center of everything, of all the decisions we make, of all the programs we use, to think about what effect this could have on the guest, how the guest would like it, how it would help the guest.
The sector faces two major challenges that revolve around digitization and are, on the one hand, solving the pothole caused by the coronavirus crisis. This is indisputably linked to the acceptance of the culture of digitization and the commitment to the use of contactless technology: QR codes for room reservations, online check-in, guest apps, chatbots, etc. On the other hand, position itself in a sector where there is a high level of competition, through taking the customer experience to the highest level.
In short, the tourism sector makes a clear commitment to digital transformation. But the path to digitization should not be based solely on the adoption of new technological tools, the automation of processes and the structuring of data, but goes further. Management must balance between technology and people’s happiness.
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