The Covid-19 outbreak has wreaked havoc on the tourism and service industries over the last two years. Rather than shut down and wait for tourism to recover and reopen, many businesses have used the time to restructure their operating models, promote the use of digital technologies and enhance service quality. Among these, digital transformation in business has had a significant positive impact on the hotel industry.
What is Digital Transformation?
As an expert said, “Because digital transformation will look different for every company, it can be hard to pinpoint a definition that applies to all”. However, digital transformation at its core refers to an organization’s ability to adopt digital technology in order to improve company performance and provide value to customers.
The digital transformation process always requires businesses to face a big challenge in changing the way the company operates. This could entail a change in leadership, the adoption of a new business model, the evolution of company culture, or a re-evaluation of how the corporation provides value to its customers. While adopting digital technology might help a company, some businesses may struggle to adapt to the changes that digital transformation necessitates. Investing millions of dollars in technology that their employees don’t want to use, for example.
To be more specific, Stoddard – Senior vice president and CIO at Adobe – recalls that Adobe implemented Rose, a chatbot designed to help answer employee questions. She looked great at first, but after a few months of use, Adobe realized that Rose wasn’t working as they expected. Afterward, they decided to take Rose off and replace her.
Why are hotels in need of Digital Transformation?
As technology develops, the benefits of digital transformation in many traditional businesses will continue to evolve. The reason for this is that there are several benefits for both the company and the customer. Many new features have emerged as a result of this, including remote work, robotics, Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR), the Internet of Things, Automated revenue management, and so on.
The hospitality industry will bounce back strongly from the pandemic with Digital Transformation
Previous UNWTO reports have all stated that the global tourism industry will lose more than trillions of dollars in 2020 and 2021 because of the covid 19 pandemic. However, Mr. Zurab Pololikashvili – UNWTO Secretary-General – still expressed optimism that the situation in 2022 will be far better than in 2021 thanks to the digital transformation.
“The digital transformation is about providing benefits to all, and we are making sure that tourism contributes to this global commitment,” said Zurab Pololikashvili.
People’s desire for reconnection after months of “lockdowns” is expected to drive increased leisure trip spending. Many households in some of the world’s most affluent nations will have more money to spend on travel, as billions in household savings are amassed when there was little else to spend money on besides groceries home delivery.
Digital Transformation – new trends in the hospitality industry
Thanks to the outstanding benefits it brings, digital transformation has quickly become the trend of the times in the hospitality industry.
These days, businesses in the field of hospitality are seeking and establishing close and effective contact links with their customers. Technology solutions are continually evolving to accelerate the transformation process. Inadvertently, this transition has been pushing a transformation in the way tourism and hotel businesses function – something they had not given enough thought to planning for and adjusting to before.
Due to the pandemic’s impacts, not only in the field of hospitality but also more and more businesses began to adopt digital transformation in their business models as a solution to quickly recover and reap profits after a prolonged freeze. According to a survey conducted by EIB Investment in 2021, the COVID-19 epidemic has raised the need for digitization, with 55% of European enterprises reporting that they have become more digital.
In the situation “Fast fish eat slow fish”, if CEOs do not dare to venture out of their safe zone in quest of a breakthrough, the advantage is progressively neutralized for all organizations, and digital transformation becomes a difficult problem. Because technology may enhance workflows, automate operations, and minimize staffing requirements, the digital component of a hotel transformation frequently means operational efficiency.
Adopting Digital Transformation for your hotel businesses
Going digital is here to stay, and if you don’t want to be left behind by the growing digitization of the hospitality industry, you should better be prepared to adapt to the new trends.
Digital transformation presents a plethora of opportunities for the hospitality industry, leading to massive changes and growth. Along with the advantages of shorter wait times, improved communication flows, better customer service, greater performance with lower cost… The importance of digital transformation is greater than ever, and it’s time for businesses to embrace it.
Once you’ve decided on a goal, you’ll need to treat digital transformation seriously and comprehensively to avoid wasting money on changes that aren’t beneficial to the business. You should consider hiring a professional technology service provider to keep up with current business trends and minimize the hazards that may arise during the digital transformation process.
