Markets & Performance

Since its onset, the global health pandemic has undoubtedly represented an upheaval of the hospitality market with virtually all industry professionals recognizing a need to reevaluate their offerings to conform to new guest needs, behaviors and expectations.

The entire hotel experience is currently in a state of transformation due to the spread of COVID-19, and hoteliers are in a position to leverage technology to transform the guest room into a profit center. By making PPE (Personal Protection Equipment) along with a wide range of other products available for purchase in the guest room, hotels have an opportunity to fulfill guests' needs at a distance while creating a new profit center in an environment where revenue-generating sectors appear to be disappearing by the day.

It is widely accepted that the world emerging from the current crisis, will be one shaped by the new norms and cultural evolutions that are taking place today. Hoteliers who are ready to welcome guests in an environment that emphasizes their safety and personal value, will be the first to recover.

Imagine all the chaos if you had to hire a consultant to come to your home and set up ZOOM on your computer at the onset of beginning of COVID-19. This is the state of “cloud” PMS technology in the hospitality industry. Coronavirus forced every one of us to take some time to reflect and, more importantly, reprioritize.

At the outset, it is important to understand that a pandemic like COVID has changed life in its entirety. Behaviors, priorities, and expectations have changed. Many businesses, verticals or solutions that existed/exist today will need to undergo transformations.

The short-term impact of 2019-nCoV novel coronavirus on the global travel industry has been significant. According to the International Air Transport Association, airlines are set to loose $133 billion in revenue if COVID-19 continues, while travel by Chinese nationals has slowed significantly.

From a tourism sustainability point of view, the coronavirus is both a blessing and a curse. On the bright side, it forces organizations to think about different (smarter?) ways to do business, making use of virtual options that do not require travel.

The COVID-19's impact on the hospitality sector will vary from very to extremely negative depending on the evolution of the epidemy through the northern hemisphere summer. First signs are profoundly concerning. Mass hysteria fueled by traditional and social media, large scale events (e.g., Geneva Autoshow and ITB Berlin) being canceled, a wave of cancellations in all segments even in countries with little to no record of COVID-19 cases.