News

HVS Monday Musings: Faster Technology Adoption Will Bring A Paradigm Shift In Hotel Operations In India

Pre-COVID, the hospitality sector had successfully adopted technology at the first point of customer contact with increasing number of bookings being done online. However, technology adoption during the other phases of the customer journey was still lagging as hotel rooms followed the standard practices using nearly defunct tech in rooms. The situation, however, changed drastically during the COVID era when tech features, such as keyless check-in and digital menus, that were once considered as luxuries suddenly became necessities for hotels to remain relevant.

By Mandeep Lamba and Dipti Mohan

India

Chroma Hospitality Goes Contactless With Xperium, Ready To Welcome Guests In New Normal

Chroma Hospitality Inc. has chosen Xperium; to provide solutions like hyper-personalized experiences to guests and automation of the entire guest-facing processes from booking to check-out.

RepUp

Philippines

Byron at Byron, a Crystalbrook Collection Resort, looks to reduce inefficiencies with FCS Solutions

Leading hospitality technology solutions provider, FCS, has partnered with Byron at Byron, a Crystalbrook Collection Resort, in Byron Bay to deploy four of its prominent cloud solutions at the property; including its Housekeeping, Guest Services, Call Accounting, and Maintenance solutions.

FCS Solutions

Byron, Australia

Live-streaming opens new doors for China hotels

With the pandemic serving as a catalyst for reinvention and digitalisation in the hospitality industry, live-streaming has, for some Chinese hoteliers, evolved into more than an alternative sales tool amid the travel slump.

TTG Asia Media Pte Ltd

China

Sabre Signs SynXis Platform Agreement with Japan’s Resorttrust, Inc.

Japan's membership-based hotel chain Resorttrust, Inc. has selected Sabre's SynXis Booking Engine to help it convert website traffic into bookings, improve visibility, and improve the overall customer experience.

Aven

Japan

Quest Griffith and Quest Robina Adopt BeyondTV GuestCast™ to Provide Guests With Latest in Content Casting Functionality

BeyondTV (BTV), a full-service provider of guestroom entertainment services and solutions for the hospitality industry, has announced the successful implementation of BeyondTV GuestCast™ at Quest Griffith and Quest Robina. Owned and operated under the Quest Apartment Hotels franchise, one of the largest and most successful apartment hotel brands within Australasia, Quest Griffith, located within the Riverina region, and Quest Robina, situated on Australia's Gold Coast, represent a leading standard in providing extended stay travelers with a true home away from home experience. With the implementation of BeyondTV GuestCast through Liveport, official partner of BeyondTV and provider of the BeyondTV GuestCast platform in Australia, both properties are now also able to extend guest senses of feeling at home to their in-room entertainment options with the ability to cast virtually any content of preference.

Touchstone 1

Australia

Mercure Albury Caters to Guest Demands for Content Streaming and Casting While Enhancing Contactless Guest Service Abilities With BeyondTV

BeyondTV (BTV), a full-service provider of guestroom entertainment services and solutions for the hospitality industry, has announced the implementation of its BeyondTV entertainment solution at the Mercure Albury, a boutique hotel located within Albury, Australia. A property that offers an ideal combination of luxury and country charm to provide guests with a warm and tranquil setting, Mercure Albury is also now able to address in-room entertainment expectations by providing user-friendly and instant access to personal streaming services on guestroom televisions via BeyondTV's secure casting abilities. With BeyondTV, Mercure Albury can further ensure that each guest remains up-to-date on the latest hotel offerings and can maintain a priority on guest safety using the solution's contactless service features.

Touchstone 1

Australia

HRS Group of Companies obtains Oracle Hospitality support rights in China

HRS Hospitality & Retail Systems continue their global expansion by opening in China, the largest market in the Asia-Pacific region. HRS began its operations reselling Oracle Hospitality solutions in China in 2019, and now, after obtaining support rights from Oracle, it is authorized to provide support services to new and existing customers in the country.

HRS Hospitality & Retail Systems

China

Hotels bank on contactless tech to entice guests during coronavirus pandemic

The hospitality sector continues to be amongst the worst-hit industries in the coronavirus pandemic, as border restrictions persist in Singapore and throughout the world. The Singapore Tourism Board's (STB) latest figures reveal that hotels' average occupancy rate crashed 32.1 percentage points (ppt) MoM in February 2020, from 83.1% in January. On a YoY basis, occupancy rate has taken a 37.5 ppt nosedive from 88.5% in February 2019. Aiming to attract guests as soon as restrictions have lifted, hotel operators are likely to promote their contactless technologies, such as facial recognition verification during customer check-in and out.

Singapore Business Review

Singapore, Singapore

Trustdata Releases Report on China's Online Hotel Reservation Industry

Mobile Internet big data monitoring platform Trustdata released its Analysis Report on the Development of China's Online Hotel Reservation Industry in 2019/2020 ("the Report") on April 1, 2020.

Trustdata

China

Coronavirus: S'pore Government to make its contact-tracing app freely available to developers worldwide

In a move to help the international community combat the coronavirus pandemic, the Government will be making the software for its contact-tracing application TraceTogether, which has already been installed by more than 620,000 people, freely available to developers around the world.

straitstimes.com

Singapore

HFTP's HITEC Expanding to Asia

Hospitality Financial and Technology Professionals (HFTP®) and Hospitality Technology Next Generation (HTNG) announce the inaugural HITEC® Asia to take place December 8-10, 2020 in Macau, SAR, China. The two international, nonprofit associations are the sole organizations that bring hospitality professionals together for education, networking, best practices, innovation and exclusive marketplaces.

HFTP

Macau, China

Is Singapore’s New Hotel Guest Authentication Just Creepy Surveillance?

The Singapore Tourism Board announced this month the launch of an "E-Visitor Authentication" as part of new hotel "industry-wide" initiatives. This led to reports of an "automated facial recognition system" in the city that helps hotels reduce check-in time — but is it what it's cracked up to be?

skift

Singapore

InnSpire Maximizes Guest Engagement and Service at LUX* North Malé Atoll Resort & Villas, Maldives Super-Luxury Resort in the Maldives

InnSpire, the award-winning provider of guest engagement, digital entertainment and business intelligence solutions for the global hospitality industry, has successfully deployed its IPTV solution and guest engagement platform at the posh LUX* North Malé Atoll Resort & Villas in Maldives.

Innspire Digital Inc.

Maldives

​Lost In Transition: How To Manage Change In Corporate Travel Programs

Throughout the world, organizations are undergoing seismic shifts in their travel programs as they respond to technological advances, developments in the supply chain and evolving traveler expectations.

By Siddharth Singh, Manager, Global Communications, CWT

India

Facial recognition is coming to hotels. I stayed at Alibaba's hotel of the future

Alibaba is well known for its e-commerce platforms, but the Chinese tech giant has branched into fintech, film, new retail and now, hospitality. I recently stayed at Alibaba's futuristic FlyZoo hotel, which is adjacent to its headquarters in Hangzhou, China. Here, there are no keycards and everything is cashless. It features facial recognition doors, robotic arms at the bar and even robots that deliver items to guest rooms. Alibaba hopes the property will be a model for what a hotel of the future may look like. Upon arrival, I noticed the lobby was completely bare: no check-in counters, no concierge, and no receptionists. As a foreigner, however, I was quickly greeted by a staff member, who used a mobile device to take a photo of my passport and my face. Then she told me my room number and offered to email the receipt. Andy Wang, CEO of Alibaba Future Hotel, claims the data recognition information is only kept during the duration of the guests' stay and is not kept on record.

cnbc.com

Hangzhou, China

Companies to Attend HTNG's Upcoming Asia-Pacific Conference

More than 60 companies are already registered to attend the upcoming HTNG Asia-Pacific Conference, being held 16-18 September at The Athenee Hotel in Bangkok.

HTNG conferences bring together the best and brightest minds in hospitality technology to collaborate with one another and overall further advance the industry. The 2019 program will feature discussions around 5G, CEO perspectives, cybertecture, hyperpersonalized experiences, leadership, the Starwood/Marriott merger and more.

HTNG

Bangkok, Thailand

HomeAway Launches Virtual Tours in Bali

Singapore, - HomeAway®, a global leader in the holiday home rental industry, announced the launch of Virtual Tours in Bali. First launched in the U.S. in November 2018, Bali is the second market outside of the U.S. and the first market in Asia Pacific to offer Virtual Tours - a new proprietary product that seamlessly displays virtual tours of holiday homes on HomeAway. This customer-centric technological innovation allows homeowners and property managers to share a 360-degree walk-through of their properties with travellers. Travellers can visualise the property prior to their stay, setting their expectations and delivering a better stay experience. It also benefits homeowners with a proven record in increasing conversion.

Vrbo

Bali, Indonesia