Tourism, travel, food, and hospitality sectors rely on one another for survival. Amidst the ban on international travel in the wake of physical distancing and forced market shutdowns, people restricted their mobility and were confined to homes for two long years. Top hospitality brands in the US have contributed 73% in revenue, equal to $245 billion in 2019. There was an 84% drop in international tourist arrivals due to the global coronavirus pandemic by April 2020.
While the eCommerce, food, and packaged consumer goods industry survived the forceful market shutdowns, the hospitality industry was the worst hit. According to a 2020 survey by the American Hotel & Lodging Association, 77% of hotels had laid off their workforce.
By April 2022, the hospitality industry is gearing up for its next holiday season after a prolonged lull. There is a 65% pre-COVID-19 level recovery in room occupancy.
The hospitality industry is at a crossroads and taking measures to meet the demands of digital-savvy consumers, who are looking for personalized services. Leaders of the hospitality industry are all set to go for a complete overhauling of the operations.
There was a sea change in consumer behavior today, expecting personalized services at their fingertips. The hospitality sector is on its way to building digital infrastructure, and electronic signature software can create the atmosphere to accomplish a complete digital transformation of the hospitality sector.
The hospitality sector leaders are proposing a new business model for the recovery of the hospitality industry, including automation, cloud-based services, mobile-first technologies, and cognitive analytics that shed light on customer behavior to leverage the changing market scenario.
The hotel industry has relied on legacy technologies traditionally to maintain its ledgers and bookkeeping practices. electronic signature for hospitality industry software offers the necessary tools to digitize customer information as contact types. The hospitality sector can enable customers to make online room bookings and check in on arrival. The electronic signature software facilitates end-to-end solutions for the hospitality sector with a dashboard that displays occupancy rates, future bookings, and expected tourist arrivals.
The hospitality industry must rely on cloud-native platforms that are flexible and scalable for customers and the hotel staff to process documents related to room reservations, check-in check-out, occupancy rate, and payment through this digital platform. Unlike the traditional, premises-based technologies that rely on legacy architecture, cloud-based applications allow the hospitality sector to build and offer customized services to their clients.
Electronic signature platforms are compatible with multiple devices, including laptops, desktops, tablets, and mobile. The customers can access this software even remotely to sign consent forms, payment vouchers, check-in, and check-out forms without a physical presence.
An electronic signature software is integrated with AI and ML analytics that shed insights into the customers’ actions. The hotel management can get insights on whether or not a customer agreed to reserve a room or not, signed the paycheque, and so on. The hospitality sector can collect information if a customer declines to sign a document. The digital signature software tools are automated and send alerts on customers’ reactions once they receive their communication instantly.
Customers’ sensitive information stored in the cloud and the electronic signature integrated platforms remain safe, secure, and tamper-proof. Hackers and fraudsters cannot tamper with signed documents using electronic signature software. The hospitality sector can keep sensitive customer data such as their bank account numbers, credit or debit card details, and mobile numbers.
The hospitality sector can create customized documents with the help of Electronic signature tools, including offer letters, sales deeds, and vendor agreements, to serve their clients to meet their personalized needs.
When a hotel signs a document using an electronic signature tool, the agreement remains legally valid as the electronic signature as a concept complies with local laws and is acceptable in over 150 countries.
When a hotel or a restaurant drags and drops the electronic signature to sign a contract or a business deal, the document becomes tamper-proof and authentic.
The e signature platform allows hotels and restaurants to reach out to customers instantly to grab or consolidate a new business. It assists companies in maintaining documents in a way to scale their operations digitally.
The hospitality sector is on the verge of collapse during the pandemic is reviving gradually. The industry circles are optimistic about the return to normalcy as the COVID-related sanctions are fading out. Digital disruption has affected almost all the marketspaces and the hospitality sector is no exception. The hospitality sector should embrace the evolving technologies to build a digital ecosystem for the hospitality sector to return the normality.
