SIPPING
Touch-Free Tech In the second of a series of features exploring how the hospitality industry can respond to a new standard of health security, we take a look at the products facilitating the contactless hotel of tomorrow. Words: Kristofer Thomas and Ben Thomas
A
s the hospitality industry slowly rolls back into
will inevitably see the process of adoption accelerated, and
action following the wholesale turbulence of the
to see what this movement may evolve into, we should look
Coronavirus pandemic, returning guest sentiment is
to the early adopters.
guiding changes in hotel function and form. Whilst much has
When CitizenM launched in 2008, its automated self-
been discussed around the physical changes to hotel design
check-in process was hailed as the model of the future, and
– not least socially distanced lobbies, carefully partitioned
these predictions appear to have been correct. Now the Dutch
restaurants and an abundance of new cleaning and hygiene
hotel chain has announced its contactless stay experience, all
protocols – it is perhaps a demand for the opposite, and the
tethered to an app that allows guests to create keycards, open
emergence of non-physical elements, that will define the
their door, order F&B deliveries, and control the in-room
coming era of hotel life.
experience from the comfort and relative safety of a phone.
Whilst bio-resistant materials and self-cleaning
Spending the pandemic downtime fast-tracking and rolling
components are all well and good, the average hotel guest has
out the technology, the brand will now tackle health security
spent the last six months being hyper-aware of every surface
fears with a combination of in-house cleaning procedures
and their potential role in the spread of disease, and as such is
and technology that affords guests greater control over
likely wary of contact with any unfamiliar fixture, regardless
unfamiliar environments.
of its certification. From check-in desk to guestroom, the
Where across the last two issues we’ve looked at the
journey through a hotel is one of contact – with pen, elevator
surface materials and office elements guests can expect to
button, doorknob, light-switch, TV remote, all hotspots of
see in the post-pandemic world, we now turn our attention
collected germs and handled countless times before it is your
to the products facilitating the contactless hotel of tomorrow.
turn. In a world where physical contact has been under the proverbial and literal microscope for much of the year, some adaptations will be required. It should come as no surprise then that contactless technology within hospitality experiences are in demand, with a survey by hygiene specialist Citron signalling that 80% of the 7,000 asked would prefer an app that allows for touch-free check-in and out as opposed to the traditional model, whilst 73% sought a similar means of opening their guestroom doors. The technology for both is already available, yet still largely in the minority. The ground shift of Covid-19
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