Technology will play a key role in the long road to recovery from the Covid crisis for India’s hospitality industry according to a new report, Indian Hospitality at Tech Tipping Point, produced by RMS Cloud.
The report, which provides an overview and analysis of the impact of technology on India’s accommodation sector, urges Indian hoteliers to view the crisis as an opportunity to re-evaluate their business practices, reset and start again with new tools and a fresh approach for the years ahead. ,
It also suggests that technology will enable Indian hoteliers, many of whom are overly reliant on OTAs (online travel agents) for bookings, to diversify their sales channels. .
“As we are now seeing in more mature markets hotels will gradually embrace a more sophisticated multi-channel approach to distribution with a much greater emphasis on building better websites and driving direct sales,” reads part of the report.
It added that to achieve this hoteliers “must bite the bullet and invest in a solid technology platform by a robust and reliable PMS supplemented by channel management, revenue management, customer relationship management, financial and administrative tools.”
According to RMS, it is seeing “a real desire” among many Indian hoteliers for change to the new operating environment with upgrades in technology to run their properties more efficiently.
The report predicts that the future of Indian hospitality is bright, but warns that hoteliers who do not adapt quickly will flounder and be left behind.
Other findings:
- Indian hoteliers using the latest technology are strongly outperforming their peers.
- Outperformance by tech-savvy operators is likely to accelerate post-Covid.
- Branded hotels are the fastest growing sector of the Indian hotel market.
- Technology is a major factor in migration from independent to brand.
- Brand hotels are making twice the revenue per room of independent properties.
- A new generation of tech-savvy millennial managers will lead the change.
- Guest data will become more important with demand generation paramount.
- Increased technology uptake will enable Indian hoteliers to diversify distribution.
- Indian internet usage is growing at 18% a year.
Commenting on the report RMS founder Peter Buttigieg said: “There is no question technology will be key to the rebound, enabling hotels who use it properly to better manage demand generation in an online world and reconnect with their customers. It’s clear that hotels which have embraced technology are doing much better than those that haven’t and we believe this trend will be amplified over time.”
Download: Indian Hospitality at Tech Tipping Point
• Featured image credit (Taj Mahal Hotel and Gateway of India): saiko3p/Getty Images