EY's "Global hospitality insights" report shows a bright and glowing 2015 for the entire hospitality industry. There will be growth and increasing business demands, but everything will be driven by innovation, both in terms of technology and services.
Hospitality now contributes to about 9.5 percent of GDP globally, and the sector is expected to grow by 3.9 percent in 2015, the findings show. Despite a slow and steady development pace, the travel and tourism industry has given rise to 266 million jobs around the world, impacting lives and businesses both at a local and global level.
According to the EY report, it will be the fresh infusions of cross-border capital and innovation that will drive growth and change in the global hospitality industry. The opening of new destinations will lead to a search for opportunities in secondary markets. At the same time, there will be an influx of foreign investments in the traditional gateway markets as more and more Asian and Middle Eastern investors are all poised to deploy significant capital in American hotels.
Already, plans for new hotels and resorts are in the pipeline, along with changing ownership of existing ones. As new hands come in, reports are leading to a promising pipeline of about 1.3 million new guestrooms in the near future.
When the going gets tough, the tough get innovative, and that's exactly what's happening in the U.S. hospitality sector. From 2013 to 2014, we have seen an increase of 137 percent in cross-border investment, with a large segment of Asian investment focused on the top U.S. destinations like Manhattan and Hawaii.
Innovations are also seen in the way customer experience has been changing. New-generation business is coming from millennials who are looking beyond their parents' advice and into online research.
They are looking at more value, better pricing and faster service combined with a comprehensive and enriching experience every time they travel. Innovative alternatives to traditional lodging are therefore the need of the hour so that businesses can meet all demands from their customers, yet ensure that nothing affects their profitability adversely.
As a result, from hotels to cafes, we now see various innovative strategies and technologies to improve on customer experience. We see smarter point-of-sale systems (like Square) with sleeker retail terminals and connectivity with mobile or wearable tech, along with secure payment gateways (like Apple Pay) to improve online and instant payment systems.
We are also witnessing revolutionary upgrades to the food sourcing and resource management systems via innovative mobile apps that will not only streamline payments and delivery, but also prevent wastage and contribute positively to the nation's food security goal. Innovations are also being seen in the restaurant delivery market with newer technologies paving the way for better and more focused channel management.
Adoption of technology is old news, but what we are increasingly witnessing is the embracing of innovative technologies on a mobile platform. More and more hotels — even hundred-year-old behemoths like Hilton — are moving ahead to digitize all services with ramming speed.
Digital concierge services are rising as customers are happy to opt for mobile check-ins and availing real-time deals and discounts through geo-location technologies. One might say that that we lead parallel lives these days — with our physical selves in the real world and our intellectual selves in the cyber world.
Needless to say, there needs to be seamless connectivity across all platforms and devices all the time. Only then business can ensure that user experiences are rich, experienced in real time and communicated via online and social media instantly.
