It’s beyond doubt that the hospitality industry is one of the hardest hit by the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic. In April-May 2020, planes stayed grounded, hotels were closed, and restaurants worked as ghost kitchens for deliveries. And just when things were beginning to devour again, a second wave hit, and that we entered lockdown 2.0.

There is simply no way around it: COVID-19 will still shape the longer term of the hospitality sector. Below the large and dark cloud of the pandemic, what specific trends and challenges will hospitality meet in 2021?

The long and winding road to recovery

We won’t mislead you: it’ll take an extended time before the hospitality industry reaches pre-pandemic profits or occupancy rates. Since we underestimated the time it might fancy developing a vaccine or an efficient course of treatment for the disease, the industry now faces a number of the worst-case scenarios predicted in March. Aside from travel safety concerns, the approaching depression also will have an important impact. It is possible that we will reach rates and revenues above 2019’s only by 2024–2025.

Facing a crisis, most customers shall reduce spending on traveling and restaurants, in exchange for spending more on groceries and digital services. But to ascertain what the trail to recovery could be like, we should always check out past crises where safety concerns and financial downward spirals mixed, like the aftermaths of the September 11th terrorist attacks, the SARS outbreak in 2003, and therefore the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami.

In all of these cases, the hospitality industry was forced to hunt new domestic segments and markets, offer promotional packages, and switch to a safety-focused message until trust was restored. However, take this with a pinch of salt: although we will learn from these past experiences, none had the geographic distribution of COVID-19 or the potential to be solved by hard science.

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Economy hotels will likely recover faster

Not all hotels will recover at a similar pace. Budget hotels will likely recover faster, since there is more demand, less maintenance, and minimize labor costs. Even with a lower percentage — whether it’s for decontamination purposes or lack of demand — many of those outlets can still turn during a profit. Luxury hotels and resorts, on the opposite hand, need occupancy rates 1.5 greater to remain within the game.

For the hotels, the equation has three variables:
Variable income,
Ancillary Services which will be suspended eg. spa, pool, etc,
Ancillary Services that cannot be suspended, e.g. security, Industrial laundry, Air Handling Units
The sole thanks to lower costs are to juggle semi-fixed expenses, which also carries the danger of adjusting the customer experience. We dare say striking the proper balance could be the toughest challenge on this list.

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Customers Will Prefer Closer Destinations

Due to widespread fear of cancellations and new lockdowns, this is a pattern we’ve seen across 2020, and it’s likely to continue. China was already opening its cities when Europe was only struggling with the first wave. It took longer for seaside destinations, which had previously been common but needed long-distance flights, to recover. Instead, closer provinces, which are mostly accessible by highway or high-speed trains, saw a significant rise in visitors.

Over the summer in Europe, we saw a resurgence of this trend: people prefer regional markets to big cities, which are maybe more rural and sustainable. Across Europe, regional market occupancy rates swung between 40 and 60 percent, although gateway city occupancy rates never exceeded 20–30 percent. Regional markets in the United Kingdom had an overall occupancy rate of 51%, while cities had a rate of 29%.

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Post-pandemic travelers who are tech-savvy

During the successive lockdowns, most people relied on technology to communicate with loved ones, amuse themselves, and even order basic supplies. Customers will be more accessible to technology once travel is restored, and they will be more comfortable using it as well.

Self-check-ins and check-outs, for example, can become the rule in the near future. However, there are a slew of choices to consider, including applications to order room service, monitor the air conditioning remotely, and request cleaning, all of which are close to what smart hotels are already doing.

On the one hand, providing pleasant customer service with a combination of human and tech-enabled experiences is a challenge for hotels. This pattern, on the other hand, presents an incentive for them to strengthen their operations and reduce face-to-face interaction until the pandemic is completely contained.

Upselling via an automated platform like Quoality is a much more effective and efficient way to upsell and promote services.
Instead of pitching your guests during check-in and putting them in the spot, and let your system send them pre-arrival emails automatically and give people a chance to decide what offers they want to book, and give staff enough time to prepare whatever guest has requested.
Saving your time and energy, using a technology which has important benefit Including :
1.Ancillary services revenue in house food n beverages and other on-site services
2.Room upgrades
3.Track your sale and revenue

When you put it all together, you will see that automatic selling is not an excessive sales technique; it’s the best way to ensure your visitors have a great stay while still generating ancillary revenue.

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Conclusion

Last but not least, we must never forget that consumers seek out exclusive experiences. Whether they wear a mask or are divided by an acrylic board, the hospitality industry must provide memorable experiences — with a new emphasis on protection.