Hotel Technology Innovations as Drivers of Safety and Hygiene in Hotel Customers

Abstract

Technology innovations are making their mark within the hospitality industry, and in the present COVID-19 sanitary crisis, they will be a major driver of hotel strategy. The COVID-19 disease is highly contagious, and its fear is likely to lead to distrust of facilities and spaces shared by different people, particularly in hotels where hotel customers encounter various people and use a variety of spaces. Such contact and use may expose individuals to a perceived health risk what raised issues in the hospitality industry and lead to the redesigning of safety measures and hygiene standards and to the introduction of technology innovations to help manual processes or replace personal interactions to make them secure and safe. As the hotel customer’s perception of sanitary and hygienic procedures and health safety is crucial for the recovery of the hotel industry, in this article, the main objective is to understand how hotel technology innovations influence hotel customers’ perception of hygiene and safety which influences their perceived health risk and hotel selection behaviors. Therefore, this study focused on different scenarios associated with hotel technologies, such as kiosk check-in system, mobile check-in system, robot cleaning system, and ultraviolet (UV) light cleaning system. The findings indicate that robotics, artificial intelligence, and human–robot interactions have gained an increased presence to help manage the spread of COVID-19, and that these new preferred technologies for making a safe and secure hotel environment for the guests and employees are paving their way to the new normal in post-COVID-19 pandemic times.