Abstract

ANTONIO, Nuno  and  RITA, Paulo. COVID 19: The catalyst for digital transformation in the hospitality industry?. TMStudies [online]. 2021, vol.17, n.2, pp.41-46.  Epub June 30, 2021. ISSN 2182-8458.  https://doi.org/10.18089/tms.2021.170204.

Despite its benefits related to efficiency, creating better customer experiences, increasing revenue, and supporting decision-making, until the outbreak of COVID-19 digital transformation was not on many hotels’ strategic plans. However, like in many other industries, the COVID-19 physical distancing good practices and governments’ restrictions acted as catalysts and promoted hotel digitalization. To this end, a questionnaire was administered to 51 hotel managers to verify if that happened in Portuguese hotels and what processes were most impacted. Results showed that 92% of the hotel managers agreed that COVID-19 promoted the digitalization of processes, with most organizations considering that online meetings and technology productivity tools are here to stay. Hotels’ digitalization has the potential to generate high-efficiency gains both in public-facing operations and back-office operations. This study highlights these implications and intends to spur researchers to investigate the practical impact of these implications on business efficiency and social theory.

Keywords : Covid-19; crisis; digital transformation; hotels; pandemics.

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