As of 15th March, there are 5.5M individuals in Malaysia who have registered for the Covid-19 vaccine through the MySejahtera app. As we all know, Malaysia launched the very first batch of Covid-19 vaccine on 24th February 2021, and at that time, The Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin was among the Malaysian that received the first shot. By 29th March 2021, Malaysia will complete the vaccine delivery for the first quarter of this year.

The hospitality industry is one of the biggest sectors that was hit hardest by the Covid-19 pandemic. The government is forced to imposed lockdown and travel restrictions, putting the hotel industry in the toughest situation. 

Nevertheless, many hotel businesses are now trying to fight and find solutions so that they can operate the business as usual with the new safety measures and adapting to the new normal so that the guests feel comfortable and safe during their stay.

The limitations to human contact and social distancing are now changing the way hotels check-in their guests. Many hotels started to stop the traditional check-in and implement a contactless check-in service instead. 

The outbreak and spread of the Covid-19 pandemic have affected the tourism and hotel industry badly. In the mid of February 2021, we conducted a survey of hoteliers with the objective of gaining some insights into how the pandemic is affecting their hotel businesses.

Below is the summary of the survey result on how hoteliers deal with the pandemic. 

Hotel self-service kiosk comes in four varieties - standing kiosk, wall-mounted kiosk, vending kiosk / hybrid kiosk, and table-top kiosk. Each offers a different space utilization and a different touchpoint at your hotel lobby. It also comes at different price points. Before going into the price range, if you haven't, do read the articles that we've compiled covering points that you will need to consider while sourcing your hotel kiosk hardware and hotel kiosk software. These articles will serve as a reference point for the pricing table below.

In general, a complete set of hotel self-service kiosk prices ranges from RM 15,000 to RM 70,000 (USD 3,700 to USD 17,000). Do factor in the retaining fees (e.g. software, maintenance) if you are sourcing for a hotel kiosk.

I've blogged about why hotels should consider using a hotel kiosk in my previous blog. In this article, I'm going to talk about hotel kiosk software. Assuming you're able to source for the kiosk hardware on Alibaba, the next item you will need after getting the hardware is the software that runs on it.

What you will need to consider while choosing your hotel kiosk software? First, the compatibility with your kiosk; second, the integration with your hotel PMS. It's hard to find a hotel kiosk software that is fully compatible with both your kiosk hardware and your hotel PMS, that is why most of the kiosk solutions sell in a bundle (both kiosk hardware and kiosk software and very often along with hotel PMS). In this article, we will find out what you will need to know before choosing your kiosk app and also discover what additional features you may want to consider.

Self-service kiosks were invented in the year 1977 by Murray Lappe, a pre-med student at the University of Illinois. Students and campus visitors used the kiosk to find movies, maps, directories and bus schedules. Over the years, new innovations like touch screens, the internet, and embedded computing have helped bring kiosks to the mass market. It's now being used in shopping malls as an interactive directory, government offices as a 24/7 counter service, etc. Now, the COVID-19 pandemic has fostered the adoption of kiosks in the hospitality business. 

Recent pandemic has taught us about the norm especially on social distancing. Many businesses are now looking for technology that allows them to reduce human contact in order to avoid the spread of coronavirus diseases. Demand for safety and conveniences by the customers is also increasing. Hence,  self-service kiosks now are on the rise in the business industry.

A self-service kiosk system is a digital touch screen application where guests are able to complete the check-in process themselves without relying on hotel front desk staff. With this, the hotel also provides additional options to your guests to check-in or out at any time without interacting with hotel staff and it gives more time to your staff to handle others hotel operations tasks. 

How Hotels Can Implement a Contactless Guest Experience?

These days contactless is the way to go and is practiced by many services in multiple fields, especially the food industry. Hotels too can implement a contactless guest experience. The popularity of contactless services can be attributed to the recent pandemic, with the intention of reducing human contact as much as possible. Here are a few ways that hotels can or are implementing a contactless guest experience.

The COVID-19 pandemic has sped up the adoption of hotel kiosks in the hospitality business. In this article, we listed six hotel kiosk suppliers in Malaysia.

Malaysian are familiar with hotel kiosks thanks to Resort World Genting. Resort World Genting installed the first kiosk in the year 2015. Some hotels in Malaysia have started to make use of kiosk systems. The kiosk helps reduce the guest queuing time, and operational costs and now it has another reason - to lower the spread of COVID-19. 

In case you haven't read this article, we have compiled a list of items that you will need to consider before buying a hotel kiosk. We've also covered what you will need to know before you get a hotel kiosk app or software and what other features you should consider getting in the kiosk software here. If you're planning to buy a kiosk, do check out the hotel kiosk price range article.