A Hotel Confidence Report produced by NFU Mutual and the British Hospitality Association has shown that 81% of hotel businesses expect to increase or at least maintain the investment levels by 2020. The investments include property refurbishment and expansion (69%), marketing (53%), technology (53%), with mobile solutions, superfast broadband, and customer data for marketing and personalisation, and staff training (47%).
The report also found out that only 46% of businesses train their staff in cyber security and only 1% had taken cyber insurance, which is really important and could cover against financial losses and fines. Data security is also important for customers, with 48% of 18 to 24 year olds saying that payment and data security was taken into consideration when choosing a hotel.
Darren Seward, Hospitality Sector Specialist at NFU Mutual, said about this issue: “Technology brings obvious cyber risks alongside the opportunities, and with the introduction of GDPR rules this spring businesses need to be more responsible with how they gather or share valuable customer information than ever. The majority of businesses we spoke to claimed to take rudimentary measures to protect themselves from cyber-crime such as using anti-virus software and managing passwords, but the extent to which businesses have taken more complex and fundamental steps is more limited, despite data security being so important to customers.”
He advises that for the future, businesses should look into investing in a safe cyberspace first, and then consider advancing their technology and data. Hackers can attack whenever, and when they do, the customer data is at risk, together with the entire system and records. To prevent that, hoteliers should have the right insurance that will provide them with access to experts that will protect them from cyber risks and offer the right support if they do get hacked.
For this report over 2,000 consumers and 141 businesses in the hotel, hotel supply, and hospitality industries revealed their views on changes sought, cyber security, diversification, opportunities, technology, and many more. Overall, for 2018 consumers expect to spend more time in hotels.
