The hospitality industry has always been driven by guest expectations. Today, as technology continues to advance, one of the most important expectations from guests is the need for contactless experiences. Offering contactless services is not just about keeping guests safe—it’s also about providing them with convenience, efficiency, and a seamless experience. For hoteliers, adopting contactless technology is essential to staying competitive in a rapidly evolving landscape. Let’s explore how hotels can meet guest expectations in this contactless world.
Understanding the Evolving Guallest Expectations
Today’s guests are more conscious than ever about their safety and convenience. Their expectations have shifted, and they seek seamless, touch-free experiences. Consider these key trends:
- 70% of millennials prefer hotels that offer mobile check-in/check-out, keyless entry, and mobile payments.
- 35% of guests now prefer contactless payments, avoiding physical contact with cash or card swiping. (Source: Hospitality Net, 2025)
This shift in guest behavior is not temporary. It represents a broader trend toward digital-first, efficient, and safe guest experiences that hoteliers must adapt to.
Enter the Contactless Era: Adopting Key Technologies
The hospitality industry is experiencing a surge in the adoption of contactless technologies. Hotels can no longer afford to overlook these trends if they want to stay competitive. Here’s a breakdown of how contactless tech can be implemented across different guest touchpoints:
Let’s explore each of these technologies in more detail.
1: Empower Guests to Use Their Smartphones
Mobile Check-In/Check-Out
Guests expect seamless, touch-free check-ins and check-outs. They don’t want to handle shared devices like tablets or kiosks. To meet this demand, hotels can offer mobile check-in and check-out via their smartphones. This solution enables guests to complete the process before they even arrive at the hotel, which not only enhances safety but also streamlines the check-in process.
According to a recent study by Hotel Management, 80% of hotel guests prefer to use their smartphones for check-in, highlighting the growing importance of mobile-based solutions in guest experience management.
Keyless Entry
The next step in the mobile guest experience is keyless entry. Rather than using physical room keys, guests can use their smartphones to unlock their room doors. This eliminates the need to touch door handles, which could be a source of contamination, and provides a smoother, more convenient experience.
In a 2025 survey by Travel Weekly, 65% of guests said they would prefer hotels with keyless entry for a safer and more convenient experience.
Smart Rooms
The future of guest rooms is smart rooms. Guests can control in-room amenities such as lighting, temperature, and entertainment directly from their smartphones. For hotels, this means fewer physical touchpoints and higher guest satisfaction. Imagine telling a guest that they can control their room environment entirely from their phone—an offering that fits perfectly in today’s tech-driven world.
2: Provide Contactless/Cashless Payment Options
Mobile and Contactless Payments
In a digital-first world, contactless payments are no longer optional. Guests now prefer to use their smartphones or contactless credit cards (RFID/NFC) to make payments. This eliminates the need for physical exchange and ensures a faster, safer transaction process.
Statistics show that 35% of guests are interested in contactless payment options. For hoteliers, this means adopting the right payment gateways that allow for easy mobile and contactless payments. By doing so, you reduce physical interaction, improve payment security, and enhance the overall guest experience.
A recent report by Skyscanner found that 62% of travelers are now actively using mobile wallets to complete transactions, emphasizing the growing demand for cashless and contactless payment solutions in the hospitality sector.
3: Leverage Voice-Recognition Technology
Voice-Activated Solutions
Voice-recognition technology is on the rise in the hospitality industry, with experts predicting that it will become the second-largest commercial vertical market for smart speakers by 2022. Oracle’s Hotel 2025 report indicates that 78% of hotel operators plan to implement voice-activated technology to control in-room amenities by 2025.
Voice-activated solutions allow guests to control their room’s lighting, temperature, and entertainment options, as well as place room service orders, all through voice commands. This is a huge leap forward in meeting guests' demands for both convenience and contactless experiences.
According to IHS Markit, the global voice technology market in hospitality will surpass $5 billion by 2025. Hotels adopting this technology can expect improved guest satisfaction and operational efficiency.
The Future of Contactless Technology in Hospitality
The rise of contactless technology is reshaping the global hospitality landscape. Hotels that have already adopted these innovations are seeing higher guest satisfaction, increased operational efficiency, and greater revenue opportunities. As digital transformation continues to reshape the way the hospitality industry operates, it’s clear that contactless solutions will play a crucial role in shaping the guest experience of the future.
AxisRooms in the Contactless Journey: Friction-Free Direct Bookings & Payments
Behind the scenes, it syncs rates and availability in real time with your channels to keep every touchpoint accurate and consistent, in line with channel management best practices. On the payments side, AxisRooms supports secure gateway integrations (Payment Gateways) for pre-payments as well as Pay-at-Hotel—covering cards, wallets/UPI and other modern options—so you reduce cash handling while giving guests the flexibility they expect.
The result: fewer queues, fewer manual swipes, and a faster path from look-to-book to a contactless arrival.
Conclusion
Adopting contactless technologies in the hospitality industry isn’t just a convenience; it’s an essential step in providing modern, efficient, and safe guest experiences. From mobile check-ins to keyless entry and contactless payments, the benefits are clear. Guests are looking for touch-free experiences, and hoteliers who embrace this demand will not only meet guest expectations but also stay ahead of the curve in a rapidly evolving market.
By leveraging smart technologies and integrating them into their operations, hotels can provide a seamless, modern, and safe guest experience—now and into the future.
Stay Ahead with AxisRooms
At AxisRooms, we provide a comprehensive Property Management System (PMS) that integrates seamlessly with modern contactless technologies. Our solutions, from keyless entry to mobile payments, enable hoteliers to meet the needs of today’s tech-savvy guests, streamline operations, and improve the guest experience. By adopting AxisRooms’ solutions, your hotel can stay ahead of the competition while offering guests the safe, convenient, and seamless experiences they expect.