‘Contactless’ does not necessarily only mean adapting technology: Arindam Kunar

The pandemic has brought almost every industry to its knees, from lay-offs to new hygiene measure; everyone has been reinventing and remodeling their standard operating procedures. Hospitality industry, which was known to provide personalised feel is now moving towards ‘touchless’ mechanism of operations. Every hotel chain and independent hotels have refocused on their standard measures towards safety and hygiene.

Mandated with overall operations and performance of all hotels in the portfolio to enhance stakeholder value, Kunar points out that being ‘contactless’ does not necessarily means adapting technology. “One of the priority for the hotel is to look at what would be necessary from a non-technology perspective because it is a misnomer to speak when we talk about touchless, we are only talking about technology,” he stated.

Kunar was speaking at the BW HOTELIER’s ninth Breaking The Pandemic WebBlast: ‘Going Touchless’, where he also mentioned the adaption of technology at various point in the hotel to avoid contact with the guests and maintain social distancing. He listed and said, “Technology is now available, and it will be proliferating in the next few years in terms of having more pre-arrival choices. The check-in and check-out process is also has well-established technology today. Worldwide, the room access is established in a well-run technology that hotels have adopted.”

“App based services, which eliminate human contact like handing over identity document (ID) or ordering, is truly relevant today. Contactless payment modes have already been initiated in the last couple of years, but it has bounced ahead due to the pandemic now. Restaurant reservation and ordering mechanism have become contactless from an app or online perspective. But it is also important to look at some of the aspects which do not use technology, whether it is self-service perspective regarding serving the food or we are looking at self-help kiosks,” he added.

With a career span of over 26 years, Kunar further expressed that as an industry, the hospitality sector has been ahead of the game as far as hygiene practices are concerned in the kitchen. He asserted, “If you look at ISO certification or HACCP certification, we are at an advantage as compared to any other business.”

International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) certification verifies that the organisation has all the required globally accepted standards for quality management. Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points (HACCP) certification is an international standard defining the requirements for effective control of food safety. 

Taking the discussion further, Kunar felt that all the organisation needs to work on two major areas, he said, “The two aspects that every company needs to work on is supply chain management and human/people practices.” Elaborating further, he said that it is pertinent to make sure that the vendor programme is well-captured in the safety and hygiene docket, and that people should be trained on human practices in terms of cleanliness, hygiene and social distancing.

Kunar is known to have deep insights in driving operational efficiencies, improving guest delight, people engagement practices and enhancing returns for shareholders. He further optimistically stated, “There is sudden panic or overexertion currently because of the pandemic and how it is phasing out. But given time, it will evolve into a certain way of life which will not be as stringent, from a customer’s perspective, as it is today. The rules of the game would change to an upgraded level, but it will subside and come back to a certain new normal.”