The hospitality sector has been challenged to adopt innovative tech-based solutions to grow and survive the adverse impact of Covid-19.
Speaking during a stakeholder engagement session hosted by Pesapal, a payment solutions provider with operations in Kenya and across East Africa, the hospitality industry was challenged to embrace technology as part of their growth plan and shake off the severe consequences of the pandemic.
In his remarks, Pesapal Executive Director Agosta Liko said the travel and hospitality sectors should embrace and adopt agile technology as part of their recovery plans.
Pesapal, he said, has explored a strategic partnership with global players to provide solutions that accelerate the path to value for the hospitality and travel sectors post-pandemic.
“Building technological ecosystems that allow quick innovation, drive profit, and increase efficiency will be a key priority for hospitality to recover from the COVID-19 crisis and achieve digital resiliency,” Mr. Liko said.
“To achieve this, we have partnered with Oracle Hospitality to offer tech-based solutions and support flexible infrastructure with numerous integration that delivers consistent and tailored services to players in the hospitality sector.”
Pesapal was the first organization in East, Central and West Africa to successfully integrate Oracle Hospitality solutions enabling hotels to accept real-time payment, online sales and virtual booking. The partnership introduced three solutions, including Oracle Hospitality OPERA, Oracle Hospitality Suite and Oracle Simphony/Micros RES.
Pesapal, in partnership with Oracle Hospitality, hosted the inaugural Pesapal Caffè Event for the travel and hospitality players, including hotels, restaurants, bars and tour operators. This acclaimed event brought together the leading industry players from Kenya to share insights, and actionable takeaways for the hospitality & travel sectors as the sector’s recovery picks momentum.
Themed “Adapt & Thrive: Harnessing technology in travel and hospitality”, the event explored ways in which you can optimize technology to streamline operations in order to meet guests’ demands and expectations and generate new revenue streams for the hospitality sector that suffered the harshest impact of the pandemic.
On his part, Oracle Hospitality Alliances & Channels MEA Manager Oliver Menzel said technology providers must accelerate innovations for the hospitality sectors.
“Oracle Hospitality is committed to helping the hospitality industry get back to business. The Partnership with Pesapal offers us an expedited pathway to integration offering hoteliers more choices in technology to help them prepare for the new next” Mr. Menzel said.
“We have to be front-runners in our travel and hospitality industry solutions offering. At Oracle Hospitality, we have partnered with Pesapal to offer unparalleled expertise and solutions for the hospitality sector in Kenya,” Mr. Menzel said.
Smart technology is changing everything from the homes we live in to how our cities are managed. The hospitality industry is no exception, Sarova Hotel Group Revenue Manager Felix Musa said.
“Sarova Group has over a century of operations in Kenya. The key to our success that has seen us weather all the storms is our agility by embracing technology in our operations. In the past two years, Covid-19 has tested the industry, but we have rechanneled our focus to ensure the success of our hotels through the adoption of technology,” Mr Musa said.
Pesapal has a variety of solutions for the bar and entertainment industry. These include the Pesapal Sabi POS terminal, Reserveport, Invoicing, Payment Links, and Ticketsasa.
“Our goal is to give businesses tools that enhance their digital interactions with the customers and help them better manage their operations to gain competitive advantage,” Fred Mwangima, Pesapal Technical Director said during a panel discussion.
The Oracle Hospitality Integration Platform centralizes, consolidates, and streamlines data and processes across hotel operations into a single and unified platform. It enables hoteliers to ‘plug-in’ applications from the Oracle Cloud Marketplace and third-party application providers to improve operations and elevate guest experiences. The offering is available to OPERA Cloud customers at no additional cost.