H2O Hospitality, a South Korean hospitality tech company, has completed the implementation of an AI-based smart check-in solution across all Rotana hotels in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. This system replaces the traditional front desk procedures of presenting passports and filling out paperwork with pre-registration and facial recognition.
On August 20, H2O Hospitality announced its partnership with Rotana, which operates hotels in the Middle East, Africa, Eastern Europe, and Turkey, to introduce the smart check-in solution at all Rotana hotels in Abu Dhabi. The initiative covers a total of 4,240 rooms across 15 hotels, including Rotana Hotels & Resorts, Arjaan, and Centro.
The software platform provided by H2O Hospitality manages the entire process, from WhatsApp notifications to pre-check-in, integration with the hotel property management system (PMS), staff screens and tablets, and information sharing with government authorities upon check-in completion.
Guests who receive a message one or two days before their stay can complete pre-check-in by registering their passport and taking a facial photo as instructed via WhatsApp. Upon arrival at the hotel, guests can finalize their identity verification through facial recognition while walking to the front desk, where staff will greet them by name and hand over their room key cards, eliminating the need to present passports or fill out forms.
Guests who did not pre-check-in or arrive without a reservation can also complete the process by registering their ID and taking a facial photo using a tablet.
Dominic Carr, Chief Information Officer of Rotana, stated, "Smart check-in meets the heightened expectations of customers while allowing hotel staff to focus on guest hospitality. The data insights gained from this process will enhance the customer experience and enable hotels to make smarter, faster decisions, representing a core technology of next-generation hospitality."
H2O Hospitality and Rotana are discussing plans to expand the implementation beyond Abu Dhabi. H2O Hospitality aims to leverage this partnership to grow its business in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.
Lee Woong-hee, CEO of H2O Hospitality, remarked, "We are in discussions with many global and local hotel chains beyond Rotana. We expect the adoption of H2O's smart check-in solution to increase rapidly. We are building a customer data platform (CDP) for innovation in the tourism industry and plan to further enhance our AI-based hotel operation solutions based on this."
With this contract, H2O Hospitality's operations in the Middle East have expanded to three hotel chains in the UAE. Earlier, in August 2023, H2O Hospitality signed a digital transformation (DX) contract with the Middle East and Africa branch of Millennium Hotels and Resorts to prioritize the application of its solution, H2O Flow, at the five-star Grand Millennium Al Wadha in Abu Dhabi.
In March of the previous year, H2O Hospitality also secured a contract to supply its smart check-in solution to the luxury Westminster Dubai Mall Hotel, connected to the Dubai Mall.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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