As the International Hotel Investment Forum in Berlin (IHIF) took place last week, Grant Thornton’s latest report indicates an urgent need for hotels to leverage cutting-edge technology in order to personalise the customer experience, but always in balance with the traditional human touch.

While high-profile disruptor Airbnb expects to break the US$1 billion (B34.95 billion) profit mark in 2016, Grant Thornton warns that firms who fail to act on personalisation enabled through technology risk being cut adrift and growth could suffer as a result.

The new report from Grant Thornton, “The power of personal: Hotels’ roadmap to 2020”, highlights a number of key pressures facing hotels today including the growth of sharing economy providers, the increasing influence of online travel agents in the booking process, and the rapidly evolving needs and expectations of guests.

The report argues that mastering “Big Data” and harnessing its potential in order to provide the personalisation that guests will expect and demand is fundamental to addressing these challenges. Despite this, separate research from Grant Thornton’s International Business Report finds that only 10 per cent of tourism companies globally plan to increase R&D expenditure in 2016.

“Technology is a major driver in our hotel industry today,” explained Tom Sorensen, Partner and hospitality and tourism leader of Grant Thornton in Thailand.

“In particular, the Internet of Things and Big Data helps us to accurately understand and predict guests’ behaviour. Too many hoteliers are yet to fully embrace Big Data.

“Without analytics technology and sufficiently trained staff to make sense of the noise, they can’t plot how to enrich guest experiences from pre-arrival to post-departure.

“At the same time, the new tools that allow for more targeted services risk diverting attention from the very skill on which the hotel industry was built – human interaction.”

“With disruptors threatening the very fabric of the sector, these are crucial months and years ahead for hotel brands. Greater investment in technology and in training staff must be a priority if they are to keep pace.”

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