Having seen success in moving hotel partners towards online retailing and F&B delivery throughout the pandemic’s recurring lockdowns and continued travel restrictions, Singapore-based Global Hospitality Solutions (GHS) is now preparing to launch an e-catering platform that will enable Asian hotels to revive some of their lost on-site events business.
Established in 2002, GHS specialises in technology that helps hotel partners be present in the entire customer journey in travel and tourism, from engaging travellers to driving purchase and eventually rewarding for loyalty.
The e-catering platform, which is expected to launch in the region in the next one or two months, according to CEO Bernard Quek, will allow event planners to develop an F&B menu with a participating hotel, grant their remote event delegates the freedom to pick and chose what they would like to enjoy, and have the meal or refreshment delivered to different addresses within a set time frame.
GHS will provide the technology – supported by its existing WhyQueue Hotel e-Store solution – to facilitate e-catering, as well as manage the operations to ensure the right transport vendors are used to carry through hotel partners’ brand standards in the delivery service.
WhyQueue powers a private e-store for both hotel companies and individual properties, and have enabled hotels to develop different and more stable revenue sources during the travel and tourism crisis.
Quek said GHS’ move to create an e-catering platform was inspired by the rise in “Zoom parties” – online gatherings with entertainment and catered food, involving a number of people dialling in from different locations.
While the platform is still in its final phase of development, the GHS team had a taste of what’s to come when a hotel partner received an order for 400 meals that had to be delivered to 400 different locations at the same time on a particular day as part of a remote event.
“This service supports the future of entertainment, the future of work, and the future of business events,” he remarked.
He added: “(Business events) is a big piece of business for hotels, but (it is) gone for so many hotels in cities that have been going in and out of lockdown and have almost zero international arrivals. E-catering could bring back events revenue, especially now that remote parties and events with F&B are growing in frequency.”
Quek said there have been some expressions of interest from hotel partners that have benefitted from WhyQueue during the pandemic.
WhyQueue now supports various hotel companies and properties, such as Grand Hyatt Singapore, Grand Hyatt Jakarta in Indonesia, and Wyndham Hotels and Resorts across Asia-Pacific. It recently won over Marco Polo Hotels and will be establishing an online store for the chain’s properties in Manila.
