Basil Macklai from global identity proofing platform provider IDnow, discusses how digital technology can enhance the experience for tourists throughout their travel experience.
Imagine a travel experience from booking to arriving at the airport and traveling through security, boarding your plane, picking up your hire car to checking-in at the hotel. Think of all the times you are asked to verify your identity. Now imagine an experience where you simply walk through. Where your facial features are your unique identifier during the booking and traveling phases, and where your biometrics or a digital ID wallet on your phone or smartwatch can grant you access to your hotel room. This isn’t the work of science fiction, this technology is with us right now through digital identity proofing and verification.
Starting the travel journey
At the moment of booking via your favourite travel site or app, verifying your identity at this first stage could provide you with an access-all-areas pass to the holiday of your dreams. Traveller identities can be verified in advance and ensure a smooth journey. Unique biometric identifiers like your face, could soon do-away with time limited procedures like passwords, physical documentation or paper identities. Instead, individuals will have the opportunity to carry digital verification options that can easily be processed automatically.
Streamlined processes at the airport
Upon arrival at the airport, imagine walking straight through security, because your digital identity is automatically recognized and verified. Those traveling through the world’s busiest airport, Dubai International, will have experienced Smartgates. In fact, more than 100 million travelers have been through this automated border control (ABC), placing a passport into a device and software verifies the person via camera.
Further advances are being made. The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) has developed the concept of Digital Travel Credentials (DTC), which will act as a digital travel identity and eventually replace physical passports. The aim is to create easier travel with faster border controls. Passengers could move freely at the airport between check-in, baggage drop, border security and plane boarding, without ever needing to physically show a travel document.
Picking up the car
Upon arrival at the destination airport, rental car pick-up can also be stress-free. During the digital booking process before the trip, driver’s license and identity can be checked so that upon arrival, only a key handover is required. Contactless, remote identity proofing and Qualified Electronic Signature (QES) solutions get drivers behind the wheel as quickly as possible.
Safety, security and speed at hotel check-in
Of course, not every part of the journey is about a seamless experience. It is also about security – for example, hotels can benefit from digital identity to prevent fraud and security threats. Traditionally, the process for front-desk staff has been to take a physical scan of passports. As technology has advanced, particularly in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, procedures at reception have reduced from filling in lengthy forms and taking physical paperwork, to digital identity verification and legal record-keeping via contactless secure systems. With hospitality staff shortages following the pandemic, digital check-in can also help relieve hotel staff from such manual processes, and allow them to concentrate on other areas that boost consumer experiences. For the property, cross-checking bookings with submitted digital identities can better protect the business and customers alike at every stage – before, during and after their travel.
Some brands may prefer to automate this experience with self-service technologies. After all, if you can breeze through the airport with self-service baggage check-in and traverse through security seamlessly with digital identity proofing, then getting into your hotel room should be equally convenient. Brands value their customer touchpoints and respect opportunities to enhance customer experience. Providing a rapid process from arrival in the lobby to room entry is one chance to elevate such an experience. Identifying individuals through facial recognition technology that matches a person to their document, can help to authenticate guests and reduce processing times by up to 70 percent according to trials conducted by the Singapore Tourism Board and Singapore Hotel Association1.
For the customer, it removes the need for their passport to be taken away and verified, often without knowing where and for how long their passport scans will be stored and who has access to them. And with the integration to other hotel management systems, digital identity verification could alert the managerial team to the arrival of VIP guests and, potentially guests who have been flagged for previous issues. Keeping up with the International Standards Organization compliance procedures for hotels (ISO 31030) on identity verification and KYC (know your customer) ensures the property keeps pace with globally accepted standards.
Benefiting from biometrics
Seamless check-in and check-out can enhance experience and, as Forrester Consulting2 has found, there is an exponential relationship between potential hotel revenue and higher customer experience scores. Consider the thousands of guests who check-in to each property across the Middle East every year and the cost-benefit of onboarding digital technology is clear. Oracle research3 even found that 73 percent of guests would prefer to use digital and contactless technology, such as digital identity verification, to enhance their stay. And, if there is one thing that all hospitality brands can agree on, it’s that customer experience is paramount.
