The tourism industry is the world’s largest employer with more than 260 million employees and has more than 1.2 billion travellers taking trips outside their own country. This sector contributes a huge part of the world’s GDP and is one of the fastest-growing lucrative industries.
The industry has its fair share of problems with lots of challenges like last-minute cancellations, surprise accommodation requests to people not showing up at all, along with a lot of paperwork for admission requests and guest records.
There is a great way to deal with these challenges with electronic signatures, which are now a common thing that is rapidly being incorporated in the tourism industry. In this business, you can use electronic signatures to make your life easier and your company more efficient.
Why electronic signature is the solution to Tourism industry woes?
The present form of tourism industry has several shortcomings in the way it works. It suffers from paper-based processes, which are time-consuming and can be error-prone too. Electronic signature solves all these issues by providing secure and instant digital transactions that do not need any paper for further processing or storing.
With a digital signature, you can:
- Protect the integrity of your records from manipulation and tampering
- Do away with all the paperwork that has been used for centuries
- Create a seamless process - be it your travel bookings, hotel check-ins or even bill payments - just by pressing a button!
Once you have this excellent solution in place, it will benefit you and make life easier for millions of tourists across the globe.
How do electronic signatures simplify the guest check-in experience?
It is crucial to assist guests in spending less time on paperwork and enjoying services in the tourism industry. Electronic Signature apps help the sector in the following ways:
- Guest check-in and checkout processes are accelerated as the guests can register themselves in just a few seconds and receive personalized itineraries for their entire stay.
- Substitutes precise, appealing digital forms for paper forms shown on eSignature enabled devices to reduce errors and improve customer experience.
- Retains the reassuringly familiar sign-in experience that many guests appreciate without depending on the inefficient and wasteful use of paper.
- Allows fast cross- and up-selling by displaying new services and special offers on colour screens while not in signing mode.
- It helps the guest avoid the hassle of carrying bulky pen and paper as they can sign their name digitally, which is then stored in the database for access at any time.
How the electronic signatures help the tourism industry?
- Streamlines back-end activities & paperwork at the front desk through digitalization, reducing the hassles of storing paper documents.
- Creates a good first impression on the customers by differentiating the premium experience and convenience in a competitive market.
- It saves significant time on paperwork allowing your guests to enjoy a better experience by capturing details of your guest like identity, preferences & more.
- The innovative technology provides a cost-effective solution to fraud, forgery or alteration of documents and signatures in the tourism industry.
Tourism Industry documents that can be signed using eSignature
- Booking confirmations
- Hotel check-ins & checkouts
- Commercial hotel bookings
- Expense reports
- Audit reports
- Time & attendance records
- Travel policy
- Consent forms
- Employment contracts
- Data entry
- Cash settlements
- Employee instructions
Tours & Travels Case Study
About the company
H&S Travels and Tours began operations in 2004. From humble beginnings, they’ve grown to deal with over 200 airlines worldwide, assisting customers in getting affordable aircraft tickets without any hassles or confusion. Additionally, they have a global presence, with offices in the United States, Canada, South Africa, and India.
Challenge
H&S Travels processes paperwork for passengers and tourists worldwide, with the majority based in the United States.Before implementing eSignatures, travellers were required to print, scan, and email the documentation to H&S Travels, which was confirmed only after receiving the countersigned documents on email. Turnaround times were slow, and it wasn’t easy to track which traveller had signed and who had not.
Rather than tracking hundreds of separate contracts scattered across email inboxes, H&S Travels determined it was time to build a centralized hub for all the document signing needs.
Solution
These were the benefits enjoyed by H&S Travels after the implementation of eSignature solutions:
Significantly reduces turnaround times
H&S received positive feedback from their clients, who report that the signing process is now easier than ever as they received signed contracts back in as little as five to ten minutes.
A simple way to track the progress
The H&S eSignature dashboard enables them to see who has signed and who has not signed their documents. All data is easily understood and accessible in a single, convenient place.
Templates that save time
The company uses the functionality of the templates to load customer contracts rather than creating a new document each time. They save their agreement to the software, make minor adjustments for each new customer, and then send it off.
Hotels Case Study
About the company
Hotel 1926 is operated by Roosendaal Hotels, a modest hospitality firm with three facilities on the Mediterranean island, governed by Bortex group holdings. Following a big makeover a few years ago, Hotel 1926 now has a unique focus on eco-friendliness and sustainability woven into their entire business model.
Challenge
Throughout its year-long hiatus, the hotel was completely renovated with an emphasis on modernity & sustainability. It took significant efforts for being environmentally friendly: paperless brochures, hotel information printouts, tablets in every room, and PIN admission for guest rooms rather than plastic key cards.
Before exploring eSignatures, Hotel 1926 signed most contractor agreements & corporate partnership agreements during in-person meetings. The hotel employed local contractors to assist them in managing other properties on the island. Inviting them in was another cumbersome step that hampered the process.
However, delays frequently happen when parties desire additional time to analyze a contract before signing on the spot. As they were already going paperless by digitizing brochures and other assets, it seemed sensible to do the same with the physical documents of hotels 1926.
Solution
Streamlined workflows for signing
Rather than requiring partners, contractors, and guests to sign documents immediately upon receipt, Hotel 1926 staff can notify the signees. This way, nobody feels rushed or pressured. Their signature is requested over email, which allows them ample time to review the documents. Once they’re finished, they can quickly sign and return it.
Enhancements to customer service
Hotel 1926 appreciated the ability to get digital signatures on credit card authorization documents. It is far more convenient to offer a digital signature than to print the document, sign it, and email a scanned copy. It is incredibly suitable for those who do not have access to a printer at home.
Templates that save time
Before implementing electronic signatures, Hotel 1926 painstakingly changed the company’s name whenever they drafted a new contract or agreement, then spent time manually entering dates, terms, and other information. They breezed through this phase with templates, as all their standard fields are recorded in the appropriate locations.
Conclusion
The tourism industry has tremendous potential to grow in the future, but it is difficult to achieve it without the help of technology. The main concern of travellers is to have a hassle-free travel experience. They want the complete travel management to be done online. That is why the tourism industry is moving towards digitization. Digital signatures have made it easier for travellers to plan their trips with ease.
Register free to use the eSignature application and learn more about how electronic signatures can help the tourism industry reach new heights.