The United Arab Emirates (UAE) aims to attract 40 million tourists by 2030 and is investing over $35 billion in tourism infrastructure. From this, it is evident that the hotel industry is under pressure to deliver a personalized guest experience. This is where a cloud-based enterprise-grade multi-property management system makes all the difference. Let's look at how this modern tool, as a digital backbone, enables hotels across the UAE to centralize operations, drive growth, unlock revenue potential, and enhance the guest experience.

The state of the UAE's hotel market

●     Approximately 69% of the country's existing hotel supply falls into the luxury, upper upscale, and upscale categories, indicating a need for more mid-to-low-end accommodations to cater to all budgets.

●     In 2024, international brands accounted for about 67% of the supply, while local brands controlled 24%.

●     By 2030, international brands are expected to control about 82% of the total supply, while local brands will have just 10% of the market.

●     In 2024, hotel chains held about 65% of the region's market share, while independent hotels accounted for the remaining market. 

The state of technology adoption

Since the last couple of years, by about 2016-17, hotels in the UAE have been increasingly adopting cloud-based tools like Hotel PMS. The region's hotels are rapidly adopting these systems due to their robust yet flexible and scalable architecture, anywhere and anytime access, and integration capabilities with a host of third-party solutions. Other significant reasons for upgrading to the cloud include eliminating hardware footprints, reducing IT overhead costs, enhancing customer experience, and maintaining data security.

Benefits of cloud

●     Cost-effective, as the Hotel PMS is available on a subscription basis.

●     Scalable, as hotels can upgrade or downgrade their PMS infrastructure based on needs during high-demand and low-demand seasons.

●     Ease of use allows for faster execution of tasks.

●     Centralized control over group/chain operations, including reservation, housekeeping, distribution, rates, revenue, marketing, etc.

●     Informed decision-making, thanks to in-depth, easy-to-understand reports.

Additionally, this upgrade to the cloud enables them to leverage AI as it allows for better data accessibility, scalability, and integration, enabling AI to thrive.

●     Over 56% of hotels in the UAE believe that an AI-powered hotel booking system will be prevalent.

●     About 50% of them say that AI-driven personalization will have a significant impact on how they deliver guest experiences. 

Nearly all hotels—whether independent, international chains, or local brands—that have upgraded to the cloud are either currently investing in AI or preparing to do so. They aim to deploy chatbots for multilingual support, implement predictive maintenance tools, automate task scheduling, utilize dynamic pricing, and enhance targeted marketing efforts.

The trend is clear - more hotels of various sizes, star ratings, and categories are moving away from outdated legacy systems and getting onto cloud to realize the maximum benefits of digitization. They are seeing significant value from their cloud investments, as these solutions allow them to scale, expand their market presence, enhance operational efficiency, optimize revenue potential, and, most importantly, become more competitive and guest-centric. In this context, hotel brands that strategically upgrade to the cloud, integrate AI and data, and align their people and processes, will lead the way in the UAE’s next wave of hospitality growth.