Scaling Contactless Check-In Across Hotels in Mainland

Lead  Prof. Faye HAO

School of Hotel and Tourism Management | Research Centre for Digital Transformation of Tourism

Research led by Prof. Hao and her team on adaptive service flows and guest-centric user experience design laid the foundation for a tourist service provider to grow from a five-person start-up into a premier strategic supplier for China’s leading hotel groups, now employing over 100 staff.

Since 2020, the jointly developed contactless check-in system has been adopted by more than 14,000 renowned hotel brands in 198 cities, enabling safe reopenings for 8,000 hotels in the Mainland during COVID-19 while increasing operational efficiency across hotel segments and reducing associated labour costs by 30%. The research partnership has transformed the start-up into a national market leader, with offices in Shanghai, Wuhan, Hangzhou and Shenzhen in the Mainland, and Lagos in Nigeria, reshaping digital operations and enhancing guest experience at scale.