An exploration of the key hotel processes implicated in biometric adoption

Purpose – This paper aims to review the determinants that influence adoption of biometric technologies, with particular emphasis on both devices and hotel processes. Design/methodology/approach – The overall objective was to identify the critical hotel processes and devices. This was achieved by a quantitative survey of 300 hotel customers which focused on the key dimensions of technology behaviour, holiday characteristics, hotel processes, biometric technologies and the “willingness” to adopt. Findings – The findings show that 87.3 per cent of hotel customers may be “willing to use” biometric devices and that there is some correlation between the different processes as well as the different biometric technologies. Practical implications – Conclusions and recommendations are made as to which specific hotel processes might benefit from biometrics and also how hoteliers might anticipate the rollout of biometric technologies. Originality/value – This paper provides a first, empirical study into customer adoption of biometrics. It reveals opportunities for hotels to profit from emerging biometric technologies.