Putting Lodging Facilities at the Core of Community-Wide Efforts to Promote Digital Transformations

For Immediate Release: Koeeru Inc. (CEO: Soji Nagano), a technology company engaged helping clients understand the voices of their customers, is proud to announce with Kansai Innovation Center Inc. Assoc. (President: Minoru Saotome) and Osaka Convention and Visitors Bureau (President: Hiroshi Mizobata) the joint launching from May 2023 of the project “Voice for Osaka: Connecting with Voices”, an initiative designed to promote the digital transformation of lodging facilities in the area.

First conceived last year as part of a proof-of-concept project in collaboration with MUIC Kansai, a startup innovation center operated by the Kansai Innovation Center Inc. Assoc., the initial project focused on seven hotels within Osaka City. Following the success of this POC project, we are now expanding its scope to include accommodation facilities across Osaka Prefecture.

(For more information about this initial project, please see our July 12, 2022 Press Release (Japanese))

In the post Covid-19 era, the tourism industry has faced a variety of external challenges, including the diversification of travelers’ needs and values, the need to quickly respond to changing visitor numbers, and serious shortfalls in human resources.

Against this backdrop, tourism-related businesses in Japan, including lodging facilities, are working together to promote digital transformation strategies, with Osaka Prefecture conducting the following demonstration experiment in the aim of strengthening cooperation between local businesses, improving tourist satisfaction, and maximizing the profits of participants across the region.

Project Overview

1. Project Timeframe: From May, 2023 for approximately 6 months
2. Target Facilities: Accommodation and tourist facilities in the Osaka area
3. Outline of the Project: Voice of Consumer (VOC) data, including messages of support and questionnaires, will be collected and used to improve the attractiveness of the area
4. Survey Methodology: Pop-up displays with 2D codes linked to the questionnaires will be placed at each lodging or tourist facility
5. How to Respond:
   1. Scan the 2D code to access the questionnaire website
   2. Respond to the questionnaire and add a message of support to the facility
   3. Complete responses will generate a 50 yen donation to charity (the Universal Tourism Promotion Project). (Respondents are not responsible for paying for the donation themselves.)

Program Features

VOC Collection on a Community-Wide Basis

• Participants will be able to make timely comparisons of trends within Osaka Prefecture as a whole with their own facilities, helping them to implement marketing strategies based on macro data–something that is difficult for any individual facility to do by themselves.
• By making the survey content specific to tourism and lodging in Osaka Prefecture, rather than to individual satisfaction levels at each facility or hotel, participants will be able to consider measures to meet the trends and needs of their guests.

Incentives Designed to Contribute to the Community

• As in previous projects, we have utilized “Survey for Good”, our unique mechanism designed to solve social issues, motivating respondents through the desire to contribute to local communities and tourism-related businesses.
• In this case, each response will have 50 yen donated to activities promoting universal tourism in Osaka Prefecture, with the aim to create a society where everyone can enjoy travel with peace of mind.

Contributes to Employee Motivation

• The system allows for the conveyance of feelings of gratitude directly from guests to employees, helping staff to feel rewarded, and ultimately contributing to the securing and retention of tourism-related human resources.

Through this project, Koeeru Inc., the Kansai Innovation Center Inc. Assoc., and the Osaka Convention and Visitors Bureau aim to solve issues in the tourism industry and to contribute to the promotion of tourism throughout the Kansai region–an area becoming increasingly vibrant in the lead up to the Osaka-Kansai Expo in 2025.