As residents across Saudi Arabia prepare for an Eid‑al‑Fitr largely spent at home, hotels in major cities and coastal destinations are bracing for a surge in staycation demand. Occupancy rates during the recent school break soared to as high as 97 percent in several five‑star properties in Riyadh, a trend that hotel operators expect to repeat over the holiday period.
The boom arrives as Saudi Arabia’s hospitality sector undergoes one of the region’s fastest digital transformations. Under Vision 2030, hotels across the Kingdom are deploying mobile check‑in systems, automated rooms, intelligent building controls and integrated smart‑property platforms. Landmark destinations such as the Red Sea development illustrate the scale of this shift, with more than 315,000 new hotel rooms planned nationwide by 2030 any designed around deeply embedded smart technologies.
“Smart hotel devices are now central to guest experience, but they require a different kind of protection.”
— Osama AlZoubi, Phosphorus Cybersecurity
But as hotels become more connected, cyber risks grow alongside convenience. Modern hotel environments now contain thousands of IoT devices ranging from smart locks and HVAC sensors to cameras and room control tablets that quietly manage guest services around the clock. Many of these devices, however, still run on default passwords, outdated firmware or unmanaged configurations, creating potential entry points for attackers, especially during periods of peak activity.
“One of the biggest challenges we see these days is the belief that traditional IT security tools can protect IoT devices,” said Osama AlZoubi, Regional Vice President for Saudi Arabia and the Middle East at Phosphorus Cybersecurity. “Most IoT devices simply can’t run the same security agents as laptops or servers. As demand rises during peak periods like Eid, having clear visibility into these devices and ensuring they are correctly configured becomes critical to avoiding disruption.”
The National Cybersecurity Authority has urged organisations to strengthen oversight of operational and connected systems guidance that increasingly applies to hotels operating at high occupancy. For many operators, the priority is establishing real‑time visibility into thousands of embedded devices and ensuring none are left running with factory settings during the busiest travel window of the year.
With Eid approaching, experts advise hotels to audit device configurations, address known vulnerabilities and ensure their IoT environments are resilient before guests arrive.
