| | AUGUST 202219 3. Changing Workforce & Talent Management: Increased integration of technology in hotels means that an employee's tasks are changing and the workforce itself is changing. There is a growing focus on health & safety, work-life balance, `gig' work & human resources technology. Many businesses/sectors (other than hospitality) are undergoing transformation and adopting a customer-centric approach; thereby generating a need of employees with a customer-centric mindset & better honed soft-skills. Having already undergone specialised trainings and worked in a totally customer-focussed industry, hotel employees are a natural fit for these new-jobs in other industries/sectors like banks, insurance, financial services and even hospitals. These sectors often offer better compensation and seemingly an overall better work-life balance. There has been an exodus of hotel employees to other industries in the past few years creating a talent crunch for hotels. Hotel leaders need to be aware of these changes to be able to attract, retain the right talent and keep employees `happy'. 4. Technology: Pandemic triggered the need for the hospitality industry to leverage technology quickly and tackle the challenges thrown by the pandemic. Several tech innovations like electrostatic sprayers to sanitize guest rooms, digital keys, e-Concierge, e-Menus helped the industry in dealing with the challenges and meeting new customer expectations. In the last two years, many traditionally customer-facing services have become contactless to reduce the transmission of the virus with contactless mobile check-in/check-out and contactless payments. As technology innovation continues to evolve, hospitality institutions will need to adapt to remain ahead of the curve, for instance, fingerprint or face recognition could soon become an expected convenience for guests accessing their hotel rooms, much like how it is expected with smartphones. Implementation of smart technologies like IoT and AI helps optimise costs, improve productivity and predictive maintenance. Most of these technologies start yielding returns within a short span of time & have short payback periods. The hospitality industry will need to capitalize on features such as immersive virtual tours to create a digital environment for consumers to picture themselves in before they book their holiday ­ a trend that is expected to only rise. 5. Traveller Preferences: Travellers today are looking for new experiences, whether through activities, gastronomy, sporting activities, or specific interests like music, and others. Armed with internet sourced knowledge and with an open mind, the global traveller of today is choosing funky motels, camping/Rajneesh Malhotra,COO
< Page 9 | Page 11 >