According to an article by Deloitte, technology is shifting its role from assisting workers in generating results to empowering individuals and teams to concentrate on achieving desired outcomes. This shift ultimately improves the quality of work for people and enhances their performance in the workplace [1].
However, the scenario for hospitality isn’t so clear-cut. [2] Despite the sector’s adoption of technology for decades, many businesses still struggle with choosing between technology that optimises revenues or reduces costs. In some cases, staff resistance to changes brought on by technology are a significant bottleneck for day-to-day operations.
So, how do you ensure your hotel technology meets the needs of guests, without diminishing human impact? And how should you address staff resistance related to technology, whilst optimising revenues and reducing costs?
These questions were answered during a fireside chat on people-oriented technology at the 2023 Hosco Summit. The chat was moderated by Ian Millar, Manager of the Institute of Business Creativity & Senior Lecturer at EHL, and featured Branon Painter, Senior Director of Digital Guest Experience and CRM Operations EMEA, at Marriott International.
Read this article if you’d like to glean insights from their discussion and shift towards people-oriented technology at your hotel business.
Ian: We’ve heard forever that hospitality is a people business. Do you think this is still true in 2023, given the technology large hotel chains like Marriott are applying today?
Branon: People are fundamental to hospitality and part of its DNA, and that isn’t changing. The sector doesn’t work without people.
Think about the best experience you’ve ever had at a hotel or on an airline. What made it so special that you still remember it today? Was it an interaction, a personalised reaction, or something similar? My guess is it was not that you checked in using a computer screen.
Now, think of the worst experience you’ve ever had at any of these businesses. What made it so awful? Was it that you couldn’t connect to the internet, or was it because of a personal interaction (or maybe the lack of a personal interaction if you were being ignored)?
If I have an issue with billing, I’m looking for a person to resolve it, not a request form that goes into a black hole. This is one small example of how people are at the heart of the hospitality industry and why people-oriented technology is needed. People are core to the experiences you remember (whether it’s for the right reasons or for the wrong reasons).
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Ian: Knowing that technology adoption is not the best in hospitality, do you feel it’s the technology itself, or is it more change management and training that need attention.
Branon: First, I think we should give the sector more credit for technological adoption. There are many hotels who are embracing innovative technology not for tech’s sake, but to create interesting and cohesive experiences.
When we talk about technological adoption, the biggest challenge is always the change management piece. Many companies, especially in hospitality, will find a shiny new technology that has the potential to drive revenue, will put it in place, and expect to reap the benefits from Day 1. Often things are “launched and abandoned.”
When that happens, staff often don’t understand why they are being asked to learn this new system, or how it is going to benefit them long term. Without that sustainment piece on the back end, it can be difficult to convince people to stick with the program long enough to get it fully incorporated into daily routines and to see results.
Everyone is susceptible to this. Even at Marriott, there are times when we haven’t supported a new technology well enough through deployment and implementation. In the end, the number of hotels who adopt and benefit from technology that isn’t fully sustained is much lower.
One of the most striking things I’ve seen in the hospitality sector is the way that at a hotel level we double-, triple-, quadruple-check things to ensure nothing slips through the cracks. That’s great, but it creates a lot of re-work – this is where change management is so important. Not only do you need to deploy the new technology, but people have to believe in it and see the positive impact on their working day, otherwise it just increases work.
To wrap it up, hospitality is a people business at both ends – we must remember the teams working at our hotels are people who are passionate and invested in hospitality. But they need to be brought along the journey for any new technology if we expect to realise the benefits of that technology.
Ian: Is technology solely meant for reducing costs or to increase revenue and profits, or both? Moreover, is there a framework/business case approach when looking to implement new technology at Marriott?
Branon: In the best cases it can be both. For example, many of our hotels are using a product called Mobile Dining, which allows you to order F&B via the Marriott Bonvoy app.
Firstly, this reduces costs for the hotels, because every order that comes through Mobile Dining has been keyed in by the guest – it eliminates the misunderstandings that may occur when calling room service and speaking to someone in a second or third language.
Secondly, it eliminates friction for guests by removing judgement. If you place an order in Mobile Dining, you don’t have to tell anyone “I’ll have the small salad and the extra large piece of chocolate cake” – you can order what you want, and we actually see that this freedom can lead to more / different items ordered.
On the one hand, you’re reducing costs by eliminating food waste. On the other hand, you’re giving guests the flexibility to order more, which increases revenue. In this instance, technology checks both boxes.
Even when you have a winning technology, the benefit may not be available to every hotel. I support the Marriott Bonvoy portfolio of hotels in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, which covers 76 markets. These are all very different markets, with very different expectations, needs and languages. In some cases, the exchange rate may mean a product suitable in one market won’t work in another. At other times, regulations mean that products we can launch in one market aren’t suitable for another.
Ian: Most future hospitality jobs will be tech-enabled, managing tech or pure tech, and hospitality school curriculums are not ready for this [3]. What can schools be doing to better prepare their students on technology strategy? Should technology strategy courses be mandatory, and what about practical immersion through internships in tech-rich sectors or simulations?
Branon: Let’s go back to what technology is, and why it is important in hospitality.
Technology alone doesn’t create the special moments we try to create in hospitality, but when used correctly, it does enable them.
What schools should NOT be doing is requiring everyone to take a computer science/coding course. We need to be clear that there are different levels of tech literacy. To deliver a great experience to guests, you don’t have to code in Python, but it does help to have exposure to the logic used in coding. To do this, schools can look for opportunities in normal classwork to leverage tools that reduce busy work.
Many hospitality roles tend to use lots of manual work. Perhaps over the course of the semester, you could introduce different efficiency tools as part of assignments. If the assignment is to market your hotel to future guests through a pre-arrival email, take the next step and include setting up and sending the mail merge as part of the assignment.
The next assignment could focus on building upon that email to create a more effective pre-arrival message. To do so you could have students segment guests in their mail merge. In doing so, they can provide guests with info (and spend opportunities) based on their segment – for example, spa times or discounts for wellness guests.
Then perhaps you add a tracking step using PowerAutomate that makes a record of every email sent, so you can track engagement over time and adapt your pre-stay communications strategy based on this
For students, there are loads of opportunities to expose yourself to this type of logic both inside and outside the classroom. Fundamentally, you want to ask yourself “how do I tell a computer what I want in a way that gives me the anticipated result?” Students can look for opportunities in their own lives to streamline or eliminate the things they dislike or are not good at. This will give them lots of practice that can then be brought to their future career in hospitality.
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Sources:
[2] https://www.bu.edu/hospitality/2023/01/26/technology-trends-in-hospitality/
[3] https://www.hospitalitynet.org/viewpoint/125000196.html