Personal vs Personalization: Why your future starts with learning from concierges
From our office at Universal Marina on the English coast at Southampton, I’ve long been inspired by the sport of sailing. As a sailing skipper, I have learned that having the right equipment and knowing the environment around me are among the most critical roles at the helm. What is the tide like? How strong is the wind? Are my sails even capable of getting me where I want to go? Yet, something is more critical than my tools or knowledge at the helm. It is ensuring my crew has the tools and knowledge they need to do their jobs. What's the point of having a beautiful boat if you don't have a knowledgeable and well-equipped crew to get you to a safe harbor?
If we take that page from the skipper's manual to ensure the crew has what they need, our industry must reconcile with an unfortunate truth. Too many guest-facing teams lack the tools, knowledge, and support to deal with their environment and elevate service levels that ultimately improve profitability.
Recent data reaffirms this truth. According to the US Bureau of Labor, approximately 1.7 million employees were hired in the accommodations and food industry during February and March 2024, while 1.6 million people left the industry at that same time. At a recent AHLA on-the-road show, their data showed that approximately 70% of front desk employees quit their jobs within the first 90 days of employment. Similar data is echoing across the rest of the world.
The Hotel Yearbook Technology 2024
The HOTEL Yearbook Technology 2024 delves into the transformative power of data in the hospitality industry, exploring how the "everything-data decade" is reshaping the landscape. This year's edition emphasizes the surge of data-focused innovations and products with open architectures for seamless data exchange and micro-applications embedded in diverse tech stacks. As data, often dubbed "the new oil", becomes pivotal for hotels to refine brand identities and the struggle to offer hyper-personalized services, it also plays a critical role in managing labor and energy resources efficiently. The publication provides essential insights and recommendations into harnessing data for superior service delivery, agile resource optimization, robust data security, and crafting extraordinary guest experiences.