Viewpoints

We as an industry need to focus on careers and not only jobs. What we have found is that a solid education in hospitality including an internship can prepare people for any service sector career opportunity, hospitality and tourism, retail, healthcare etc.

Hospitality’s talent crisis is not about supply; it is about signalling. For too long, the sector, still dominated by fragmented, family-run SMEs, has relied on informal narratives and outdated assumptions about “passion” and “hard work,” rather than articulating a compelling, modern value proposition.

The perception issue is compelling. Perception matters, especially among Gen Z, but it is often shaped by lived experiences, labor market signals, and what students observe through internships, part-time jobs, and social narratives.Based on my experience working with students, many are not aware of the variety of career opportunities in hospitality.

Property owners are really going to have to focus on consistency, strong reviews, and unique experiences. Travelers want to know that they're going to have a great experience, every time. They should also look into increasing their amenities as well.

Homestay providers, have ample opportunity to capitalise on the provision of innovation and personalisation within and throughout their product and service. Many Airbnb hosts, for example, offer an 'open home' policy and that, can serve to be a huge advantage when attracting new guests to their stay.

Despite competing efforts, Airbnb offers a different type of experience than hotels. Each property is different, which is its own source of demand. Travelers also travel for different reasons, which will influence where they choose to stay as a guest.

My perspective is that an authentic, personalised experience does not require touching the guest. It is true that we are accustomed to shaking hands, speaking in close proximity, and serving the guest items that one touches, but contact and proximity are not what guests remember when they complement the service of a hotel.

At the end of the day, personalised experiences are all about "thoughtful" gestures. The great thing is that these gestures can be executed in ways that don't involve contact. This can include outreach emails, following up once the guest is at the property, texting services, hand-written welcome notes, and committing to always finding ways to delight and surprise guests.

Let's take a step back for a moment to look at the bigger picture: COVID-19 will absolutely linger for some time with new variants and local or regional hotspots of concern. We'll likely face rolling vaccinations and other steps as well.

For the last decade or so, there's been a huge debate between man vs. machine in business. The way I see it, it's man and machine. When approached correctly, the two go hand-in-hand. Artificial intelligence (i.e. robotic process automation, machine learning) can perform tasks faster than any human can, yet people have the ability to express emotion in a way that technology simply can't.

While digital and self-service options are growing in popularity, the stats and facts are still telling us that the old-fashioned human-to-human connection is still the number-one way customers like to connect for having their problems resolved.

Indeed, it is the people that make the difference between one hotel and the next. Unfortunately, too many hotel companies have become so obsessed with "tech" that their leaders forget to focus on the "touch" part. The hotel tech providers have done an amazing job at pushing what I call the "Millennial Myth," that anyone born after 1980 has no personality, never wants to have human interaction and lives on their phone.