Beekeeper Hospitality Industry Trends For 2019: Internal Communications — Photo by Beekeeper

In 2019, hoteliers should prepare for a strategy shift in the realm of internal communications. This year we will begin to see how mobile, real-time communication platforms positively impact company culture, team morale, and customer experience all at once. Team communication apps optimized for mobile let users collaborate remotely via peer-to-peer messaging or communication streams, conveying ideas in seconds.


Peer-to-Peer, Top-Down, Bottom-Up, Cross-Cultural Engagement Perhaps once considered optional investing in a centralized digital workspace has become a mission-critical tool fostering employee engagement across the hospitality landscape. When the backbone of a hotel is rooted in a rich sense of purpose and positive company spirit, staffers at all levels will be far more likely to provide a positive atmosphere for guests while simultaneously yielding high productivity levels within their respective workflows.


While maintaining this high level of employee satisfaction may seem like an obvious step toward productivity and high employee retention, gathering anecdotal data to measure employee satisfaction is nearly impossible without digital automation. Heading into 2019, the use of pulse surveys to gather quick feedback from hotel staffers, taking the temperature of your workforce before, during, and after any policy shifts or times of crisis will be essential.

Confirmation campaigns will also prove helpful, ensuring that key memos and announcements are read and understood, and employees can confirm their safety. This is especially important for the hospitality industry, as guest are constantly reliant on hotel employees to have accurate and up-to-date information. Communication streams also help disseminate real-time updates among the organization at large.

In addition to pulse surveys and confirmation campaigns, chat campaigns are a more low-stakes but equally crucial trend that hotel employees will utilize more in the coming year. Chat campaigns allow employees to send personalized messages, allowing staffers to engage in empathetic exchanges with leadership and each other. Peer-to-peer and group messaging help specific subsets and departments get things done quickly through direct communication.

For staff bases that may hail from different countries, inline translation tools will also make a prevalent appearance across mobile internal communications strategies. Inline translation uses artificial intelligence to translates any message sent in real time, ensuring that employees from diverse backgrounds are able to fully comprehend important messages in the language they feel most comfortable speaking.

Crisis Communications Planning

Due to the fact that hotels have proven uniquely vulnerable to crisis over the past year, it will be more crucial than ever to have a robust internal communications plan in place in 2019. If a company experiences a local natural disaster, has a PR crisis, or suspects that competition is about to launch a negative narrative, advanced communication methods are a necessity. In critical situations, mobile communication can prevent a major crisis. Mobile communication via team communication apps streamlines the process of disseminating vital information quickly, whether your crisis is of the natural or PR variety. Group messaging lists, network connections, and even media alerts keep you and your team informed and connected.