Top 5 Changes in Hospitality Management that will be Gaining Steam
The pandemic that came into the picture in 2020 influenced the hospitality industry severely, as we have never seen before. The consequences have been even more significant than ever. This crisis has rocked all our assumptions about travelling, administering hotels, and dealing with customers, management, businesses and banks.
On the other hand, the future looks promising with significant shifts in hospitality management – as soon as the world is vaccinated.
Looking at the open-ended trends in the industry, the mega hotel chains might resume evolving with their brand’s verity. The mega-chains have been doing an exemplary job in publishing their procedures to develop hotel cleaning & hygiene. This development has driven the industry forward in that respect, which is fantastic news to all travellers.
Although, it will indeed take some time for capsule hotels and hostels to recover after the pandemic. We have already seen a trend of getting out of the main cities for vacation, so villa resorts and varied accommodation types outside cities will flourish. Super budget hotels will undoubtedly continue to fulfil the need for suitable hotel accommodation in the city centres at an affordable price, while boutique hotels with great F&B (Food & Beverage) concepts also will be in high demand.
According to a recent survey, it is reported that the blend of business and leisure will be stronger than ever. The resort kind of accommodation for the elderly, who want to mix business and leisure in attractive places, is also bound to grow. Several segments like these that hoteliers can go after indeed make the hotel industry’s future bright.
What Prominent Changes are Required in the Hospitality Industry?
1. Property Management System
The Property Management System is one of the essential factors that affect the functionality of the hotels. The PMS rules the hotel operation, having more than 4,000 different PMSs globally. All applications have to communicate with the various PMSs to be relevant to guests and team members. Despite the meaningful technological advancements, hotel operators still have to struggle with too many applications.
Therefore, it is high time to have one platform that can run the hotel inventory, accounting, customer journey, communication with the staff members, and more. These functions can furnish the operators with one dashboard that lets them know everything about their hotel guests’ profiles in order to deal with service, delivery, and maintenance.
2. Business Hotels
Since it will take some time for global business to return, local tourism will remain significantly more than ever. Therefore, hoteliers must make sure they have a local loyalty program to woo the customers and increase their chances to grow during such times.
Also, since people who intend to travel for business will cut back on the same as Zoom is now an acceptable avenue, the business hotel must explore how to recover from the anticipated drop in business travellers. For instance, hotel rooms can be used as day offices, and hotel lobbies can be used as co-working spaces.
Currently, numerous business hotels have a spacious lobby with a design that does not correctly accommodate people. Now is the time to change it. Additionally, many hotels still sell seminar packages, which cost money; as an alternative, co-working space operators can provide working space by the hour. Business hotels themselves can also learn to host co-working spaces which is easy to do with the various apps available in the marketplace at minimum price.
3. Security
The truth is that hotel administrators are always at risk. They hold a vast responsibility for all their stakeholders’ safety – from the owner and team members to the guests. Cyber-attacks on several companies have already become a great cause for concern. The hotel industry has to collectively work in order to shield guest information and the hotel operations as they drive towards more dependency on the technology.
4. Flexibility
As per one of the surveys in the co-working spaces, consumers today reach out for flexibility. Therefore, hoteliers are required to transform how they think and be more adaptable with their operations. Flexibility should stretch even to the point that room configurations and sizes could be modified easily per guest’s needs.
5. Going Green
The future is going to focus on new technologies to become greener. The industry needs to harness solar power, save energy, reuse the hotel greywater, preserve heat, enhance air circulation, use more dynamic lighting, and use environmentally friendly materials.
In totality, massive changes in the hospitality management industry are inevitable. It must be remembered that technology has already become an indispensable part of our lives, and the hotel industry now must also keep up with speed. By providing their clients with extraordinary service and matchless accommodations equipped with all the latest technologies, they can significantly expand the number of guests who choose their hospitality.
The technologies will ultimately help optimise, advance the service level, strengthen the clients’ retention and satisfaction level, and boost their business revenue.
