The two-year pandemic and subsequent labor crisis will have a lasting impact on the hotel industry as operators continue to find ways to mitigate a reduced labor force while still providing quality customer service. The impact of attrition from our industry—workers who were furloughed and moved to other industries with no plans of coming back—has left many operators desperate to fill line-level roles and managing high turnover.
According to the American Hotel & Lodging Association, by the end of 2022, hotels are expected to employ only 84 percent of their pre-pandemic workforce and the hotel industry is not expected to reach 2019 employment levels until at least 2024. According to a May AHLA survey, 97 percent of hotels indicated they are experiencing a staffing shortage, 49 percent severely so. Survey respondents indicated they had hired an additional 23 employees per property in the last three months but were also trying to fill an additional 12 positions.
As operators search for solutions, many see the rising adoption of self-service technology in the airline, foodservice and ground transportation industries as a way to not only help fill this gap but to simultaneously evolve to meet guest expectations.
Bridging the Gap with Tech
Shifting to a digital arrival experience means the front desk role and the processes that take place behind the desk will evolve. Many operators are sharply focused on transforming the role of checking in a guest from a laborious process at a lobby desk to a digital platform driven by a wider adoption of self-service tools.
It’s beyond question that freeing up hotel staff from performing routine, tedious transactions—checking IDs, swiping credit cards, etc.—and allowing them to attend to incoming guests in a more personal one-on-one manner will help hoteliers adapt to new labor pressures while adding more impact to the guest experience and more value to the role of the front-desk agent.
According to a study by Oracle Hospitality, 73 percent of travelers agree they're more likely to stay at a hotel that offers self-service technology to minimize contact with the staff and other guests. More than a third (38 percent) want a fully self-service model with staff only available upon request, while 49 percent are looking for contactless payments.
However, digital check-in is not a one-size-fits-all solution. Different segments of the industry are—and should be—adopting it differently to fit their needs and their different guest expectations. A luxury hotel will offer a different type of digital guest experience than an extended-stay hotel, for example.
What’s really happening on the ground that is helping the industry drive innovation and cost savings? Here are real-world examples of how we see it playing out through our various customers’ experiences across different segments of the lodging industry:
1. Fully staffless
Some types of lodging venues have removed their front desks entirely. These operators have chosen to rely solely on technology to check guests into their properties. This typically works for properties with 100 rooms or fewer, and usually there is still someone on site or nearby helping with other tasks who can help check a guest in if needed. Technology today can help these smaller properties check in 100 percent of their guests in a digital manner.
2. Staff augmentation
Almost all hotels are working through some type of system to reduce front-desk staff, and most hotels can take advantage of a hybrid approach to moving their check-in experience online. Some are removing overnight staff and relying on a combination of technology and remote assistance, where guests can hit a button to talk with a live agent. This live agent can oversee check-in at dozens of hotels at once, as opposed to hiring for the overnight shift.
3. Self-service as an amenity
In luxury or high-touch spaces such as resorts, casinos or water parks, self-service technology is being used to add to the guest experience, giving guests more options to interact and engage on their preferred channels. For check-in, many operators in this space are digitizing most of the workflow and limiting what the front-desk agent has to do technically. Instead, agents become welcome ambassadors that provide a unique touchpoint with every guest. Technology like guest messaging and digital key allow for guest engagement, but only on the guests’ terms.
4. All signs point digital
Labor issues continue to add immense pressure to hotel profitability. Our industry lost a lot of workers during the pandemic and we’re still building back that trust as employers.
The timing is great, as self-service is becoming the new normal. Guests are now looking to be unburdened during their stay, so making routine transactions possible through technology like pre-arrival mobile check-in, mobile messaging and keyless entry are the new expectations.
Almost all hoteliers today understand that a streamlined, contactless guest experience is a smart way to limit front-desk staffing while making a memorable impact on the guest. There are many different approaches, and those who make the smartest decisions will be best positioned for future growth.
Branigan Mulcahy is co-founder of Virdee.