Photo by Proxyclick Visitor Management System on Unsplash
This article from HospitalityNet has an interesting take on how hotels can leverage technology to offset the labour shortage that is the one of the biggest challenges in the industry right now.
In my post titled, “Am I losing my job to a robot? How AI can help (or hinder) guest service in Luxury Hotels” I mentioned that AI is great at speeding up processes to the benefits of the staff who are able to spend more time making personal connections, something AI cannot replace.
One such process mentioned in this article by JLL (2023) is guests “can skip the queue and check in by scanning their faces and unlocking their hotel rooms with the same phone.” While this is a change in mindset for many in the industry, it seems to be gathering momentum, especially in Asia Pacific where staff are in such short supply.
Laura Calin of Oracle Hospitality suggests that technology will need to be supported by employees in case of any problems. “Guests may prefer to do it all on their phones and simply pick up their key, but even they would prefer to have a real human nearby in case they run into any errors or have questions throughout the process.” (2023)
What is your preference? Would you prefer to interact with a person to check in or are you happy with self-service?
Drop a comment below!
References
Calin, L. (2023) My take on HN's HUMAN STACK vs TECH STACK Viewpoint... HospitalityNet https://www.hospitalitynet.org/opinion/126002149.html
JLL (2023) Why New Technology is Coming to Hotels. HospitalityNet https://www.hospitalitynet.org/news/4118519.html
I think that depends on the type of establishment. If yiu are just doing an overnight for business etc, it makes sense to be able to go immediately to one’s room. However if I am paying 5 star prices I would like to speak to a human and be given some extra attention.