The classic philosophy in hospitality - and supposedly the very reason why our industry is called 'hospitality' - is because our guests expect their hosts - the hotel staff themselves - to provide 'human' services at all touchpoints of the guest experience.
I believe the notion that guests are demanding human-provided services is greatly exaggerated, especially today. A great example of why guests do not care about human-provided services as much as some in our industry think comes from the short-term rental sector.
Last year more than a quarter of roomnights in North America were consumed at short-term rentals: houses, villas, condos and apartments. The vast majority of these short-term rental bookings were done online via Airbnb, Vrbo, FlipKey, Vacasa, etc.
Just imagine the whole short-term rental experience: you book online, receive online confirmation and pre-arrival information (directions, keyless entry info, destination info, etc.); upon arrival enter the unit using the mobile key or keyless entry; enjoy your stay; pack your bags and leave on day of departure. All of this while having a completely HUMANLESS EXPERIENCE! All of the “behind the curtains” human involvement remains hidden from the actual guests: vacation rental management, IT and technology management, revenue management and distribution technology, marketing, housekeeping, utilities maintenance, etc.
The “gold standard” at short-term rentals is customer experience without any human contact between guests and hosts, and yet guests are not only not complaining, but gobbling up this “human-less” service and loving it! Over the past two pandemic years I have spent over 150 roomnights at short-term rentals without seeing any of my hosts in person even once!
All of this means that at least a quarter of accommodations customers have already experienced human-less hospitality and are prepared to do so at traditional accommodation types such as hotels, resorts, casinos, motels, etc.
So, the question is: should hoteliers automate or not automate the guest experience in hospitality?
I believe that automation in hospitality is inevitable. I believe there are two macro socio-economic factors forcing the hospitality industry to accelerate the adoption of human-less and do-it-yourself (DIY) services and increase their technology investments in automation: the labor shortages in hospitality and the emergence of the new tech-savvy travel consumer.
The adoption of automation and other technology applications allows hoteliers to operate with fewer well-paid, well-trained, well-motivated employees and invest adequately in DIY processes and solutions, automation, mobile and contactless applications, AI and IoT applications and devices, and robotics. I believe within the next three years, on average, hoteliers will operate at 50% the staffing levels they had back in 2019 and will be investing 3x-4x more in technology, compared to the pre pandemic era.
Four- and five-star properties could still keep a "human guest-facing facade" but automate all of the back-end operations, enable smart guest communications, and automate and personalize every touch point with the customer.
The process of automation in hospitality includes all of the technology applications and devices that are augmenting and/or replacing human-provided services: mobility, contactless experience, AI, robotics, etc. Using AI, mobility, cloud, robots and cobots, IoT and other next gen technologies.
The following technology solutions and applications should become a top priority in Q4 2022 and 2023 and could augment or replace the need for human-provided services in hospitality:
- Mobile check-in and contactless experience
- Housekeeping management applications and housekeeping-on-demand programs
- Guest messaging and issue resolution technologies
- CRM and CDP technologies and programs
- Robotics
- In-room automation and IoT devices
Here are a few examples from leading hotel companies that are good case studies for the rest of the industry:
- You can reduce your front desk staff by 50% or more by introducing mobile check-in and mobile keys, self-check in kiosks, chatbot on the website to handle service and information requests, email reservation assistant app to handle email booking requests, an issue resolution technology applications and voice assistants in the rooms to handle customer service requests by stay-in guests. All of this at fraction of the payroll expenses.
- You can cut your housekeeping needs by half if you introduce housekeeping-on-demand as one of the steps during the mobile check-in or when checking in via the self-service kiosk in the lobby. The arriving guest should be able to choose in advance the type of housekeeping they are comfortable with during their stay: daily, once every 3 days, weekly, etc. or no housekeeping, just leave fresh towels by the door. This allows better planning, scheduling and utilization of your housekeeping staff and results in significant reduction in labor costs.
- You can equip rooms with Internet of Things (IoT) devices that can sense when the guest is or isn't in the room and automatically adjust lighting and temperature thus saving utility costs; alert housekeeping when room is empty or vacated, signal engineering when something needs fixing, etc. This automation saves serous labor costs from reduced maintenance, housekeeping, human monitoring, etc.
- You can increase significantly repeat business by adopting a CRM technology and program. Only a meaningful CRM technology application - as part of your hotel tech stack - can ensure deep engagement with your past, current and future guests. CRM tech not only provides automated pre-, during- and post-stay communications, guest satisfaction surveys, guest retention marketing automation and drip marketing campaigns, but takes it a step further via guest recognition program management and loyalty marketing. All of these fully automated CRM initiatives keep "the conversation going" with your upcoming, current and past guests, keeps them engaged and steers them in the right direction: to book your hotel when it's time for them to visit your destination again. In addition, you can use your CRM first party data about your best guests to launch similar audiences marketing on Google, Facebook, Instagram, etc. to target potential customers with similar characteristics as your best guests. CRM initiatives in combination with ORM (Online Reputation Management) tech can turn your happy guests into brand ambassadors and avid social media influencers.
- You can reduce by half your kitchen staff if your hotel has F&B or create a new revenue stream at your budget or economy hotel:
- Robots like Flippy by Miso Robotics are flipping burgers at CaliBurger and White Castle Restaurants to the delight of their customers, while the salad-making robot Sally by Chowbotics prepares signature salads at quadruple the human pace.
- Creator, San Francisco's automated burger restaurant, features a 14-foot burger machine with more than 350 sensors that is capable of making 130 premium quality custom burgers an hour, plus a window for takeout orders.
- Piestro and Picnic, innovative pizza robots, can deliver high-quality artisanal pizzas within 3 minutes. Their fully-automated machines are being designed with the aim of allowing for zero contact food preparation, zero food waste, consistent quality, and a much lower cost of operation.
The list goes on and on. Automation and various technologies that exist today can and will significantly reduce staffing needs and labor costs in all stages of service delivery, from pre-arrival customer engagements to on-property guest services and post-stay customer retention.
Most importantly automation will pay for itself by introducing efficiencies, increasing productivity and cutting payroll costs.
