The Sluggish Rate of Digital Change in the Hotel Industry

To survive, the hotel sector must change rapidly. This is the warning issued in the wake of recent research revealing that 63% of hotel operators do not think their company has invested sufficiently in digitalization.

Based on a study of over 4,000 hospitality locations, the new research advises hospitality firms to act immediately and use digital transformation to support labor shortages and long-term development.

“We’re experiencing huge problems attracting personnel due to Brexit and Covid,” says Micheal Tingsager, Founder of Hospitality Mavericks. “A lot of excellent people is leaving our business, and we need to figure out how to keep them. Technology may be a critical component of the answer, with far-reaching implications.”

Operators in the hospitality industry are concerned about a lack of investment in digital transformation and skills. “We have a dearth of know-how and awareness about digital in general, we’re too busy operating the company to develop digital skills, and we’re afraid of making errors,” commented an operator.

Report Analysis:

• Less than 10% of operators think their existing technological systems are completely integrated, which adds to the operator’s complexity.
• Only one in every five operators believes they are getting the most out of their consumer data- the majority are unsure what to do with the data.
• Only 20% have a budget set up for digital transformation.

“With the sector facing insurmountable limitations as a result of the epidemic, digitalization in hospitality has been critical to its survival. However, our study indicates that the sector’s speed of training its employees with new digital skills and investing in technology is well behind where it needs to be. When it comes to the hotel industry, operators believe it lags behind other industries for effective use of technology”, stated Katy Moses, Founder & MD of KAM Media.

“As ex-operators turned technology suppliers, we wanted to gain a sense of where things were following the epidemic and the digital rush that occurred,” explains Nick Popovici, CEO and Co-Founder of Vita Mojo.

Based on the study, it is apparent that the sector has undergone significant change, and what we can do to assist that.

Digitalization and technology are a “part” of the answer to labor shortages. The best technology improves human experiences and, when properly implemented, can stimulate business growth, which leads to the creation of more jobs. It’s not about technology replacing people in the industry; rather, it is about technology supporting and retaining people in the industry.