Travel & Hospitality

Industry Challenges

Innovative technology – Electronic check-in is the latest technology being embraced by the industry. However, many hotels have found the transformation challenging. Others hotels have already implemented the innovation. When clients plan for trips, hotels register the guest and then send key cards that are equipped with the new identification recognition that utilizes frequencies. On arrival, a text message is conveyed to the guest mobile phone entailing the room number and time, among other details. Once the guest arrives at the hotel, they don’t have to confirm at the Front Desk. They can directly move to their room and apply the key-card. For small and other major hotels, using this technology will see their revenues and profits reduce. However, if they don’t match the pace made by other hotels, things might turn for worse.

Reputation management– Hotel reputation is what guests say about the hotel through online reviews, comments and photos. Most of the reviews are made on social media, i.e. on Instagram, Facebook, Yelp and TripAdvisor. All these are high ranked platforms. The hospitality industry has been battling to establish relationships with guests. With online platforms like Facebook, hotels will have to diversify and start utilizing such platforms to manage their reputation. It’s a challenge that the industry is facing and will still face in the year 2020.

Retaining and finding talent – The success and growth of the hospitality sector depend on the state of both global and local economies. This means that maintaining adequate employees will be crucial in the coming year. In the year 2016, the hospitality industry employed 15,000 workers. This number is expected to jump to around 17,000 in 2026. The industry will have to devise techniques to retain top skills and talents in the year 2020. Hiring workers, who can fluently converse in multiple languages, give information and offer services in diverse languages will be essential. The wireless headsets can automatically translate 40 languages.