Looking to the future has always been a tricky task, and given the pace of technological innovation taking place today, this has not become any easier. Nevertheless, it is possible to view trends as they are, and make some predictions with a fair degree of accuracy. One prediction I have is continuing automation, which has marched forward for centuries, and will make a bigger mark on the hospitality sector. Another is mobile learning, which continues to take the industry by storm and could lead to some surprising results.
Firstly, automation. As countries get richer and more developed, costs will inevitably rise. While other industries such as manufacturing have embraced automation, service industries like hospitality have remained steadfastly people-led, despite the high costs of manpower. Yet, hotels are full of the kind of repetitive, rules-based tasks that are ripe for automation, and as technology becomes more sophisticated, I think we will see more of these activities be taken on by machines.
Accounts is one area that could be affected. Most hotels hire employees to process hundreds of invoices, claims and bills on a monthly basis, which largely consists of copy-pasting data, moving one file to another location, and other repetitive actions. Robotics Process Automation (RPA) is software that uses computer systems exactly as a human does, via the user interface; e.g. Windows. Highly accurate, and never making mistakes (companies such as UiPath have even incorporated Artificial Intelligence into their platform), RPA is able to take on many of these accounts activities, reducing the need for human intervention and lowering costs for the hotel.
We may even see physical robots enter our hotels, in the form of housekeeping aids. Researchers at the University of Berkeley have already created a robot that can fold towels, albeit incredibly slowly, connect Lego pieces and hang shirts. It is not unreasonable to believe that robots will be able to navigate the unstructured environment that is a hotel room, and help the housekeeping team with their chores.
My second prediction is in the field of employee training and progression, specifically, I predict the end of or at least reduction in use ofÊthe CV. We are seeing more and more hotels train their staff using mobile learning. Effective, lower cost and more relevant to today’s hotel employee, mobile learning is replacing traditional classroom-based learning for skills and language training. We may soon see Virtual Reality (VR) enter the mobile learning space, providing an even more in-depth and effective training tool.
All this mobile learning will result in masses of data on an individual’s performance. As this gets collected and analysed, it will provide a good snapshot of an employee’s ability, motivation and skillset. Importantly, this data won’t lie, and will allow hotels to measure a candidate’s suitability for a job with much more precision that they would get from a traditional CV. Furthermore, mobile learning courses are scalable, meaning there is an element of standardisation that aids in making comparisons against other candidates. In five years, we may see less use of the CV, and more reliance on mobile learning data when choosing the right candidate for the job.
It remains to be seen what the hospitality industry will look like in five years, and it may not even change significantly. One thing is for certain though, hotels will continue to search for cost savings, so automation will play a role, and they will always be on the lookout to well trained, skilled employees, hence mobile learning. Any forecast involving cost savings and human resources should, fingers crossed, be a safe bet!
By David Topolewski
David Topolewski is Chief Executive Officer of Qooco, which provides mobile language learning and vocational training solutions for employees in the hospitality and service industries. Through advanced neurolinguistic techniques and pedagogies and powerful speech recognition technology, Qooco allows associates to learn languages and service skills anywhere, anytime, more efficiently and cost-effectively than ever before Ð improving customer service and increasing revenues. Qooco’s holistic solution promotes greater workforce engagement, allows accurate performance measurement and real-time feedback. Qooco’s suite of products include: Qooco Voice, Qooco Upsell, Qooco Link, Qooco Core and Qooco Pro.
