How technology can assist hotels with staff shortages

By Stevie Reffin , Country Manager RoomRaccoon UK and Ireland

The COVID-19 pandemic took a significant toll on the travel and tourism industry resulting in 62 million travel jobs lost worldwide. As talent left the industry for something more stable, hotels are left reeling with critical labour shortages and an ever-growing rise in demand as the busy summer season continues.?

In the UK, the enduring talent dearth has left hospitality companies scrambling to fill gaps in the workforce. According to a report on staff shortages by World Travel and Tourism Council, there were 111,000 jobs lost in the travel and tourism industry in the UK despite the job retention scheme for furloughed workers.?

As restrictions ease, the lingering labour shortage means there are simply not enough employees to meet the pent-up demand. The result? Hotels are turning away business when they need it most.?

While there is no quick fix to the labour shortage dilemma, there are important actions that hotels need to take, including looking at the role technology can play in solving the challenge of talent scarcity. Artificial Intelligence and automation technologies can play a valuable role in helping hotels streamline their business processes to alleviate the workload on existing staff and ultimately allow more time to improve the guest experience.?

There are several tools that hotels can implement to automate front-of-house tasks to lighten the load for understaffed teams:?

Cloud-based Property Management System (PMS)

Nothing streamlines operations like automated systems. A cloud-based PMS helps to consolidate and automate tedious recurring tasks such as tracking reservations, rate updates, housekeeping, guest folios, guest communication, and much more. Because it is cloud-based, operators can manage their hotels from anywhere, at any time.

Website Chatbot

Hotel Chatbots are a great way to assist your online guests without any extra effort from your team. Hoteliers can integrate their website with an AI or rules-based chatbot to assist with bookings, answer FAQs, and offer upsells.?

Automated Communication

Instead of manually sending routine emails to your guests, hotels can set up templated emails straight from your PMS. With mobile guest communication, messages are triggered automatically throughout the guest stay, including pre-arrival, during and post-stay. Not only will your communication be more effective, but guests will feel more engaged, even when you're operating with fewer staff members.?

Online Check-in

Invite your guests to jump the queue with online check-ins. Typically, hotel guest check-ins can result in long waiting times, frustrated guests and flustered front-desk staff. Moving the process online means guests can complete all forms and screenings before they get to the hotel, enhancing the guest experience while simultaneously cutting down tedious administrative tasks.?

Take your online check-in a step further by including an automated upsell feature which seamlessly offers guests the option to upgrade rooms and purchase add-ons through an automated pre-arrival email with online check-in.?

Digital ID Scanner

Hoteliers can reduce front-desk administration by using a hotel management system with a digital ID scanner. RoomRaccoon’s Digital ID Scanner uses Optical Character Recognition to scan identification documents and auto-fill guest information in the correct fields in the reservation.?

Keyless entry

Hotels can switch to digital door locks to reduce front desk frictions. When combined with online check-in, keyless entry allows guests to skip the front desk and go straight to their rooms.?

As demand continues to rise, it is essential that hoteliers seize the tools available to them to ensure that they don’t turn away business in what is expected to be the great travel comeback. By implementing AI and automated systems, their team can get the job done, even on skeleton staff,?and provide excellent customer service.?