How to solve the lodging industry’s tech skills gap

Since the onset of COVID in early 2020, hoteliers have been forced to shift resources into a project they had been dragging their feet on for years: contactless check-in. These investments will ultimately result in a better guest experience by giving guests more control over their stay on their own devices. 

Now, hoteliers are again turning to technology to fix their newest challenge – a widespread labor shortage – by automating as many operational tasks as possible.

Technology finally has its time to shine. Now more than ever, line-level employees need to incorporate the use of technology to anticipate guest needs while actively engaging with the guest. And above property, understanding how to analyze and action data is an increasingly important skill for more and more departments, including revenue management, marketing, sales and customer experience.

However, lodging faces a tech skills gap in that there aren’t enough workers who understand how to use the industry’s new and disparate technology. That gap only grows wider as talent exits during the “Great Resignation.” Additionally, hospitality workers entering the field are not typically trained in important tech tools that can help them do their jobs better.

High staff turnover also exacerbates the issue. Hotels can spend enormous time and resources on training employees, only to have them leave after a short period of time.

As an industry, we won’t be able to successfully accelerate technology adoption if we do not also work to solve the tech skills gap that currently exists. There are three key areas we will need to consider in this issue: streamlining the tech stack to improve training, prioritizing usability and user experience, and upskilling the next generation of hoteliers. 

Streamline training tools and processes

Much of the tech skills gap is a byproduct of stacking tech – that is, you need a PMS, RMS, CRS, CRM and so on. If you have to learn numerous interfaces, you’ll spend most of your time on the job understanding how to use multiple systems within a fragmented tech stack. 

Good software designers aim for “learnability,” which refers to how easily your product can be learned, and those with high standards in terms of what makes a usable product design see the best traction. 

If you can replace a handful of tools with one that does all the things you need, it means you’ll spend less time training new employees on tech. When all systems are on a single platform, the user experience is easier and operations become more streamlined.

Prioritizing usability and user experience 

From Facebook to Gmail, Uber to Airbnb, today’s most popular apps and software require very little instruction on how to use them. Modern applications are designed to be intuitive and easy-to-learn, regardless if you are a digital native or from an older generation. This has not often been the case for hospitality technology, however.

Many of the legacy platforms in use by lodging businesses have clunky or outdated user interfaces, which are not user-friendly and often take a long time to learn. The hospitality industry will not be able to accelerate technology adoption if tech providers lag behind on updating their user experience. 

Technology should streamline interactions and handle the tasks that can be easily automated, freeing up humans to provide more valuable personal interactions with guests. That means the tech that the front desk uses, for example, should be easy to navigate so that the human on property can focus on the guest experience. If it takes 10 steps to check in a guest, consider what piece of (user-friendly) tech can bring that down to two. 

Prepare the next generation of hoteliers

The problems the lodging industry is experiencing today - such as the labor shortage and unpredictable demand - will continue as the world recovers. In the meantime, the tech skills gap will only grow. 

Education opens up opportunities to close that gap. As an industry, we must focus on empowering the industry’s future leaders with the modern tech skills and innovation they need to succeed. This includes partnering with hospitality schools around the world to provide easy access to technology and tailored curriculum so that students can gain hands-on experience on how to use various tools and platforms, as well as online training and certifications for lodging employees (or would-be employees) that may not have the resources or ability to attend a hospitality school.

Lodging’s future leaders - with the right tools and education backing them - have the power to drive the entire industry forward.