Hospitality & Leisure is getting ready to bounce back
With lockdown restrictions finally easing, and the public looking forward to enjoying the different activities they have been deprived of for the past two years, it's certainly an exciting time for the UK's Hospitality & Leisure sector. But as hotels get ready to open their doors again, it is essential that hospitality professionals do not lose sight of the challenges that will be involved.
Throughout COVID-19, hotels have been operating with massively reduced footfall, in terms of both guests and staff, forcing them to scale down their services in order to maintain an acceptable break-even occupancy. As a result, many are still running massively reduced operations as they prepare for a massive influx of guests - all of whom will be expecting a world-class experience.
In other words, the key factor that will help hotels deliver the quality of service their guests expect, will be efficiency. In light of this, let's consider how hotels can streamline and optimise their operations, while keeping their guests at the centre of everything and ensuring staff are properly supported…
Why hotels' data is everything when it comes to efficient operations and bespoke experiences
As we've previously discussed on this blog, technology has played a critical role in allowing hotels to remain operational throughout the pandemic while still respecting social distancing requirements. With hotels' IT infrastructure, connectivity, and online presence having evolved exponentially in recent years, in order to enable fully interconnected experiences - from booking to checkout and beyond - and the deployment of sophisticated IoT projects, the Hospitality & Leisure sector is well-placed to build on these successes, transforming hotels of every size into true data-driven entities.
With increasingly higher volumes of data now generated on a daily basis, management teams can access numerous actionable, real-time insights into their operations, allowing staff and resources to be deployed where and when they are needed, helping lean teams to do more with less, whether that's scheduling and executing routine tasks, or managing guests' specific requests when they are received via app.
Developing new tools to help hoteliers deliver world-class experiences
The next phase in these developments will be the creation and deployment of tailored platforms for hoteliers that automatically consolidate and display this data through a single pane of glass, providing a fully centralised view of every guest's journey, from making their booking, to checking in, ordering meals, booking leisure activities, and checking out. The potential here is huge, as it will not only optimise the efficiency and, in turn, well-being of staff, but accelerate the drive for truly bespoke, personalised service for each guest, minimise the risk of overbooking, optimise marketing activities, and enable more effective management of resources.
For more hands-on support and expert advice on preparing for the sector's new era and optimising your own hotel's operations, do not hesitate to contact us. In the meantime, we wish you the very best of luck with the return of your guests!
Taken as a whole, these innovations are driving a true data-driven approach across the entire Hospitality & Leisure sector, where guests' data is captured and stored securely at the point of creation, then intelligently utilised to deliver bespoke experiences and offer actionable insights that allow for new process improvements and operational efficiencies.
If you'd like to find out more about acting on the opportunities, do not hesitate to contact us. Our team will be more than happy to explore your goals and requirements in depth and advise accordingly.
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