The hospitality industry needs to embrace new technology to improve the guest experience. Rohit Gupta, VP Europe Products and Resources at Cognizant, explains how the UK hospitality industry should embrace digital processes.

The guest experience has always been at the heart of the hospitality industry. As new technology becomes available, we are already seeing hotels across the world embrace innovation to further enhance and personalise that experience, for example, hotels in Singapore are trialling facial recognition for faster check-ins.

Traditionally, the UK industry has benefitted from workforce abundance, particularly from the EU, which makes up approximately one fifth of the total hospitality workforce. Consequently, it has been slow to adopt emerging technologies, due to management seeing little need to free up employee time. This means that jobs in the industry are often mundane and repetitive which is worrying considering research shows that one of the main reasons hospitality employees in the UK would decide to leave the industry is due to the lack of career prospects. Technology can better the working environment for employees by increasing transparency and reducing the time spent on banal tasks. This ultimately improves job satisfaction and, in turn, would boost employee retention rates, which currently stand at 15% below the national average.

Beyond this, COVID-19 has now added to the requirements of todays customer and employee experience, making safety and hygiene a bigger priority for businesses than ever before. As a result, the hospitality industry is turning to digital to provide the experience that customers not just want but need.

There is no time to waste hospitality businesses in the UK need to recognise that Digital Transformation is vital, especially in a post-COVID world.

Understanding guest behaviour to yield true value out of digital processes

A typical connected experience should empower guests with access and control. Using a mobile app, for example, guests can check-in and out, use a digital room key, control the room temperature, make a restaurant reservation, order room service, request extra towels and more all from their fingertips. Yet, despite the promise of apps providing ultimate convenience, guest adoption is proving a challenge. A primary reason may be that todays connected experiences are still largely one size fits all, lacking a personalised value proposition for guests. Each guest values different things: some a room upgrade, some a free gym, others a spa to relax in. The same traveller may have different preferences based on their reason for travel business, leisure etc. prompting different wants and needs.

The key lies in using smart technology, such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), to unlock vast amounts of data to understand guest behaviour and drive automated decisions that ultimately deliver meaningful experiences. Some of the key technologies that the hotel industry should be considering include:

Take, for instance, common frustrations such as calling the front desk to report a problem with a room or requesting assistance and being put on hold, or worse, getting no response at all. Instead, an integrated AI-enabled messaging platform that uses asynchronous communication can engage immediately and interact with guests on a personal level. Because it is integrated with other systems, it can access the necessary information to resolve common requests. Automation can also drive operational efficiency, reduce costs and boost employee morale by reducing time spent on repetitive and mundane tasks. This frees up time for staff to focus on personalising and enhancing the guest experience and solving complex issues more effectively.

Recognising new priority areas to maintain growth

While adhering strictly to data privacy regulations and COVID rules, the UKs hospitality sector must continue to develop digital capabilities to meet the expectations of digital natives, gather data to find out what guests want, discover patterns within guest journeys and free up employee time from admin tasks to focus on ones that improve job satisfaction. Only then, can they boost the customer experience and deliver memorable stays for all guests.

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Putting technology at the heart of customer experience in hospitality - Intelligent CIO ME