Summer is here again when people are most willing to enjoy the great outdoors and loosen up a little bit. Summer is quite synonymous with vacation time, and many people will be traveling across the country for some well-deserved relaxation and fun. This might be great for families and travelers, but it becomes a tasking period for hotels and their staff. Hotels and other businesses in the hospitality sector have been experiencing labor shortages for some time now due to various factors.
The downward trend of labor shortages took a turn for the worse during the pandemic, and while there has been some recovery, there is still a large gap that needs to be filled. Besides the pandemic, other economic and demographic challenges have caused hotel labor shortages across the globe, and with summer vacation in the air, the effects might be catastrophic.
Coping with the increased demand is difficult, but with the right tools and technology, many hotels can better serve their clients and address the industry’s labor shortages.
6 Ways Tech Can Help Hotels Manage Summer Labour Shortages
While going the tech route is not the only possible solution to labor shortages this summer, tech offers some pretty efficient solutions that can ease the difficulties faced by labor shortages. We will explore six ways tech can help manage summer labor shortages.
Cloud-Based Property Management System
Many hotels use on-site management systems that are efficient but somewhat limited. Cloud solutions enable hotels to simplify all their operations from one location. Hotel managers can easily coordinate staff activity and automate repetitive tasks using a cloud-based property management system. This platform allows managers to effectively rotate tasks, track work time, and track staff members’ shifts. This helps managers manage staff rotation efficiently.
Digital ID scanner
Digital ID scanners are a way to adapt to hotel labor shortages easily. They can help ease front desk administration and reduce the number of staff needed at hotel reception. Efficient digital ID scanners can scan necessary documents, pull up bio-data and other vital details, and fill in the information in the correct fields when visitors make reservations. In digital ID scanners, images are scanned and converted to text via optical character recognition.
POS for payments
Many hotels are beginning to adopt more efficient tech-based payment management options. This approach eliminates the need for more workers tracking payments and issuing receipts. Hotel POS makes payments easy for guests and reduces the staff required to process such payments. With its accurate record-tracking features, hotels can track payments without spending more time or manpower.
Employ mobile applications
Shifting the hotel experience to mobile devices can help handle labor shortages while satisfying guests. A recent report shows that hotel guests are more likely to go for hotel options that provide mobile apps that allow them to manage their vacation experience better. Guests can process their check-in and check-outs, book in-hotel appointments, make reservations, order food, and more via mobile devices. This helps hotels manage staff shortages as they do not need all their staff on the ground until guests indicate otherwise, helping them allocate resources to the most essential hotel operations.
Security Tech options
Security is a big deal in hotel management and is also labor-intensive. Although tech has not reached the point where there are armored robot guards keeping facilities secure, simpler tech options that can help hotels cope with labor shortages exist. Scanning and surveillance systems can radically improve hotel security without increasing hotel staff. These systems do a great job at monitoring hotel traffic and identifying contrabands or items that can cause security risks for other guests and the hotel.
AI-powered Web Chatbots
Customer care is one of the most important aspects of hospitality, and hotel websites are usually the first contact for guests looking for reservations. Chatbots are an excellent method to help your online guests without requiring any more effort from your crew. Hotels may add an AI or rules-based chatbot onto their website to help with reservations, answer FAQs, and provide upsells.
Conclusion
This is not the first time the hospitality industry has experienced a labor shortage, and it has consistently bounced back; this will not change now. A key reason is that hotels now have more tools in their arsenal to better cope with difficult times. More hotels are employing these tech solutions and are also reaping the benefits.
