Decisions to shut down hotels—not to mention the full disruptive effect of the travel ecosystem—has forced a paradigm shift in the hospitality industry.
The hospitality industry is gifted with almost unlimited potential for learning and creativity. This pandemic is a test of its ability to uncover hidden talents, sharpen the guest experience and think “inside the box.”
Here’s what’s next for the hospitality industry:
• Orders through mobile applications
• Complimentary hand sanitizers at every entrance, exit, passenger seat, restaurants, rooms, lounge chairs, tables, menus and more.
• Self-service pay stations and systems will be standard.
• Mobile wallets will accept and offer payments from credit cards, debit cards and bank accounts.
• Cell phones will become a single device for almost all communication and transactions.
• As automation and technology become more widely accepted, there will be staff reductions.
• Hospitality and travel employees will be monitored more closely to evaluate their health conditions. Same with guests and passengers. It will be reasonable to check temperatures at the very least when anyone enters a hotel, airline or restaurant.
• The hospitality industry will emerge with a new focus on reviews, reflections and reactions to how they create new processes and policies to ensure they are not spreading infection.
• Sanitization specialists, formerly called maid or housekeepers, will be elevated to a new professional status. They will implement disinfecting common areas, tables, chairs mirrors and more to prevent the spread of infection.
• Information verification specialists will monitor ‘fake news” and misinformation. It will be their job to interpret and verify the “facts” to avoid the spread of misinformation.
The hospitality industry doesn’t allow the past to determine the present or the future. Historically, it doesn’t make the same choices in new circumstances. It practices Steven Covey’s advice: “I am not a product of my circumstances; I am a product of my decisions.”
James Feldman, CSP, CITE, CPIM, CPT is a globally recognized business advisor, mentor, innovation Sherpa, author, speaker and serial entrepreneur who has guided hundreds of companies and thousands of individuals around the world toward optimum performance levels. He is author of a new book, Shift Happens! Reinvent Yourself Using 3-D Thinking, now available on Amazon.
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