Blogs
How far should hospitality operators go when incorporating tech into the guest experience? Steven Pike and Lisa Chambers debate.
Lisa
To me, the human touch will always be more important to the hospitality industry than technology, whatever advancements arise. The New Quarterly Dining Trends Report from Booktable found that 71% of Brits felt personal and attentive service needed to remain a vital part of dining in the future- a service that only human interaction can effectively provide.
Automating areas of the guest experience may work for quick service restaurants, but it won’t see the same success in other sectors of hospitality. Friendly staff who know how to make your guests feel cared for, comfortable, and listened to are still, and will always be, at the heart of hospitality. A robot cannot offer the same level of hospitality, as advanced as it may be. Advanced technology may immediately attract guests for its novelty value, but it’s the human element that allows staff to connect with guests and provide the sort of memorable, day changing guest experience that promotes loyalty, and keeps them returning.
Steven
Technology provides huge opportunities to enhance the guest experience. Streamlining, simplifying, and speeding up service is something we know is a priority for guests.
Guests are suspicious of businesses that don’t modernise. Worldpay’s research revealed that 75% of respondents say “alarm bells start to ring” when an establishment’s tech seems behind the times, and 80% agreed that they were more likely to trust businesses who use up-to-date tech than those who don’t.
When we talk about introducing advanced technology in to the hospitality sector, it doesn’t mean a production line, conveyor belt service industry staffed entirely by robots. We’re looking to innovations like Carluccio’s VR helmets, and Inamo’s projector-sensitive film and picture-display tables. Things are moving even faster behind the scenes of hospitality, as technology changes the way we recruit, train, and manage staff. Bringing more technology into the dining room won’t ruin the guest experience, it will enhance it.
The decision is in your hands- pick a side!
