Future of the Hospitality Industry in 2024

6 Nov

The hospitality industry is constantly evolving, and it is important to stay on top of the latest trends to provide the best experiences for guests. These trends can often lead to training and development opportunities for your staff. Allowing them to learn new things, perform more efficiently, and delight their customers, helping your business grow.

Let's look at the trends for 2024:

Personalised experiences: Guests expect customised experiences that cater to their individual preferences and needs. Hotels and restaurants are using technology like data analytics and AI to collect and analyse guest data, allowing them to tailor their services and offerings to each individual (1)
Training your staff to read analytics and feel confident in using tools like AI to gather customer data can help with efficiency and productivity.

Eco-friendly practices: Eco-friendly initiatives are at the forefront of many hotels' and restaurants' agendas. This includes things like reducing plastic waste, using sustainable materials and ingredients, and implementing energy-efficient practices. Such measures not only help the environment but also resonate with guests who value socially responsible businesses (1) (2) (4).
Increasing numbers of next-generation travellers are looking for big and small touches showing eco practices. Items like Bamboo toothbrushes, and toothpaste tablets and allowing guests to choose when to replace towels and bedsheets are all things these guests are looking for. Even small changes can make a BIG difference. Working and training your staff to understand how and why these changes are being made is important alongside listening to their ideas and incentives.

Technology integration: Technology continues to transform the hotel industry, from the way guests book their stay to the way they interact with hotel staff. AI-powered chatbots and virtual concierges will make guest experiences smoother. Voice tech will give guests control. Mobile check-ins and digital keys will rule. Automation and robots will streamline operations. AR will offer interactive hotel tours. (2) (6) Contactless services are here to stay. Blockchain ensures security. QR codes. (2)
Training your staff to feel confident in using technology in any part of a hotel or restaurant can help with efficiency and productivity. AI should never replace staff but help them in their roles and allow for seamless experiences for guests.

Health and wellness: Health and wellness have become more important to travellers, with many seeking out hotels and restaurants that offer fitness facilities, healthy meals, and spa services. This trend is likely to continue as people become more health-conscious. (1) (2) (5)
Train staff to upsell the health benefits of your hotel. For spas, allow for treatments to be pre-booked, highlight healthy food choices on menus and make sure your guests know about the features and locations of the gym/pool etc.

Luxury brand collaborations: Luxury hotels are collaborating with other luxury brands to offer unique experiences to their guests. This trend is fueled by the 'experience' economy (3)
Does your hotel partner with a brand that holds the same values? It could be from the choice of branded toiletries in your bathrooms, fabrics used in your room’s furnishings or the artwork on the walls. Partnering up with a brand that matches your goals benefits both of you. Joint exposure to an audience with an unconscious link to the two brands allows for advertising opportunities and collabration.

Authentic, local experiences: Guests are seeking out authentic, local experiences that allow them to immerse themselves in the culture of the destination they are visiting (1)
Can your staff help with local knowledge to help give a guest that authentic, local experience they are after? Many travellers are now looking to be where the locals are instead of the touristy areas of where they are visiting. Training your staff to offer advice, tips and places to go can boost the customer experience and get them coming back again and again. Hotels can also offer local businesses collaborations, like local foods, drinks etc.

Social media influence: Social media will continue to influence choices. (2)
This is not going away, many hotels and restaurants are starting to describe areas of their building as ‘instagramable’ as a benefit to staying there. Is there an area or areas that you think are social media friendly, something that would allow others to help sell your space on social media? Remember, walkthroughs of rooms and buildings are very popular.
Another tip is to train your staff to ‘pick up signs’ when people doing these things and offer help. Seeing someone trying to a selfie in front of a flower display in the hotel, can they offer to take the picture for them? Get the staff confident on taking pictures with phones etc.

Unique offerings: Experiential travel and unique offerings will be in demand (2)
What can your hotel or restaurant do that no one else can? Are you a family-friendly hotel? Why not offer training to your staff to entertain children with magic tricks while they wait for check-in to help relieve some stress on the parents? Free snack bar or tea and cake afternoon, a book nook, to inhouse features all help the guest experience and bring people back.

It is important to note that these trends are not mutually exclusive and can overlap. For example, luxury brand collaborations can also incorporate hyper-local experiences.

Not every hotel and or restaurant can do all these things, but small changes here and there can bring something new to repeat customers and a memorable experience to new guests.

Training your staff is key when bringing in any changes to a business. Umbrella Training can help with training staff on the ‘need to know’ to ‘advance awareness’ of the customer experience and journey with our hospitality-focused apprenticeships and our upcoming short courses.

Do reach out if you would like to know more.

Written by: Kaye Sedgwick-Jones

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