As travel picks up amid signs the pandemic is waning, the hotel industry hopes its fortunes will rise, too. But so far, it’s not clear when that moment will arrive or whether some of the changes they have had to make will become permanent.
Hotels have struggled with labour shortages, for example, that have forced some to close completely and others to scale back services like daily cleaning of guest rooms and restaurant hours.
Given the uncertainty about whether those workers will ever return, one industry expert predicts robots will take over some of the tasks once done by workers who have found better paying jobs elsewhere.
Hotels are also experimenting with ways to boost revenue – for instance, charging extra for some services, scaling back reward programmes and adding amenities to attract longer-term guests free to “work from anywhere”.
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