'Hospitality Industry Trends for 2021' Report Now Available from Beekeeper

2021 is bringing many changes to the way the hospitality industry operates, but not in ways we expected just a year ago. Like a sudden blackout, COVID-19 disrupted every aspect of modern life, and operators’ day-to-day lives have yet to return to normal.

To understand how the hardships imposed by the pandemic will impact hospitality this year, Beekeeper is offering a new report titled “Hospitality Industry Trends for 2021 — The Road to Recovery Through a Digitally-Enabled Frontline Workforce.” The document highlights four trends that will have a profound impact on the way hotels and restaurants operate going forward.

“The World Economic Forum has dubbed this period ‘The Great Reset,’” said Andrada Paraschiv, Beekeeper Head of Hospitality. “At Beekeeper, we prefer to think of it as ‘The Dawn of a New Age in Hospitality,’ and the chance for hotel and restaurant leaders to reevaluate their business models and leverage technology to become more inclusive, sustainable, and prosperous.”

Prior to the pandemic, research firm Accenture found that the companies in the top 10% of digital transformation increase revenue twice as fast as the companies in the bottom quarter. The Beekeeper trends report shows how companies in the hospitality sector can seize this opportunity by embracing digital as their way forward to emerge from this crisis stronger than before. With a more agile foundation, the report reveals how companies can pivot to new business models and tackle new priorities, like keeping their current workforce safe, healthy, and engaged; staying in business despite revenue loss; implementing lean business practices; finding new ways to cut costs; and developing operational resilience.

“In this new hospitality trends report, we show how — in the face of a new normal — hospitality companies are embracing mobile-first digital strategies for their recovery and beyond,” Paraschiv said. “We’re starting to see trends emerge that will shape hospitality throughout its recovery and beyond.”

Four key trends identified in the “Hospitality Industry Trends for 2021” report include:

1. Accelerating Digital Transformation — In 2021, we can expect to see more hospitality companies invest in digital transformation in relation to their customers, and frontline workers who put themselves at risk every day to interact with travelers. With mobile collaboration and productivity tools, hospitality companies can embrace bottom-up communication and discover how a fully connected frontline workforce can make their entire organization more resilient.
2. Making Safety a Top Priority in the Next Normal — In 2021, hotels, restaurants, and other hospitality verticals will be looking to technology to support new safety initiatives for guests and employees to comply with new labor laws and regulations. Frontline teams are the backbone of the hospitality industry, making up 80% of the workforce. Companies are kicking off the new year with a commitment to protect these valuable workers.
3. Building Operational Resilience for a Faster Recovery and Greater Agility — In 2021, the need to centralize communication will continue to gain traction even as things stabilize because the nature of work is changing for good. Having a single, digital hub of information will help build an efficient workforce by streamlining processes and integrating multiple systems into one. A unified platform creates a consistent source of information, so employees do not get overwhelmed navigating numerous workplace apps and information centers.
4. Embracing Lean Operations Management — In 2021, there will be a move towards lean operations management across the hospitality industry. Organizations will look for ways to increase productivity, efficiency, and revenue, and decrease waste and spending while maintaining a commitment to customer service. Hospitality companies will:

✔   Assess their organization to find where there is excessive spending.

✔   Implement new processes that are more efficient and will ultimately improve customer satisfaction.

✔   Streamline communication with mobile-first tools that include everyone and empower frontline employees to implement company priorities and processes.

✔   Do more with less by having more flexible jobs and leverage labor management tools to optimize staffing levels.

✔   Automate more tasks through a digital workplace to eliminate costly errors, speed up workflows, and reduce paperwork.

“Rebuilding and reinventing the hospitality business will be a top priority for leaders in 2021, with a focus on bringing guests back and fortifying a skilled workforce,” Paraschiv said. “We can expect to see hospitality leaders across all verticals leverage new and existing digital technologies to retain their current workforce and attract new talent. Industry leaders will also emphasize safety as a mainstay of their culture and core values for both employees and guests. Finally, hospitality companies will begin to adopt lean management strategies to cut costs, reduce waste, and run their hotel operations more efficiently to be more agile as they rebuild and recover now and for years to come.”

To obtain a copy of “The Hospitality Industry Trends for 2021” report from Beekeeper, click here.