Carenza di personale negli hotel: come può aiutare la digitalizzazione
La tecnologia non si stanca, non va in ferie e non si ammala. Ma il suo vero valore è aiutare le persone a lavorare meglio.
Hotel staff are increasingly difficult to find. Technology can make a difference.
In recent years, the hospitality sector has had to face one of the most complex challenges in its history: personnel management.
Finding reliable, qualified and motivated staff has become increasingly difficult. Labour costs continue to rise, contracts are ever more complex to manage, turnover is growing and hoteliers find themselves dedicating a huge amount of their time to the recruitment, training and organisation of staff.
Meanwhile, guests continue to have increasingly high expectations: they want immediate responses, fast check-ins, 24-hour services and a flawless experience.
How is it possible to guarantee all this when staff are lacking?
The answer, today, inevitably goes through digitisation.
The staff crisis in the hotel industry
Staff shortages are not just affecting large hotels. B&Bs, serviced apartments, guest houses and small properties are also experiencing increasingly obvious problems:
- difficulty in finding qualified staff;
- increase in absenteeism;
- high staff turnover;
- ongoing training of new employees;
- inexperience of seasonal staff;
- low motivation and engagement;
- increasingly high labour costs;
- social security and insurance contributions on a steady upward trend;
- difficulty in managing shifts;
- holiday, leave, sickness and cover.
Any sudden absence can turn into an emergency.
Every new employee requires weeks of training.
Every operational error can result in negative reviews and a loss of revenue.
The hidden cost of personnel management
Many business owners only evaluate the cost of the salary.
Actually, the real cost of an employee includes much more, for example:
- staff remuneration;
- contributions and social security payments;
- mandatory insurance and cover;
- annual leave, permitted leave and paid absences;
- benefits and contractual obligations;
- staff training and professional development;
- recruitment and onboarding costs for new employees;
- cover for holiday, sickness or turnover;
- time spent on staff planning and coordination;
- operational errors and organisational inefficiencies.
Added to these are the indirect costs:
- a reception that takes too long to check in creates queues;
- a slow response to customer requests can turn into a lost booking;
- a failure to sell extra services reduces the property's revenue.
When the problem isn't the staff, but the organisational model
Many hoteliers think the problem is finding better people. In reality, the problem is often something else.
If staff are continually made to carry out repetitive, manual and low-value-added tasks:
- to file documents;
- fill in forms;
- hand over keys;
- send standard email;
- handle repetitive phone calls;
- update availability;
- check payments;
- collect signatures.
These are operations that do not increase the quality of the welcome; quite the contrary:
- they slow down;
- they cause stress;
- they reduce productivity.
Digitisation doesn't replace people: it eliminates repetitive work
The false myth that digitalisation means getting rid of staff still exists.
Reality is very different.
Technology makes it possible to eliminate the most tedious and repetitive tasks, leaving staff to focus on what no software can replace:
- reception;
- empathy;
- client relationship;
- tailored assistance;
- problem solving.
In this way the staff work better, with less stress and greater satisfaction.
A technology that works 24/7
A digital system doesn't need breaks.
- He isn't going on holiday
- He doesn't get ill
- He is not arriving late
- He doesn't forget a reservation
- He doesn't make mistakes out of tiredness
- It works every day of the year, 24/7
- It simultaneously handles hundreds of automated operations, always maintaining the same level of precision
This doesn't mean eliminating the human factor. It means making it much more effective!
Where digitalisation really saves money
Modern hotel management platforms make it possible to automate numerous daily tasks:
- check in online;
- self check-in;
- centralised and always up-to-date digital archive;
- automatic sending of communications;
- payment management;
- issuing tax documents;
- OTA channel update;
- availability synchronisation;
- dynamic pricing management;
- real-time statistics;
- digital housekeeping;
- automated reports.
Every automated process means fewer errors, less time wasted and greater productivity.
Greater efficiency means greater profitability
Reducing the operational burden on the staff produces immediate benefits.
- fewer hours dedicated to administrative activities;
- greater operational speed;
- fewer errors;
- better guest experience;
- most positive reviews;
- greater opportunity to sell additional services;
- increase in profitability.
In many cases, the return on investment in digitalisation comes much sooner than one might imagine.
The future of hospitality is not having more staff, but using them better
The true competitive advantage does not consist in having more employees.
It consists of having colleagues who can dedicate themselves to people instead of bureaucracy.
- Technology does the repetitive work
- Staff create value
Is this the combination that allows accommodation facilities to grow even in an increasingly competitive market.
Digitisation is the most reliable collaborator
A digital system does not replace your team.
It makes it more efficient.
It works without interruption, reduces errors, automates hundreds of daily tasks, and helps slash operating costs that are often invisible yet extremely heavy.
In a historical period characterised by a shortage of skilled staff, rising labour costs and increasingly tight margins, investing in digitalisation is no longer a technological option, but a truly strategic choice.
Every day spent on manual processes means wasted time, avoidable costs and opportunities handed to the competition.
- The question is not whether to digitalise your premises.
- The question is: how much does it cost you to keep not doing it?