Travel and tourism are set to fully rebound from 2019 levels this year but some post-pandemic effects still linger within the industry, most notably, frontline staffing hiring and retention. North American and European travel markets are still grappling with shortages in customer facing teams and an extremely high turnover rate at 70%. Hotels, resorts and travel providers face an uphill battle when it comes to filling vacancies as the available pool of enthusiastic candidates continues to shrink and worker preferences change. Vacancies along the frontlines of the travel industry can lead to gaps in service and quality, two facets that travel brands must execute on 100% of the time. Brand reputation and public perception will greatly impact business performance and travel providers depend on consistent, top level experiences for guests and clients to maintain that important, public facing reputation.
The Effects of Service Gaps
Individuals that work on frontline teams in the travel industry usually fulfill several different roles within the business and are essentially the face of the business that the customer interacts with. Frontline teams carry out 2 important functions for travel providers:
- Provide client and guest services
- Handle day to day operations
Teams that are missing personnel or are lacking in capability will see lower efficiency in the day to day operations part of the business but more importantly, can negatively impact the guest experience which has farther reaching effects. Travel brands depend on reputational marketing and loyalty to maintain and grow business and gaps in service and quality along the frontlines can affect guest experiences and perception. In a highly competitive marketplace, travel businesses cannot afford to lose market share caused by negative public presence.
Outdated Training Methods in a Fast Paced Industry
The potential for service and quality gaps in customer facing parts of the travel business are highly detrimental to many aspects of the operation but the problem is only exacerbated by outdated and ineffective training programs that keep new hires at bay instead of contributing to the business. ‘Binder training’ and slide based presentations offer very little engagement and may not deliver a deep understanding of essential and critical skills that new hires need to be successful. Older methods of training are designed to keep new hires idle while learning concepts and processes that must be mastered in the field to ensure practical application of skills and processes. Traditional training platforms also take longer to deliver content and skills which is impractical in the current high velocity environment of travel. Travel businesses need innovative ways to train new hires and get them working and contributing from DAY ONE.
Technology Drives Innovation in Travel Training
Artificial Intelligence technology has seen rapid adoption in the travel industry and is a disruptive force in training technology specifically. AI training platforms can offer unparalleled, real time engagement and content delivery that is effective and efficient at teaching new skills and processes to newly hired travel workers. hospit-Ai-lity is a new travel technology platform that utilizes the latest in machine learning and plain language inputs to get new hires working and contributing to the frontlines from DAY ONE. Real time engagement and in the field application gets individuals learning while working, reducing and eliminating potential service and quality gaps much faster than traditional methods of training. hospit-Ai-lity is a powerful travel training tool that offers the following:
- Delivers essential and fundamental guest interaction skills
- Teaches job specific processes and operational duties
- Supports new hire during onboarding and transition on an ongoing basis
- Drives individual confidence with guidance and evaluations
hospit-Ai-lity delivers significant benefits to travel business by training new hires much faster and more effectively, increasing new hire experience and reducing expensive turnover right after hiring. Frontline teams that are at full strength and have the skills they need can deliver higher performance and productivity that positively impacts costs and business profitability.
Next Generation Training, Next Generation Benefits
The travel industry is slated to return to growth in 2024 after a very turbulent last 5 years. As passenger volumes and bookings ramp up, one area that is still reeling from global lockdowns in hiring within the travel industry. Major travel markets are still struggling to fill positions with some areas only able to fill just over half of the available vacancies. Travel businesses depend on customer facing frontline teams and service and quality gaps caused by unfilled positions can have far reaching negative effects on profitability and marketability. Hiring and training is one of the major challenges facing travel businesses but innovations in AI have created new training platforms that can deliver essential skills and processes in real time, preparing new hires much faster than traditional methods. hospit-Ai-lity utilizes the latest machine learning technology and plain language inputs to provide a high velocity training system that gets new hires working from DAY ONE. HAIY delivers benefits to both individuals and travel businesses by filling those vacancies with skilled and capable new hires with greater effectiveness than standard, one way training courses. Travel businesses can maintain service and quality level at a higher level as gaps along the frontline are reduced and eliminated much quicker by using HAIY for new hire onboarding and transitioning.
Visit the hospit-Ai-lity microsite for more information and downloads.