The hospitality industry is finally opening up again. After a year of staying in, people are only too happy to be parting with their money in restaurants and hotels whilst catching up with loved ones. However, the face of hospitality is very different to how it was pre-pandemic.
As a result of the furlough scheme and hospitality staff finding new employment, there are now severe staff shortages in the industry. With more of the world opening up each week, the hospitality sector is now scrambling to get processes in place with reduced staff numbers.
There are reports that as many as 9 in 10 venues that are now short staffed*. It’s not only due to lockdown, in the UK, Brexit has also had an effect on staff members too. Now that so many of us have renewed confidence due to vaccinations, we’re venturing out again in high numbers. This means venues are booking up, leaving restaurants struggling to cope with demand.
All of this leads to increased competition for available hospitality staff. Although two thirds of employers are confident about recruiting and training in time – retaining staff will become imperative to remain cost effective.
This is where Robotic Process Automation (RPA) can help. ‘Digital workers’ can continuously work throughout the day. Tasks that are classed as ‘dull’ and ‘repetitive’ are completed with ease. Basic tasks such as email reservations are automatically taken care of, so your staff can focus on welcoming customers back!
Here are some of the jobs RPA can automate for you. Leaving the worry of staff shortages out of the running of your business;
- Payment collection – Collecting payment for pre-paid bookings is now much easier. It can be automated using Robotic Process Automation, freeing up staff time to focus elsewhere
- Insight – If you’re finding much of your resource is being used to generate essential reports, consider using RPA for this instead. You’ll find the data you require can be pulled together quickly and easily.
- Contact centre – Routine emails including email reservations, amendments or cancellations can all be taken care of. Any time of the day or night.
- Finance – Vendor setup and retiral, supplier reconciliation, and revenue postings are some of the financial aspects RPA can automate for your business
- Projects – We can provide fantastic support for projects. Covering anything from data migration, to rate code setup and user permission management. Easily controlled by you and carried out by our digital workers.
To find out more about how Centelli has helped automate processes in the hospitality industry, take a look at our case study for Village Hotels. If you would like more information on how Centelli provides tailor-made solutions, get in touch with us today.
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*Figures and information obtained at the time of publishing.
https://dailybusinessgroup.co.uk/2021/06/hospitality-faces-growing-staff-shortage-crisis/