Benefiting from extensive experience of the banking and financial services industry, Arif Efendi also takes a keen interest in the hospitality sector. This article will explore key hospitality trends, from minimising waste and becoming more sustainable to leveraging point-of-sale systems to boost a business’s bottom line.
Automation has paved the way for businesses across the hospitality ecosystem to be more productive, relieving staff of menial tasks and enabling them to better focus on serving guests. Across the hospitality industry today, businesses are increasingly leveraging automation to tackle distribution channel frustrations, orchestrate food and beverage options, manage upsells and handle other operational tasks, reducing waste and enhancing efficiency, with the ultimate objective of boosting profits.
Point-of-sale (POS) systems are making a huge impact for restaurants, with next-generation POS solutions providing a high-touch, personalised service, helping to build enduring relationships with customers. By automating kitchen operations, hotels and restaurants drive down costs while simultaneously increasing operational efficiency.
As the hospitality industry continues to regain momentum following the devastating impact of COVID-19, hotel bookings are nearing, and in many instances exceeding, pre-pandemic levels in many markets, particularly in the United States. Overall, the World Travel and Tourism Council predicts that the sector will generate $8.6 trillion in revenue in 2024 alone. However, industry insiders warn that recovering booking volumes and revenue numbers do not equate to a ‘return to normal’ for the industry overall.
All over the world today, businesses operating in the hospitality sector are grappling with continued labour shortages while simultaneously experiencing increased demand. This has left some travel companies in a difficult position as they attempt to satisfy both increased demand and elevated guest expectations. Forward-looking hotels are deploying innovative strategies designed to make them more dynamic and efficient in the face of volatility, enabling them to attract not only guests but also staff too, better positioning them for sustained success and growth.
Over the course of a relatively short space of time, hospitality technology has advanced significantly, triggering increased interest in and implementation of exciting innovations such as AI, automated messaging, self-service options and virtual reality platforms. Guests now expect hotels to match the conveniences they have begun to enjoy while interacting with business operating in other arenas, including the restaurant, retail and e-commerce ecosystems.
A study undertaken by Oracle Hospitality and Skift revealed that, for both hoteliers and guests, contactless is king. More than 60% of hospitality executives agreed that a fully contactless experience for transactions such as check-in would be widely adopted across the industry within the ensuing three years. Many of these businesses were already on a clear path to adopting contactless, with 34.4% of respondents reporting that their organisation was already investing heavily to provide such facilities.
Guests are increasingly expecting hotels to provide them with the ability to control their environments, ensuring a smooth transition from their everyday lives. In the digital age, consumer expectations have been elevated by experiences outside of the hotel industry, placing pressure on hoteliers to provide similar offerings for guests staying at their property.
Beyond expecting hotels to meet their entertainment needs, guests are showing a strong preference for personalised amenities, with 43.6% expressing a preference for voice-activated controls for amenities such as door locks, televisions, curtains, lights, sinks and showers, according to the Oracle Hospitality and Skift report. Recognising this rising need, hoteliers are increasingly aligning their offerings with shifting guest expectations, with 40% of executives polled predicting that their hotel would implement on-demand entertainment access and voice controls within the next three years. In addition, 47.7% of hotel executives said they were in the process of replacing key cards, with another 16.4% predicting they would embark on that journey within the next 12 months.
Last Updated on March 10, 2026
