We are at a complex and dynamic moment in the hotel industry. We continue to see unprecedented new revenue opportunities but also intransigent, higher costs and labor challenges as well as the coming unknowns posed by new technologies such as artificial intelligence.
Hoteliers are challenged to think hard about how they will respond to future challenges. At the same time, they ask how the industry will pry open even wider the doors to growth.
There conversations were font and center at the recent 2024 Global Revenue Forum.
This was perhaps the first time at a European hotel-industry forum that the future of women and their innovation took center stage. Attendees focused on the future of hotel revenue and operations and how some of the industry’s glass ceilings that hold back hotels’ performances can be broken.
A new U.S. initiative, the Women’s Innovation Council, is being introduced to Europe and elsewhere.
The council’s plan is to bring together top female executives from hotel ownership, brand management and technology to discuss how the industry can work faster and with less friction to bring integrated solutions to hotel owners, franchisees and managers.
One example the council’s many conversations have targeted is the friction resulting from property management systems.
Despite advances in technology, property owners report that adoption remains slow and that it can frequently take weeks to fully “switch a property on” once it is open. There is not a universally accepted solution for managing delays, and the inability of core technologies to speak to one another to make overall property management more efficient is a huge problem.
The council’s simple remedy is for more collaboration.
Sandy Angel, senior director of technology and information at Hotel Technology Next Generation — and who recently spoke at a meeting of the Women’s Innovation Council — is part of a task force tackling this challenge.
The task force helps bring together executives from competing providers and brands that have put aside short-term marketplace competition to advance longer-term standards and solutions.
We believe that bringing together talent working on competing solutions to collaborate rather than compete is a winning formula for technology providers as well as for hotels.
Women — long underrepresented as industry executives both in technology and at hotel companies — can arguably have a better beat on fostering collaborative conversations that keep win-win solutions on the table for all participants.
Another concern is whether AI is likely to be a net help or a hindrance to women who want to advance at all levels of the industry.
On one hand, AI promises beneficial efficiencies in customer service and front- and back-of-house management in hotels.
Will AI affect women’s roles more so than they affect men’s roles?
Most data reveals an inherent bias against women: How women are spoken about in the workplace; what is the criteria used for hiring and promoting them and how workplace conversations and business practices might hinder their development.
Could AI work to reinforce old stereotypes and not promote progress at all?
This was a question that most in the group had never considered, but several on the council said they would now factor it into their thinking and strategy on how to prepare for and implement specific AI practices in the future.
There are similar complex issues underlying other aspects of technology innovation, and while the road to true industry collaboration is not likely to be linear, the need for open discussion and a long-term view could not be greater.
The Future Depends on Women … and Men
Revenue managers and commercial leaders from markets as diverse as the United Kingdom, Hungary, France and Lithuania approached us following the session to ask about the council’s future work and whether progress is really possible.
It was heartening to hear their enthusiasm and note the commonality of the challenges that exist in breaking down silos — technological and interpersonal — on both sides of the Atlantic.
The answer is a resounding yes, but only if the work of women in collaboration continues and men join the conversation.
The hotel industry is one that opens the doors to unique experiences and world-class service to hundreds of millions of travelers every year.
It’s time to bring that same spirit of openness and innovation to leadership decisions that will guide the industry forward.
Georgine Muntz is CEO of Visual Matrix, a hotel operating software company. Michael Frenkel is founder of Travel Conversations and president of MFC PR. He is based in New York City.
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