LEISURE & RETAIL
THE REVOLUTION WILL BE DIGITAL
A digital transformation could save the leisure and hospitality industry, believes Stefano Bensi, General Manager at SoftBank Robotics EMEA.
The labour shortage in the leisure and hospitality sector isn’t going away. As recently as this September, data from the Office of National Statistics revealed that 37% of businesses operating in the accommodation and food industries are experiencing skilled labour shortages, significantly higher than in other large sectors, such as construction, transport and real estate.
A perfect storm has created this staffing crisis — Covid-19 forcing shut large swathes of the leisure industry for months at a time, fewer EU workers due to Brexit, spiralling energy costs, and rising inflation. The latter is not only increasing business costs but also threatening to impact revenue as more consumers tighten their belts.
Historic issues have also played their part. Back in 2019, a YouGov survey found that the hospitality sector had an employee turnover rate of 30%, double the UK average. Respondents cited unsociable working hours, low pay and benefits, and lack of career prospects as the top reasons for the low staff retention.
According to a joint report by UK Hospitality and the British Beer and Pub Association, released this October, more than one in three leisure and hospitality businesses surveyed said they expected to be operating at a loss or unable to continue trading by the end of 2022. Even for the businesses that manage to the survive in the near term, this challenging landscape threatens death by a thousand cuts, slowly chipping away at customer service quality.
A digital revolution While the current environment is tough, it’s not all doom and gloom. The Covid-19 pandemic drastically accelerated digital transformation in the leisure and hospitality sector, as businesses turned to technology to help them navigate through the crisis.
Following in the retail sector’s footsteps, restaurant and leisure businesses expanded their multi-channel
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models, including the adoption of digital kiosks, click- and-collect services, and delivery apps. QR codes, a technology that struggled to catch on prior to the pandemic, also enabled businesses to serve customers at the height of lockdown restrictions.
Despite the scale and speed of this transformation, leisure and hospitality has only just begun to scratch the surface of what’s possible. As a sector that’s revolves around the guest experience, it’s only natural that so much of the recent focus on technology adoption has been on customer-facing areas. However, a digital revolution is happening across operations, especially in areas that could help plug the recruitment gap.
One area growing in prominence is robotics. Collaborative robots (cobots) are transforming the delivery of soft FM services in several ways, whether it’s front of house services, housekeeping and cleaning, or restaurant and catering. Vacuum and tray-delivery cobots can take the burden of dull, repetitive, and time-consuming tasks away from understaffed cleaning teams. At a time when leisure and hospitality businesses desperately need to think about giving their staff more purposeful work to do, introducing cobots would also free staff to concentrate in areas of service delivery which have a demonstrably bigger impact on customers and the business alike. A cleaner or restaurant worker who has more time to interact with people and actively enhance the guest experience may feel more pride and purpose as well as build the skills necessary to take that next career step.
The challenges may feel insurmountable in the leisure and hospitality sector right now. Still, by embracing technology across operations, businesses may not only be able to survive but also grow.
www.softbankrobotics.com
twitter.com/TomorrowsFM
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