The transformation of travel and hospitality with RPA

Digital transformation and technology adoption remains the biggest trends in the hospitality industry, and for a good reason. Industry competition, pandemic-induced market shifts, and increasing consumer expectations drive business owners to change their ways of managing hospitality business and guest experience. Besides, customers prefer touch-free digital experiences to flesh-and-blood human contact. They expect fast and hassle-free service that’s only achievable with technology.

Robotic process automation is relatively new for the hospitality industry, but it offers numerous benefits for hotels, restaurants, and travel agencies, including:

• Effective revenue management and data-driven insights for better financial strategy
• Flexible scheduling that adjusts housekeeping to guest flows
• Personalized guest experience and seamless digital communication
• Reduction of compliance costs
• Elevated data security and analytics
• Improved health safety for guests and employees
• Hassle-free booking process
• Automated upselling and larger revenue opportunities
• Ability to leverage customer data to promote customer loyalty and satisfaction

According to Deloitte Global RPA Survey, 61% of C-level executives met or exceeded their cost reduction goals by using robotic process automation. Moreover, 92% reported improved compliance, 90% enhanced quality or accuracy, and 86% up-leveled operation productivity. While IT, manufacturing, and healthcare sectors stand on the frontier of RPA adoption, travel and hospitality are only starting to come to their senses after the global pandemic and looking for ways to grow. Time is an impatient thing, and the sooner you join the game and keep pace with innovations, the more opportunities you’ll have in years to come.

Your easy start for travel and hospitality automation

While we’re only at the beginning of the digital business transformation in the travel and hospitality industry, it’s clear that RPA brings a multitude of benefits. Let’s recap what we learned today:

• Robotic process automation utilizes software to automate repetitive office tasks and free human workers from routine.
• RPA in the hospitality and travel industry has its own workflow-related specifics; hence it should be developed by a team experienced in that domain.
• There are two types of RPA: attended and unattended. Attended RPA needs human intervention, while unattended RPA runs independently.
• As subdivisions of unattended RPA, we can highlight rule-based and cognitive automation.
• Cognitive automation is the most advanced category of RPA and includes artificial intelligence, machine learning, and computer vision systems.
• There are many robotic process automation benefits for the travel and hospitality industry, including cost reduction and enhanced revenue management.
• RPA market keeps growing, and following this trend from the start will give you a competitive advantage.