How Does RPA Benefit The Hospitality Industry?
26 April 2022
Hospitality and robots may sound like an unlikely partnership, but supporters of Robotic Process Automation (RPA) claim that it’s a match made in heaven. Today, we examine four key headaches within the hospitality sector, and ask whether RPA might be the answer.
Claim 1: There Isn’t Enough Time For Truly Personalised Care
Personalised customer service is central to successful hospitality provision. Studies have shown that visitors will enjoy their visit more, and use more services when employees take the time to offer genuine, thoughtful care. This can be a challenge, especially when employees are tied up doing repetitive paperwork tasks.
The RPA Solution:
A primary purpose of RPA is to automate repetitive and time-consuming actions such as booking, cancellations, reconciliation and inventory management. Therefore, with a digital workforce to take care of business functions, hospitality professionals have all the time they need to focus on their person-centred services.
Claim 2: Hospitality Settings Find It Challenging To Scale
Few sectors have as many scalability requirements as hospitality. Seasonal ebbs and flows are embedded into the industry, and it is also uniquely vulnerable to external forces such as the weather, cultural shifts, and economic change. With so much unpredictability, many hospitality providers struggle to have exactly the right level of support at any given time.
The RPA Solution:
RPA is an on-demand solution, meaning companies can have as much or as little admin help as required without extra cost or effort. This gives businesses flexibility and agility to respond to even the most unexpected fluctuation in demand.
Claim 3: Data Errors Are Everywhere
From data privacy to keeping customer records in order, data management is at the heart of building excellent customer relationships. Mismanaged data can lead to a range of negative outcomes, including loss of profits, missed leads and – in the most unfortunate cases – hefty fines from the Information Commissioner for the improper management of data.
The RPA Solution:
By automating data management processes, and by providing robust archival solutions, RPA enables companies in the hospitality sector to ensure high levels of accuracy and compliance.
Claim 4: Running The Perfect Hospitality Company Is Expensive
To save costs, organisations need to create efficiencies at every level. In settings where customer engagement is complex, such as during a holiday, a major area of inefficiency within the hospitality sector is often in finance. Inventory management, invoicing, billing, and accounts can eat away at precious time, whilst errors can lead to wasted hours.
The RPA Solution:
A digital workforce takes care of manual tasks effortlessly, giving human employees back their valuable time. Increased efficiency translates to cost savings at multiple levels, meaning fewer difficult choices to make about sacrificing services or provision.
The Verdict!
Assigning key tasks to digital workers can help the hospitality industry tackle some important problems. By improving efficiency, speed, and accuracy, companies can spend less time worrying about business processes and focus their energy on providing excellent care. As a fully scalable solution, RPA can achieve this with high flexibility and minimum risk.
To learn more about how RPA could enhance your hospitality journey, why not book a free demo of our market leading digital workforce solutions?
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