How balancing work and family in the digital era can be challenging
22 sept., 2023
INSPIRATION
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Shaping the future of hospitality
Introduction
INTRODUCTION
CHANGE CREATES OPPORTUNITIES
INSPIRING LEADERS AND PIONEERS
The way people think, consume, live, and perceive reality is changing rapidly. What will be the impact on hospitality?
Lausanne Report aims at stimulating a debate among hospitality leaders on forthcoming risks and opportunities. You’ll discover an ambitious view of our future, and different scenarios to respond to the challenges ahead.
PRACTICE-ORIENTED
This report combines the findings from trends studies with interviews of forty hospitality industry leaders representing fifteen countries.
A list of hospitality industry mega-trends, sub-trends and forces emerged from their views of the future.
We'll explore together the six most important developments that will change the hotel industry for good.
« I do not believe that the future will be all about technology. Our industry’s true future leaders will have to be people who can create a community. »
André Witschi
President of the Board of Governors EHL
SHIFT OF MARKET POWER
Thesis #1
SHIFT OF MARKET POWER
CONSOLIDATION VS FRAGMENTATION
MAIN CONTENT
- Scenario A: consolidated hospitality
- Scenario B: continuous fragmentation
- Fragmentation and consolidation go hand in hand
- What if there were one single unified reservation system?
- Food for thought:
Leverage client contacts
Build destination management and hospitality clusters
THE LIFE-CYCLE OF HOSPITALITY
Consolidation and fragmentation are cyclical and successive phenomena. Both dynamics co-exist in the hospitality industry, depending on which market you explore.
Re-thinking loyalty, imagining new collaborative platforms and hospitality clusters could be crucial for future business success.
Explore this thesis now, or buy the full report (250 CHF)
« The Googles of the world and the Amazons of the world are going to get into the OTAs' space. »
Stephen Rushmore
Founder HVS
VULNERABILITY ON THE RISE
Thesis #2
VULNERABILITY ON THE RISE
FRAGILITY VS RESILIENCE
MAIN CONTENT
- Scenario A: fragile hospitality
- Scenario B: creating resilience
- What if hybrid operations was the hospitality industry’s response to increased risks?
- Food for thought:
Vulnerability index
Perception and reliability
DEALING WITH A NEW FRAGILITY
Threats resulting from climate change, safety and security issues as well as unprecedented migration streams are tomorrow’s game changers.
The main challenges for the hospitality industry are the lack of predictability and the magnitude of such events – and how fast the industry can react and adapt.
Hybrid operations might be one of the hospitality industry’s possible response to increased risks.
Explore this thesis now, or buy the full report (250 CHF)
« If you do not diversify, the first crisis to hit will put you out of business. The more diversified your business is, the better. »
Bruno H. Schöpfer
Managing Director
Katara Hospitality Switzerland AG
IN SEARCH OF A SENSE OF BELONGING
Thesis #3
IN SEARCH OF A SENSE OF BELONGING
COMMUNITIES VS INDIVIDUALS
MAIN CONTENT
- Scenario A: power to communities
- Scenario B: power to individuals
- The hybrid model: sharing hospitality
- Serving individuals and communities
- What if cryptocurrencies were to gain influence?
- What if communities were to lose power?
- Food for thought:
Together alone
Exclusive clubs
THE HUMAN FACTOR
Concepts such as crowdsourcing, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer and sharing hospitality have their origins in the relationship between individuals and/or communities.
A decisive element for the hospitality industry’s future will be its ability to integrate the demands of individuals, communities and networks.
Explore this thesis now, or buy the full report (250 CHF)
« It’s generational.
My parents would not even think of being in the home of someone they’d known for twenty years, if they’re not there.
If I’m at my close friends’, I still won’t open their fridge. »
Michael Levie
COO Citizen M
THE EMOTIONAL EXPERIENCE
Thesis #4
THE EMOTIONAL EXPERIENCE
HIGH TECH VS HIGH TOUCH
MAIN CONTENT
- Scenario A: high tech shapes guest experience
- Scenario B: high touch defines emotions
- The hospitality journey
- Between high tech and high touch
- What if hospitality were to be affective?
- Food for thought:
R&D for the guest’s stay
PLEASING THE GUEST OF THE FUTURE
Imagine new armadas of physical and virtual robots deployed to meet customers’ needs. Or avatars negotiating with avatars to ensure everyone’s demands are met with the best deals.
High tech trends will shape our hospitality business. The balancing factor will be high touch: the ability to provoke and track emotions.
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« I believe robots will mostly be used to facilitate heavy duties. That is a more interesting, smarter way to go about it, and the gain in terms of time and energy makes sense. »
Paul Dubrule
AccorHotels founder
Smart hotels - smart destinations
Thesis #5
SMART HOTELS - SMART DESTINATIONS
AUTONOMOUS VS CONNECTED
MAIN CONTENT
- Scenario A: Smart hotels need to be autonomous
- Scenario B: Smart hotels must be connected
- Autonomy requires connectivity
- What if regulators were to tax hotels for their untouched energy savings potential?
- Food for thought:
Smart hospitality laboratories
The digital concierge
DESTINATION EXPERIENCE
By 2030, many cities will be embedded in so-called smart city clusters. This will pave the way for mutual investments, buffer energy and water supplies through decentralized resources, and provide an adaptive safety and security infrastructure.
New mobility concepts can be introduced and deployed. Hospitality experience will be part of the destination experience.
Explore this thesis now, or buy the full report (250 CHF)
« Hotels in France will have to be energy self-sufficient by 2025. This will have a tremendous impact on how to align these new models with public infrastructure providers. »
Peter Fankhauser
CEO Thomas Cook Group
THE SCOPE OF KNOWLEDGE
Thesis #6
THE SCOPE OF KNOWLEDGE
EMPATHY VS EFFICIENCY
MAIN CONTENT
- Scenario A: Empathy is the most important capability
- Scenario B: Efficiency is the engine of any business
- Hands, head and heart: efficiency meets empathy
- New combinations of skills
- What if the new hospitality manager were a stage director?
- Food for thought:
The R&D of hospitality
A SMART MIX
Future hospitality managers will be stage directors who create memorable experiences and magic moments for their guests.
At the same time, they will have to meet efficiency and profitability requirements and therefore find the best processes, technologies and methods to run their business.
Last but not least, they will need to empower their staff and motivate all stakeholders.
Explore this thesis now, or buy the full report (250 CHF)
« Leadership is a bit like swimming. You can read all the books about swimming you want, but you have to get into the water to really learn it. »
Dominique Turpin
President IMD
A world of opportunities
Conclusion
CONCLUSION
A WORLD OF OPPORTUNITIES
INVENTING AND INVESTING
From an array of possible future scenarios we have chosen the most striking ones to build our six theses.
The hospitality business will undoubtedly continue to thrive, despite a worldwide increase in political instability and uncertainty.
In an era where digitization will be an integral part of all aspects of life, new hospitality models will be invented.
The nature of work will change radically – but only in economies and businesses that choose to invest in education, technology, and related infrastructures.
PILLARS TO BUILD THE FUTURE
The six theses of this report have illustrated the four pillars on which hospitality will build its future: people, business, technology, and the environment.
The more important intelligent machines will become, the more important the human factor will be.
Hospitality will continue to be about guests and hosts. It will remain a guest-centered industry – with its eye safely on the three Hs: «hands, head and heart».