Hospitality Training Trends Imagine the Future

Trends from the Hospitality Training 360 Report are now also available in this Webinar On Demand

This article was co-authored by Damian Hanft, CHART President | Vice President, Talent Experience | Inspire Brands

As we began analyzing the data and looking at the trends of the newly released Hospitality Training 360 Report by Opus Training and CHART, we couldn’t help but think of how these trends will shape the future of training within the hospitality industry. We began to use our imaginations and thought of how these trends will transform the experiences of new managers, frontline team members, and ongoing development. We imagined three scenarios that put these trends into action.

A Possible Future For Managers: Career Pathing through Everboarding

As he shifts into park, your Manager gets a notification on his phone thanks to your geo-fenced LMS. A video of his coworkers pops up, they exclaim “Happy 2 Year Anniversary, Sergio!” When he clocks in, his phone reminds him “Let’s set your goals for the shift.” Sergio adds in a few prompts; his leadership focus this week is motivating his team. Over the next four minutes, he watches a video and completes an activity. Throughout the shift, Sergio practices the new skills he quickly picked up from his micro training. As he is saying goodbye to the team after another great day, his phone flashes a message “Skill Unlocked! Let’s take a look at your career journey and check out the next step to achieve your goal to become a General Manager."

A Possible Future for a Newly Hired General Manager: Calculated Development Based on Needs

You just hired Kim, someone that you have high aspirations for based on their past leadership experiences. As part of the hiring process, technology enabled you to receive a skills profile on Kim based on multiple data sources including things like their resume, LinkedIn profile, industry assessments, and the job description. This allows you to have a baseline of their knowledge, and this feeds into the hands-on training program that is built on adaptative learning. Every trainee takes a different amount of time to complete it based on what they know and how they learn. As Kim begins in their new role, the process feels seamless as the technology provides real-time feedback and builds on the knowledge already known. This same learning platform is baked into the operating systems to enable continuous learning both during and beyond the initial onboarding.

A Possible Future for Frontline Employees: Virtual Skills Building

“Great job, LaToya! I like how you empathize with the Guest. Way to go, you just passed your Customer Service Skills Course! Head back to the front desk to keep working with your Trainer.” LaToya removed her VR headset, smiling and confident. She joined the team three days ago. At other jobs, she had to practice directly with the guests in real-life scenarios. It was stressful and she never quite got the hang of it. But here, she has been able to develop her hospitality skills in a comfortable, virtual environment with an AI Coach. As she makes her way to the front, she can hear a Guest exclaim: “I thought my room was going to be ready two hours ago?!” LaToya picks up her pace; she knows just how to handle this!

The trends you’ll find in this report indicate that these scenarios are closer than we think. Our industry is one that often follows others due to constraints on budgets/resources when it comes to technology. However, as the technology evolves, we’re seeing it becoming affordable and available. The trends are indicating that technology will play a much greater role with front-line employees in the next few years than in the past several decades combined. 

Check out the report to see how these trends are shaping the future of training in the hospitality industry.