A guide to hotel operations: Strategies, trends, and technology

Hotel operations are like a theater production. An immense amount of preparation is required, and when guests arrive, and the curtain rises, it’s show time. 

When everything goes well, the guest experience is a beautifully choreographed production that generates rave online reviews and sold-out performances. If things go wrong, it can harm guest satisfaction, revenue, and reputation. 

How can hotels stage a blockbuster production for every guest? Here, we look at all the components that go into smooth and efficient operations for independent properties today, from staffing to communication and automation.

Key operational areas in the hotel business

While virtually every department in a hotel supports operations in some way, core operational functions are provided by three main departments, each of which has both back-of-house and front-of-house staff members and management.

• Front office
• Housekeeping & maintenance
• Food & beverage

Additional departments include:

• Sales & marketing 
• Revenue management 
• Meetings & events
• Human resources 
• Guest services 

In larger, full-service hotels, these departments are run by entire teams, and strong leadership and communication are especially important. In small hospitality businesses, there might only be one or two employees per shift, and multitasking and organizational skills are fundamental. 

5 ingredients of successful hotel operations

Together, different departments must work in sync to provide a seamless guest experience from arrival to departure, ensuring that guest requests and concerns are taken care of quickly and efficiently. 

This requires focusing on five key areas: 

1. Employee skills. Staff must have the skills and hotel industry knowledge required to perform daily operations and meet guest expectations in real time.
2. Employee attitude. Staff must have a can-do attitude, hospitable nature, and problem-solving skills.
3. Communication. Employees must communicate effectively with guests and each other across different departments.
4. Technology. Hotels require easy-to-use but powerful and innovative software that improves operational efficiency by automating tasks and workflows, speeding up transactions, and facilitating communications.
5. Support. Hotel management teams must plan carefully, ensuring team members have the leadership, tools, training, guidelines, and support needed to fulfill their duties. 

3 trends in hotel operations management

One of the biggest challenges facing the hospitality industry today is finding and retaining employees. In a June 2023 survey from the American Hotel & Lodging Association, 82% of respondents indicated they were experiencing a staffing shortage, 26% severely so. 

To offset labor shortages, hotel general managers and owners are rethinking their approach to operations. This has given added impetus to three trends that are expected to gain further momentum in 2024.

1. The rise of hotel automation

Hotel automation is becoming a staple in hotel technology, helping lodging businesses automate tasks and transactions typically performed manually by employees. Cloudbeds’ 2024 State of Independent Lodging Report shared that hoteliers can expect AI to be meaningfully integrated into most operational processes, from guest communication to revenue management and hotel marketing, to automate workflows for lodging businesses.

Here are just a few ways automation can be used in hotel operations:

• Optimize pricing algorithms
• Translate guest feedback and communications 
• Write social media post
• Answer commonly asked questions 
• Automate internal workflows (ie., if a guest sends a text asking for a towel, an automation will trigger a ticket to housekeeping)

2. An increase in self-service technology

During the pandemic, self-service gained mass adoption as travelers sought ways to minimize contact with hotel staff. Today, hotels are reimagining the front desk experience. Utilizing digital check-in, guests are able to skip the paperwork at the front desk and instead can connect with staff upon arrival to learn more about amenities and local attractions. 

While some lodging professionals expected self-service technology to hinder the guest experience, in reality, it’s making it better. Removing these tedious, time-consuming barriers allows lodging businesses to implement processes and procedures that truly enhance the guest experience, from personalized recommendations to guided property tours and more. 

3. Changing hotel job descriptions

Automation and self-service are transforming traditional hotel job descriptions, another trend identified in Cloudbeds’ Lodging Report. Thanks to automation, hospitality jobs are becoming more technical but also more challenging and enriching. The trend calls for hospitality management to rethink the traditional criteria for hiring and training staff, with greater prioritization of technological and analytical skills along with traditional hospitality skills. 

Thankfully, especially for independent hotels, many technology providers are building intuitive, easy-to-use platforms that team members are able to pick up fast. These platforms enable new users to do their jobs with minimal training and also empower them to learn new skills and expand their contributions across various departments.

Benefits of hotel automation

By adapting to these trends, hotel properties can increase not only efficiency and productivity but also revenue, profitability, and occupancy while improving guest and employee satisfaction.

Automation allows our property to improve processes, save money and time, reduce mistakes, and boost revenue. Now that our staff doesn’t have to spend so much time on computer-related tasks, they have turned into guest experience leaders. Not only have we saved money, but we’ve also been able to reallocate a portion of our budget for human resources and processes to marketing.

“Automation allows our property to improve processes, save money and time, reduce mistakes, and boost revenue,” says Alberto Lozano, Director of Reception, Reservations, and E-commerce at Hotel Las Cortes de Cádiz in Cloudbeds’ book, More Reservations, Happier Guests. “Now that our staff doesn’t have to spend so much time on computer-related tasks, they have turned into guest experience leaders. Not only have we saved money, we’ve also been able to reallocate a portion of our budget for human resources and processes to marketing.”

He adds, “It isn’t just about technology. Automation is vital to the future of the hotel business to reach maximum efficiency at all levels – finance, operations, and hospitality.”

The role of hotel management software

The backbone of successful hotel operations is hotel management software. Today, hoteliers have dozens of software applications to choose from to automate and augment operational tasks. However, if applications aren’t integrated and don’t communicate with one another, hotel technology can be more of a hindrance than a help.

To overcome these challenges, top hotels are moving to cloud-based hospitality platforms with deep integrations that fulfill every part of hotel operations. This includes the property management system (hotel PMS), booking engine, channel manager, revenue management system (RMS), payment systems, and more. 

By consolidating guest profiles under one unified system and automating an increasing number of tasks, hotels can ensure greater efficiency in workflows, data capture, and communications across departments.

7 strategies for leveraging technology to improve hotel operations

Successful integration of automation technology in hotel operations requires careful thought and planning. Here are seven hotel operations management strategies.

1. Identify touch points throughout the traveler’s journey where communications among employees and guests can be handled more efficiently with technology. 
2. Decide which operational tasks and transactions can be automated and which should continue to be handled by employees. 
3. Give guests more control over their stay by offering self-service solutions that are convenient and reliable. 
4. Divest from outdated, fragmented PMS systems that slow down operations. Invest in a cloud-based platform with deep integration capabilities.
5. Find a modern solution with an easy-to-use but powerful interface to reduce training times and improve the employee experience.
6. Monitor performance over time to evaluate results and find more ways to fine-tune operations and deliver higher guest satisfaction.
7. Take advantage of your technology vendor’s expertise and ask for their advice on ways to streamline operations at your property.

Improve hotel operations with Cloudbeds

Critical to success in hotel operations is finding a technology partner that provides the tools, training, and support you need. Cloudbeds is redefining what it means to be a PMS. At its core, Cloudbeds offers an award-winning PMS, booking engine, and channel manager with the option for properties to add more value through operations, guest engagement, digital marketing, and revenue management tools. 

Cloudbeds has the following functionality to help improve hotel operations.

• Guest messaging and live chat
• Digital check-in 
• Team chat & tickets
• Housekeeping 
• Group management
• Split inventory 
• One-click reporting
• And much more (check out our platform page)

Cloudbeds also offers an extensive marketplace with deep integrations into dozens of other technology providers (plus an API to build your own connections if needed). The integrations offered are two-way, meaning that information easily flows between systems, ensuring all your data is accurate and up-to-date.

The stage is set

Hotel operations are changing. By putting the right staffing, communications, and technology in place, hotels will have all the elements needed to stage a hit production that keeps guests coming back time and again.