When it comes to discussing technology, the term artificial intelligence is splashed around a lot, driving businesses and industries to figure out ways to use this up and coming technology. The concept of AI itself is simple, a machine that can learn from past instances and make decisions based on those inputs as well as real time data. Put that way, there could be a vast array of opportunities for this technology but one area of business that can benefit from AI is frontline employee training. Getting new hires ready for frontline duties has always been a challenge and can readily define the new employees success or failure in their time at the business. The travel business is one of the industries facing frontline worker shortages and challenges in getting newly hired staff trained and ready to work. While demand for travel slowly ramps up to pre-pandemic levels, staffing levels remain low as the pool of quality candidates for entry level travel positions continues to shrink. Using AI to train new hires and provide ongoing support can benefit travel businesses who are trying to fill crucial vacancies on the customer facing side of the business.
The Travel Business Upended
The COVID-19 pandemic decimated the travel business and only now are volumes returning close to pre-pandemic levels. With demand ramping up, staffing levels in the travel industry have not kept up with demand as many workers shifted to other industries or left the field altogether. Challenges in filling vacancies with quality and qualified candidates have led to gaps in quality and service in what is essentially, a service based business. Getting new hires trained and ready to work on the front lines of travel businesses as quickly as possible is critical in closing any gaps in service. Training new team members is a challenge in itself with limited resources and overworked management. AI based technology can help bridge the gap between new hires and getting them working in the frontline by delivering essential customer service and business specific skills fast and effectively. Training tools that use machine learning technology can offer ongoing support and skills upgrades while on the job and in real time, deploying consistent development and setting new hires in a positive direction from day one.
Innovations Drive Effective and Efficient Training
AI infrastructure is a highly capable technology that can freely interact and engage human users in 2 way conversations. This ability makes the technology a powerful asset when it comes to training new members of customer facing frontline teams in the travel industry. AI technology can be optimized to deliver critical and necessary training concepts such as:
- Basic and advanced customer service skills
- Essential communication skills
- Practical organizational skills
- Core skills needed for company specific duties
- Sustainability habits and brand initiatives
AI based training can also deliver ongoing development of staff and can be used in real time and while working. Upskilling and consistent development of frontline teams can yield short and long term benefits to travel businesses while saving time and resources by getting new hires ready to work as quickly as possible.
An ETS / TTS Collaboration
Recognizing the benefits that AI based training technology can deliver for the travel industry, Express Training Systems and Travel Technology Solutions have teamed to develop class leading technology. Hospit-AI-lity is a new training framework harnessing the power of AI to create a highly effective, efficient and powerful training program geared towards customer facing frontline teams working in the travel industry. A few fast facts about Hospit-AI-lity:
- Uses proprietary training data sets and concepts for core skills learning
- Can be optimized with business specific skills and job duties
- Interacts with user through engaging prompts, mini-exercises and directions, knowledge checks and fast quizzes
- New hires can ask questions in plain language for on the spot resources and real time support
- Analyzes performance through device monitoring and can strategize content and intervals for greater learning impact
- Generates learning and progress reports and recommends upskill and retraining opportunities based on achievements and performance
Getting new hires ready to work quickly is crucial for travel businesses to maintain quality standards and close any service gaps. Hospit-AI-lity is designed to get new frontline team members ready to work by deploying essential and fundamental skills training, quickly and effectively, on personal or company mobile and handheld devices.
The Bottom Line
Travel service providers, such as hotels and resorts, depend on customer facing teams to deliver service, perform operational duties and ultimately, generate revenue. The travel industry was decimated during the pandemic but as volumes return to 2019 levels, staffing shortages still remain as qualified and enthusiastic candidates for entry level positions remain low. The challenge for travel brands is to get quality new hires trained and produced as quickly as possible to ensure gaps in service and operations are filled. Innovations in training technology can use AI based systems to quickly train new employees and provide engaging and ongoing support while gaining valuable experience in the trenches. When deployed correctly, AI interfaces can be used to teach basic customer service skills, specific operational duties and sustainability ideas in convenient one on one format. Interactive content and always available support from the interface can get frontline travel new hires the skills and habits they need to be successful from day one.