In 2021, over 47 million American workers quit their jobs. It was called The Great Resignation and it wreaked havoc across multiple industries.

Hospitality was hit hardest, with hotels struggling to attract and retain talent. Even pre-pandemic, the US leisure and hospitality industry experienced high turnover rates. And with a quit rate presently higher than any other industry, it’s clear that hospitality workers aren’t content.

But it’s not just a US problem. It’s wider, with hotels facing issues globally around talent acquisition and retention. A hotel in Japan, for example, is run primarily by robots. 

A recent study on global hospitality distribution trends from h2c GmbH report, in partnership with Planet, reveals a few ways hotels can make their staff happier. And ditching complex technology could be a good place to start.

Complex Technology Leads to Frustration

Retaining, training, and motivating hotel staff isn’t easy. Not when you’re already dealing with staff shortages and rising costs. But the exodus of talented employees is a major problem, especially when your guest experience suffers.

Fragmented technology, while not the biggest cause of employee turnover, does have a role to play in employee satisfaction and productivity.

According to Planet’s President of Hospitality, Lennert De Jong in conversation with Skift: “With most hotels, there’s a triangular relationship: an owner who needs to pay for everything; a management company that comes in with best practices; and a brand. Sometimes the last two are the same, but a lot of times they’re not, and this leads to fragmentation.

“Many independent hotels are choosing local suppliers, but how well are those local tech companies keeping up with global trends? There's a myriad of property management systems (PMS) and payments systems, and somehow they all need to be connected. That’s pretty difficult to do.”

When employees must leave guests waiting as they navigate complicated userfaces, or make small but expensive errors, the working day can turn into a bit of a slog. So, what can be done about it?

Discover Planet’s Single Hospitality Platform

Simplified Payments Boosts Employee Happiness

The h2c report shows the extent to which hoteliers operate overly complex technology. Medium sized chains have the highest share of disconnected distribution channels. And on average, typical hotel chains use up to 18 channels.

While there’s nothing wrong with diversifying your distribution strategy, it can get complicated without the right technology to tie them all together.

Upgrading and simplifying payment technology your staff work with on a daily basis won’t only save you money, it will help unleash your employees’ talent. Fifty-nine percent of hotels, in fact, say that using a single payment provider is very or extremely important.

Instead of navigating multiple systems, processes, and platforms, staff can focus on doing what they do best – delivering a top-quality guest experience.

Three Ways Simplifying Payments Makes Staff Happier

Increasing staff satisfaction can be a win-win. Happier hotel staff members often lead to happier guests.

Increases staff productivity

According to the h2c GmbH study, 71% of hoteliers agree that integrating payments and PMS eases end-of-day reconciliation. By consolidating payment data in a single system, it becomes easier to track revenue and expenses, reconcile accounts, and generate financial reports.

This allows your staff to work faster and focus more time on other important tasks, such as providing excellent customer service. Simplifying payment processes can also reduce the risk of errors, which leads to fewer customer complaints.

Additionally, increasing automation through connected technology also delivers cost efficiencies by avoiding double entries.

Improves training

Integrating hotel payments into a PMS can save time for both trainer and trainee. New hotel staff can be trained on a single system, making it easier to onboard new employees. By reducing the time and effort required for training, staff become proficient quicker.

Increases security

By providing a secure payment process, staff can have peace of mind knowing that they’re protecting their guests' personal and financial information. Integrating payments into the PMS enhances data security as it avoids the risk of exposing sensitive guest payment data in the network, which is turn makes it easier to comply with PCI DSS requirements.

This is in addition to the benefits tokenisation brings by storing payments data in a secure environment. This makes the payments process smoother and safer for guests who only have to present their payment method once knowing their details are fully secured.  

These measures can help retain staff who value data security and privacy, and also build trust and loyalty with guests who appreciate a secure payment process.

Choosing the Right Single Payment Platform

Sixty-nine percent of hotel chains say that system cost and affordable integration is a key decision factor when making decisions around distribution systems (up from 24% in 2017). If you’re considering making the switch to a single payment platform, here are a few other factors to consider:

• Support: Does it provide new starters and existing staff with 24-hour support and account management?
• Flexibility: Is the solution all-in-one and does it allow you to select modular components to meet your needs?
• Multi-channel: Does it provide an online, unattended, and in-person (POS) payment experience?
• Integrated: Will it help you minimise errors, save time, and improve your conversions by integrating payments into your existing systems?
• Consistent global experience: Will it give you a single view of your customer and help deliver enhanced experiences whether online or offline?

Simplify payments today with Planet’s Single Hospitality Platform

Final thoughts

Staff shortages, rising costs, and growing competition means that looking after your hotel workforce has never been so important. Switching to a single payment platform could enhance staff productivity and increase both guest and workforce satisfaction.

Read h2c’s full Global Hospitality Distribution Study here.