The Hospitality Show, now in its second year, will take place at the Henry B. González Convention Center in San Antonio from Oct. 28-30. The Show will bring together 5,000 attendees and promises to drive profitability for owners, operators and hospitality innovators through dedicated content, extensive networking and 400+ operations and technology vendors.
In this installment of The Hospitality Show Advisory Board member Q&A, we catch up with Daniel Bell, GVP of hotel sales at Toast.
What do you think is the biggest problem for the industry currently?
From an F&B lens, there is an increasing need for hotels to evaluate their F&B operations in order to match (and exceed) guest expectations at their foodservice outlets. Guests have become used to dining at restaurant establishments with all different service models that offer fast, easy, and technology-first order and pay processes—self-ordering kiosks, QR codes for menu access, paying at the table via handheld POS devices. Hotel restaurants, grab-and-go markets, room service, and poolside service are areas of the hotel where guests have raised their expectations, and it is now imperative for more hotels to adopt the tools and technology to keep up.
What new trends do you see affecting the hospitality industry the most in 2024?
Artificial intelligence might be a buzzword, but it’s also proving to be incredibly useful to the hospitality industry this year. For example, Toast’s Benchmarking tool, which leverages an AI-based classification model, can help properties spot trends as they are happening and help property owners, general managers and F&B directors alike make more informed decisions about their F&B outlets.
What do you see as the biggest opportunities for the industry this year?
I would encourage people to review their technology stack, beyond just the property management system and really identify key areas of opportunity to improve performance. The biggest problem I mentioned above is also the greatest opportunity to make a change at so many properties—what is the F&B point of sale software you are using? Does your current POS enable you to try different methods of better serving your guests—QR codes for in-room dining requests, self-ordering kiosks for quick purchases in the hotel market, etc.? We recently highlighted two Cambria properties in California that have implemented Toast’s Self-Ordering Kiosks to meet guests' ever-changing needs and they have been able to drive in-market revenue because of guest’s ability to check out on their own.
What do you think the industry's biggest accomplishment has been in the past year?
I think that it is important to recognize that the hardships brought upon the hotel industry as a result of Covid-19 were not that long ago and in many cases continue to persist today. The industry, as a whole, continues to be resilient in how they navigate change and adapt to new and different needs expedited by Covid-19. From contactless payments to being able to interact with every aspect of a property through a mobile app, the pandemic accelerated the adoption of new tech across hospitality. In the past year, we've seen hotel brands, especially when it comes to F&B, increasingly look at bringing purpose-built solutions like Toast into their properties. Instead of saying "What's the best hotel technology?" brands both big and small are saying "What's the best technology, period?" and working with flexible, cloud-based vendors to implement it at hotel properties.
What are you most looking forward to at The Hospitality Show?
I look forward to attending The Hospitality Show for the second time in its two-year history! It’s a great way to connect with leaders and peers from across the industry, and really be immersed in what is top of mind for the hotel industry. I’m thrilled to be attending the event with some of my colleagues from Toast; we’ll be at Booth #237 and we’re excited to demonstrate the solutions we offer including our leading edge point-of-sale solution and the self-ordering kiosks that we are seeing so many hotels place in their grab-and-go markets.