The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released the latest employment numbers recently.

Despite significant growth in leisure and hospitality jobs, we’re still seeing overall industry employment down 10% from February 2020 levels, despite wages rising nearly 7.5% year on year — and over 19% since 2019. All this during a period of rising leisure travel demand.

Data suggests that demand might slow down some. But probably not dramatically. And, really, after the last couple of years, would you consider that a win? Me neither.

Do you remember how worried we all were about our challenges finding labor in 2019? I do. And yet, after two years of living with a worldwide pandemic, it’s not that we’re right back where we started. It’s worse. We’ve increased our labor costs dramatically and still can’t find enough willing workers to help us run our properties.

So, let’s ask a more fundamental question: Why does your team exist? The answer, of course, is to take care of your guests. And if we’re struggling to find people to do that, isn’t it time to ask how we can use alternatives, such as technology — and digital in particular — to help us do that?

We all know that there are things that technology cannot do yet. Don’t waste your time worrying about them. Yes, there are exciting developments in robotics and the like that might help with housekeeping and physical labor someday. That’s awesome. Truly. In limited cases, “someday” might even be today. But for most of us, why not focus on where digital and technology can make your team more productive and more effective right now.

What technology investments make the most sense for your hotel and your guests? Plenty. Here are just a few areas where technology exists right now to help you manage and meet guest expectations.

While hardly a new concept in 2022, it’s striking how many questions your guests seek to answer using your website and mobile platform. It’s equally striking how often most hotel websites fail to adequately address the questions guests have.

Assess the questions your guests ask of your front desk, reservations department, sales team, and housekeeping staff, then make that content available on digital channels to make life easier for your guests — and your team.

That same content can also help guests on property as well. And when paired with guest messaging platforms or chatbots built into your guest-facing website or mobile app, they help you more easily address guest needs, personalize your guest’s experience and drive increased profits.

Particularly given the ongoing decrease in business travel, it may make sense to shift more of your business to digital. Explore creating more content around your wedding, event, and meetings capabilities and testing online sales tools to manage the request-for-proposal process more efficiently and effectively. Remember, your content, website, and mobile app are available to help guests all day, every day, all year long.

Using digital tools to augment existing staff can increase revenue during those periods where your human team handles trivial tasks like, you know, eating and sleeping.

Many properties learned during the pandemic that guests love to think about travel year-round, even when lockdowns or fears of contracting COVID-19 kept them at home. Many also found creative ways to engage with guests using social, email, YouTube, TikTok and similar digital channels all throughout the pandemic.

More importantly, those engagements drove reservations and revenue when guests were ready to get back on the road. Savvy marketers used digital to do the heavy lifting during the toughest of times and, our research shows, saw greater revenues and market share when guests resumed traveling.

As noted, there are plenty of things technology doesn’t yet do well. While I can easily imagine a future filled with seamless digital experiences throughout the guest journey, even I have a tough time picturing robot bartenders.

For those areas, you can use your digital channels to tell a great brand story and attract future talent for your property. Much like we “sell the destination first” to potential travelers, tell potential employees a great story about why they want to work in hospitality, then sell them on why they want to work with you.

There’s a long-standing belief that technology is expensive. And, let’s be fair, it’s definitely not free.

But an investment in any one of the technologies discussed already can be quite affordable, especially when compared with people. Remember, tech doesn’t need to eat, sleep or take a weekend off.

Amortized across 8,760 person-hours each year, its “hourly wage” can be downright cheap. And when paired with great talent in your organization, can make for an even better guest experience overall. To improve the guest experience, “either/or” isn’t going to win the day. It’s “both/and.”

Nothing in the current data suggests we’re going to see labor challenges vanish overnight. You’re better off assuming that labor is going to be a problem throughout 2022 — and possibly beyond. Leveraging digital to complement your current labor sets you up to be more successful this year and pays off in the future as well.

If “revenge travel” continues, you’ll be able to gain greater profits due to lower labor costs. By contrast, if revenge travel trails off and we have to get by on reduced revenues, your investment in the right technology will ensure you’re not burdened with excessive labor overhead.

Best of all, combined with the right team, you can deliver a more personal, more perfect guest experience. And that’s a winning strategy you can live with for this year and beyond.

Tim Peter is the founder and president of Tim Peter & Associates. He has over 20 years of experience in hospitality digital marketing, distribution, and strategy and has helped hotel companies improve their marketing and revenue generation strategies.

The opinions expressed in this column do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Hotel News Now or CoStar Group and its affiliated companies. Bloggers published on this site are given the freedom to express views that may be controversial, but our goal is to provoke thought and constructive discussion within our reader community. Please feel free to contact an editor with any questions or concern.

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