Joanna James
Having endured one of the biggest hits the industry's seen since the beginning of time, post-pandemic travel finally seems mercifully promising. As pent-up travellers begin to unleash themselves, the demand for hospitality talent is on the rise again with a few newly emerged roles in store as well.
It is no new news that Online Travel Agencies or OTAs have taken modern-day travel and hospitality by storm, so much so that a notable portion of establishments in the industry could be rendered completely and utterly inoperative. Not only have they made themselves indispensable to the operation of the hospitality industry, but running properties on OTAs has made its way to a whole other domain in itself, putting "OTA Specialists" high in demand. A role of an OTA Specialist is far from merely listing a property online and managing bookings, and is responsible for the OTA strategy of single or multiple properties and optimising their profiles on OTAs for maximum searches, impressions, clicks and ultimately more conversions.
The downside of relying on OTAs comes in the form of commissions, with some charging as high as 15% to 30%, which a considerable portion of industry stakeholders view as rather exorbitant. Hotels certainly haven't failed to realise the impact of the chunk OTAs keep for themselves and have started looking into ways on how profit could be redirected from OTA commissions. The role of Digital Marketing Strategists is crucial in making this happen, as in an era where the industry is heavily digitalised, harnessing the power of multiple digital marketing channels out there — from SEO to social media, to content — would be the only practical way to drive bookings if hotels were to stop relying on OTAs.
The global hospitality industry is at a period of time where sustainable travel is gaining importance more than ever before. For hotels, it is not only a matter of putting sustainability practices in place but also understanding that it has made its way to an element of branding and goodwill, without the correct employment of which, one runs the risk of losing to its competition in the face of sustainability-conscious travellers.
Hospitality and wellness have always gone hand in hand, and in a time where more and more people are leading sedentary and busy lives, the demand for wellness activities revolving around hospitality is only going to rise. In fact, while the world as we know it, has had wellness acting as an amenity to the hospitality industry, circumstances where the two switch places are not at all rare.
No matter what industrial advancements emerge and travel trends surface, the role of a hotel manager will forever remain crucial, taking precedence over almost all actors involved in running a hospitality endeavour. Aspiring hoteliers could get started by enrolling in a hospitality management degree at a tourism school the likes of the Asian Institute of Hospitality Management and claim the slew of rewarding opportunities that await you.
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