Table 5.2 Understanding the New Roles in the Hospitality Industry

Table 5.2 Understanding the New Roles in the Hospitality Industry

User-generated content drives bookings
Resorts, boutique hotels, theme parks, cruises
• Influencer management
• User-generated content strategy
• Content governance

Wellness & longevity programme designer
Health tourism, biohacking, sleep tech, Ayurveda and med-wellness
Resorts, luxury hotels, cruises
• Wellness science
• Programme design
• Health protocols

Sustainable F&B—waste-to-value manager
Zero-waste mandates, circular food practices
Hotels, QSR, resorts, theme parks
• Food waste analytics
• Compost/biogas management
• ESG

PropTech systems integrator
IoT, smart rooms, keyless, property management systems–building management systems–POS integrations
Hotels, co-living, serviced apartments
• APIs
• Integration
• Cybersecurity
• Vendor orchestration

Digital twin & smart facilities analyst
Predictive maintenance, energy optimisation with digital twins
Hotels, resorts, theme parks, cruises
• Digital twin modelling
• IoT data
• Computerised maintenance management system

EV & mobility experience manager
EV tourism, charging infrastructure as revenue, multimodal travel
Hotels, highway resorts, theme parks
• EV infrastructure management
• Pricing
• Fleet partnerships

Medical/recovery hospitality liaison
Medical tourism, post-procedure recovery stays
Hotels near hospitals, resorts, cruises
• Medical protocols
• Privacy
• Hospital partnerships

Community experience host (co-living)
Shared living requires curated community building
Co-living
• Community management
• Events
• Conflict resolution

Hybrid entertainment experience designer
Demand for immersive, AR/VR gamified guest entertainment
Theme parks, cruises, resorts
• AR/VR
• Storytelling
• Experience design

Pet experience manager
Pet-inclusive travel, specialised amenities
Hotels, resorts, serviced apartments
• Pet care
• Safety protocols
• Partnerships with vets

Faith-aligned guest experience designer
Pilgrimage tourism, dietary & spiritual experience alignment
Hotels, resorts, serviced apartments
• Cultural sensitivity
• Religious protocols
• F&B alignment

Sleep experience curator
Sleep tourism, circadian rooms, tech-enabled sleep wellness
Resorts, luxury hotels
• Sleep science
• Ambience design
• Device integration

Data & consent privacy officer (hospitality)
DPDP Act & privacy for guest data
Chains, cruises, co-living
• Data privacy
• Data protection impact assessment
• Consent UX
• Audits

Immersive brand storytelling producer
4D lobbies, interactive brand experiences
Luxury hotels, theme parks, cruises
• Experiential design
• Multimedia
• Extended reality (XR)

Source: Curated with inputs from ChatGPT

Retail Industry

The retail industry has evolved over the decades with several changes in the business models and customer servicing. Disruptions in the industry have been both from within as well as due to external factors. For several centuries, local shops and markets were predominantly the source of buying and selling of generic and specialised goods based on the requirements of specific geographies. For a long time, producers were also sellers of the products they created, and this was mostly in local markets based on local needs. Over a period of time, merchants started selling locally produced products through intermediaries or directly to other markets and started sourcing the products in demand from other places to sell to the local community.

With urbanisation, in the late 1800s and early 1900s, supermarkets and department stores started gaining traction. Department stores such as Harrods in London and Macy’s in the United States started to bring multiple products under the same roof, offering a plethora of options to their customers and thus creating a new shopping experience. They could offer a variety of products at attractive prices as departmental stores could source in bulk and negotiate good prices that they could pass on to their customers. Stores offered flexibility and free access to customers to select products they prefer from the shelves, thus resulting in reduction in labour costs too. Discount stores and exclusive stores for luxury brand–conscious customers started to be set up. Store-branded products began to get rolled out, and stores started advertising themselves to create a distinctive presence in the market.

With vast improvements in roads and infrastructure and simultaneous increase in automobile sales, people could travel around for shopping with much more ease. As a result, companies like Target and Walmart started setting up a vast network of retail outlets not only in the cities but also in the close proximity of where people resided, making weekend shopping a part of the family outing. This enabled customers to see, touch and feel the products before they decided to buy. The number of options and the lower cost advantage that the retail stores offered were very attractive, which was also instrumental in the slowing down of the mail order business. While companies like Sears set up their own stores to be close to the customers, they could never compete with new retail chains such as Walmart and Target who could offer a far greater range of products at much lower costs. This led to the downfall of the traditional mail order business and the eventual shut down of businesses and bankruptcy of iconic brands such as Sears.

In the 1980s and the 1990s, suburban malls comprising multiple branded outlets became a popular concept across the United States initially and eventually in many parts of the world. In addition to the retail buying experience, customers were attracted to these locations due to dining and entertainment options offered under a single roof. Specialised retail chains in sports, fashion, food, luxury products and electronics got an impetus during this phase with a rapid expansion of their footprints and revenues from multiple locations.

The late 1990s and the first decade of the 21st century created an enthusiastic response to the internet, which dramatically changed our lives. Retail was also impacted by the internet boom, which saw the entry of new players like Amazon and eBay who disrupted the then existing brick-and-mortar retail businesses. Several established players struggled to adapt to the advent of digital technologies in their businesses. Companies like Sears and Toys ‘R’ Us continued to follow their outdated policies and practices and lacked the agility and the foresightedness to embed technology in their operations, which resulted in mounting losses in their business.

Meanwhile, the digital-era retailers could leverage technology for inventory planning, customer personalisation and optimisation of the supply chain. Gap Inc. was slow to make the moves around technology, thus resulting in competitors like Zara, H&M and others overtaking them with their savvy tech strategies to enhance market shares. Macy’s, too, has been impacted due to lagging behind in investment in digital technology, resulting in losses and several stores having to be shut. Much later, they managed to rejuvenate the business by offering digital interventions and omnichannel experience to their customers. However, in the meantime, Amazon and Walmart have moved ahead with their omnichannel experiences for their customers. Lately, retailers have been using the storefronts for creating in-store personalisation, thus disrupting direct-to-consumer approaches, using superior immersive product experiences prior to purchase with VR, AR and interactive displays. We have also been witnessing examples of no-contact checkouts and hyper-personalisation through brands such as Amazon Go.