While hospitality, restaurants and airlines have operated as separate industries, they can be seen as a trifecta within the greater whole of travel and leisure. Each industry offers consumers specific services and products, but the three participants of the “Innovation Across Industries” panel rounding out the first day of The Hospitality Show acknowledged that they are interdependent and vested in each others’ success.
Kevin Carey, chief operating officer and senior executive vice president of the American Hotel & Lodging Association; G.J. Hart, incoming chairman and CEO of SBP Hospitality; and Doreen Burse, SVP of worldwide sales at United Airlines, discussed how companies in their respective industries are often better off working together to achieve common goals through the innovations and technologies that have transformed travel by producing better-informed consumers and better-prepared workers at all ranks.
Carey launched right into the discussion by asking Burse and Hart about the biggest innovation shifts they observed during their long careers and how those changes impacted the way they lead their respective teams. Burse served as vice president of U.S. and Canada global sales at Marriott International prior to joining United. Hart was CEO of Red Robin Gourmet Burgers following leadership roles at Torchy's Tacos, California Pizza Kitchen and Texas Roadhouse. Their career trajectories underscored that while social media, travel apps and other advances resulted in savvier, better-informed consumers, the innovations can also be tools allowing workers to do their jobs better and top executives manage better, resulting in a better workplace culture.
Advancing Technology
“You can have the best technology and new ways to use innovation to manage your business, but if you don't have people who embrace it, that's going to make things more difficult,” explained Burse, equating innovation to technology freeing up United employees to take better care of customers in a before, during and after flights. “It’s not necessarily AI, but it’s about investments in [the kind of] technology that allows us to do those things that used to take a lot longer. Innovation has also changed the way I lead. I have moved from whether [an employee] is the right fit for the organization to whether they embody the values that really drive the culture and are willing to build on that.”
Hart agreed with Burse on how technology can help improve workplace culture, efficiency and operations. In the restaurant industry, he explained data innovations should not only help employees have the data they need but use it to personalize the guest experience for each customer. One of the biggest changes involved people in the organization having greater access to data and being informed around the perceptions of the guest in terms of what works and what doesn’t. However, he stressed, it didn’t necessarily guarantee cohesiveness.
“[Workplace] cultures are by design, not by default, and at the end of the day, it starts and ends with people,” Hart said. “Managing partners and general managers are the heart and soul of any restaurant company, because everything that you do, whether it's technology-related or not, it has to go through that GM or managing partner to get down to the ranks to make things happen. The culture is strong only if its leaders embody that. Furthermore, team members should have a voice in what those are. The more people are engaged and believe in the overall mission and purpose of your organization, they're going to they're going to come along.”
Carey compared how technological innovation presents differently on airlines (credit card linked programs that enable faster purchasing and drive ancillary revenue), restaurants, (innovation playing out differently between independently owned restaurants to small restaurant groups to national chains), and hotels. However, he came back to the common denominator of a personal touch ensuring continued success for a company connected in any way to the travel industry as a whole.
“We're leveraging technology, whether it’s through the apps, in-flight entertainment and other things to make things more tailored to the customer,” said Burse. “We have to consider how to make what passengers experience in-flight more relevant, whether it is about travel experiences in a given destination or working with partners to spotlight an automobile they may be interested in. If passengers feel recognized and appreciated, we can use that information to make it a better experience, one they are going to remember that will [prompt them to] return. We have a lot of data that tells us what's working and what's not, and we continue to refine that and tweak our approach to our vast customer base.”
Burse also detailed an app used by flight attendants that gives them enhanced capabilities to elevate the passenger experience. Armed with information about passengers on a current flights that date back to the previous five flights, the attendants are able to use that information to make a given passenger’s flight a little more special. She also discussed a way the airline is moving from fear-based actions (delay codes, administered when a flight departs late) to solution-based ones like examining why a flight was late, communicating information and motivating crew members to take proactive, preventative steps.
“We have a mantra: ‘Fail fast, learn and put into place’—things that help us navigate a crisis,” she said. “In 2023, we had many weather-related disruptions in Newark that we referred to as ‘Hell Week.’ When a strike happened in the summer of 2024, we had planned for it and were back up operationally within the first 24 to 36 hours. To empower people to make the right decision, you implement technology that allows them to do that.”
Loyalty and Connection
Loyalty programs and one-on-one exchanges between staff and customers cross the hospitality, restaurant and airline industries and have been shaped and reshaped through technological innovation. Both Hart and Burse agreed that they bring a certain democratic element to the travel industry as a whole, and have become increasingly experience-driven for travelers working with any budget.
“Loyalty programs are no longer just for the most frequently traveled,” Burse said. “When you pair that with credit-card programs and the miles and experiences that come with that, you actually open up travel to a whole other set of travelers ... the aspirational travel for those who don't travel very often. Credit cards, meanwhile, actually provide airlines with a steady revenue stream that allows us to reinvest in our business.” Burse highlighted in-flight Wi-Fi, food-and-beverage, collaborations with AppleTV and Spotify and United’s recent collaboration with JetBlue as ways customers can use their miles. “All of that creates not only an experience for travelers, whether they travel frequently or not, but allows us to actually reinvest in our business.”
“Guests want to be recognized and feel special,” Hart said. “It’s not just about getting more points or free things. Loyalty programs should reflect that you [the restaurant owner or manager] value that guest and personalize [future] experiences based on what he ordered, who served him and so on. While data can be used the wrong way, especially in situations if you don’t have a staff trained to use it, personalization is ultimately what will drive winners. In [our restaurants], it's really important to make sure we have a leader in the front of the house there during the busiest times to make sure that they can manage that.”