Hospitality Management and Digital Transformation : Balancing Efficiency, Agility and Guest Experience in the Era of Disruption

Hospitality managers are at a critical inflection point. Digital technology advancements are ramping up guest expectations and introducing nontraditional competitors that are beginning to disrupt the whole industry. The hospitality managers whose organizations are to thrive need to get their organizations into a position where they can effectively leverage digital technologies to simultaneously deliver breakthroughs in efficiency, agility, and guest experience.

Hospitality Management and Digital Transformation is a much-needed guidebook to digital disruption and transformation for current and prospective hospitality and leisure managers. The book:

• Explains digital technology advancements, how they cause disruption, and the implications of this disruption for hospitality and leisure organizations.

• Explains the digital business and digital transformation imperative for hospitality and leisure organizations.

• Discusses the different digital capabilities required to effectively compete as a digital business.

• Discusses the new and/or enhanced roles hospitality and leisure managers need to play in effecting the different digital capabilities, as well as the competencies required to play these roles.

• Discusses how hospitality and leisure managers can keep up with digital technology advancements.

• Unpacks more than 36 key digital technology advancements, discussing what they are, how they work, and how they can be implemented across the hospitality and leisure industry.

This book will be useful for advanced undergraduate and postgraduate students studying strategic management, IT, information systems, or digital business–related courses as part of degrees in hospitality and leisure management; as well as practitioners studying for professional qualifications.

Richard Busulwa researches and teaches in the Business School at Swinburne University of Technology, home to Australia’s first fully immersed Industry 4.0 facility. His digital business research explores different digital technology advancements, how they drive disruption, and their implications for particular industries, business functions, and professions. He is the author of Strategy Execution and Complexity: Thriving in the Era of Disruption (Routledge) and Start-Up Accelerators: A Field Guide (Wiley). Before entering academia, Richard worked as managing director, COO, CFO, divisional manager, and sales executive in the hospitality, IT, telecommunications, and healthcare industries. He is co-founder of Leapin Digital Keys, the world’s first NBIoT smart lock platform.

Nina Evans is Associate Professor of STEM at the University of South Australia. She also holds a professorial lead position in the STEM academic unit. Nina has had a long career in ICT and STEM education leadership that has included time as vice dean, associate head of teaching and learning, and industry liaison manager. Nina started her career as a chemical engineer and completed undergraduate and postgraduate studies in computer science/IT, education, an MBA and a PhD. Her research and teaching interests are in digital innovation, ICT leadership, information/knowledge management and governance.

Aaron Oh is a professional hotelier, general manager, and hospitality management educator. He has more than 12 years’ experience in operations management and property development of independent and boutique hotels such as the five-star Mayfair Hotel, The Point Brisbane Hotel, and Adabco Boutique Hotel. Aaron teaches hospitality property development, hospitality information systems management, and strategic management at the International College of Hotel Management, the only affiliate school of the Swiss Hotel Association in the Asia Pacific region.

Moon Kang is a hospitality management educator with nearly two decades of experience as a frontline manager, middle manager, senior manager and strategic leader within the hotel industry in the Asia Pacific. This includes stints as food and beverage director with the Shangri-la (Sydney), food and beverage director with the Grand Intercontinental COEX and Grand Intercontinental (Seoul), executive assistant manager with the Sheraton Maldives, and frontline manager and middle manager with Westin Hotels and Resorts. Moon teaches guest experience creation and delivery and food and beverage management at the International College of Hotel Management.