Look Ma, No Hands: Virtual, Automated, and Personalized — the Future of Retail Mirrors What Digital First Holds for Hospitality, Dining, and Travel

Look Ma, No Hands: Virtual, Automated, and Personalized — the Future of Retail Mirrors What Digital First Holds for Hospitality, Dining, and Travel

This IDC Perspective reviews several of the major themes and trends that dominated at the 2022 National Retail Federation (NRF) Big Show. Global hospitality and travel organizations are recognizing that digital first means "digital everywhere the guest wants." This also applies to the workforce, as employees are expecting and demanding just as much digital innovation and tools to make life easier as guests."The rapid pace of digital innovation in hospitality and travel over the past two years has created the perfect storm of hybrid experiences," says Dorothy Creamer, research manager, Hospitality and Travel Digital Transformation Strategies, IDC. "Remote work, digital play, and online convenience have propagated into a world where the lines between digital and physical should be nearly invisible. To create these analogous environments, operators will need to solve for the problem of having more data than they know what to do with. Digital first can easily become data last if strategies aren't crafted with an eye toward data democratization and contextualization."

Please Note: Extended description available upon request.