Hospitality current - Essay Example

In the past centuries, hospitality was not a common field known by many people as an important and critical part of societal life. This fact just changed with the booming international trade and changes in lifestyles for many citizens across the world. The two factors have not existed peaceably but have been posing challenges in the sector of hospitality. Among the challenges faced by the hospitality sector include competition, technological advancement, diversity, lack of professionalism to offer proper services, food safety and sanitation, security issues, and globalization among other problems.
Rigorous technological advancement has posed serious challenges to the hospitality industry the world over. Technological advancement has transformed the way work is done in the hospitality industry (Powers & Barrows, 2008). Almost every activity is automated or computerized and the marketing venues are shifting to the internet. Hospitality industry players have sought to employ the use of websites for marketing their products, increasing operation costs due to high costs of maintaining the websites. In order to broaden customer base, players in the hospitality industry need to invest on technologies that can enable online booking for services by the customers (Binion, 2006). The initial cost and maintenance of such technologies is exorbitant and in some cases unaffordable by certain operators in the industries
Uncertainty occasioned by rising security has triggered unrest among the customers of the hospitality industry such as hotels which record low bookings as visitors shy away. Increased cases of terrorism have raised fear in customers as they always think of their safety when travelling (Powers & Barrows, 2008). Cases of abduction have also caused security doubts among many, which has negatively affected the hospitality industry as customers fear to travel freely across the world. Many operators in the ...