The State Of The Hospitality Industry In 2032 According To The Class Of 2023

During the fall quarter of each year, Compassionate Leaders Circle partners with Dr. David Corsun, Director of the Fritz Knoebel School of Hospitality Management at University of Denver, to provide seniors with a Pivot with Purpose Career Development Retreat. Here students examine the past and present while building a future through a vision pitch project.

Dr. David Corsun is the compassionate and innovative leader of this social impact hospitality program, and his goals for our annual collaboration are:

• Identifying and living true to your values
• Adapting to the change that occurs within your career path and sticking to your values to write your next chapter
• Establishing community inside and outside the classroom

In the Pivot with Purpose Program process, the class of 2023 imagined where the industry would be in 2032 as the fear of COVID-19 diminished and the inflation rate increased. According to the HUB 2023 Outlook on Hospitality, hotel wages have risen 18% from 2019 to 2022, making the industry more viable as a first-choice option for college graduates looking to join the workforce. “Investments in technology and a pivot in business practices kept the hospitality industry afloat through tough times…. Hospitality employers that engage in risk management and focus on recruitment and retention will be poised to thrive in 2023,” said HUB in their report.

Students completing their undergraduate business education during the pandemic and economic uncertainty know that they will need to create new ways of operating to attract and retain new workers over the next decade. Here is a summary of the ideas for trends they generated in four categories, which reflects the school’s motto, Be bold, do good, change lives:

People:

• More employee bonding days to build relationships with coworkers
• Increased AI use to automate processes, leading to better work conditions/benefits
• Help your business by giving more to your human capital while still ensuring success and profit
• Use advanced film and technology to show people more of the world we live in without having to travel there
• Create sustainable hostels that make travel more accessible to all
• A wine bar that hires refugees, immigrants, people rescued from human trafficking, homeless people, and more and teaches them the skills to enter the hospitality industry or the wine world when it was previously inaccessible
• To ensure all families are able to spend quality time together and the hours that they desire
• More trips and group vacations that incorporate finding connections and passions in everyone’s life–soul-searching trips
• Everyone will have access to a mentor or trusted leader
• To dive back to the community in multiple aspects, supporting our first responders and taking care of our planet by eliminating plastic waste

Products and Services:

• Napkin folding robot
• Virtual reality events and festivals
• Food and beverage therapy
• Develop and renovate hotels to better serve their communities rather than only with the traveler in mind.
• Autonomous turn-down services - smart bed, cleaning assistant robot.
• Advanced communication services
• Provide services to employees that will relieve stress and support the mental and physical wellness of the individuals
• Company-sponsored private shuttle transportation for hospitality workers that is safe and more efficient.
• Outdoor offices

Profit:

• Companies will each have a social mission/cause embedded within the structure of profits, where a certain percentage goes to help a cause. This will expand as Gen Z is more socially conscious
• Reinvesting profit into the holistic employee experience and lifestyle rather than just a salary and benefits
• Profit sharing with employees

Planet:

• Food forest
• Environmentally friendly air travel…faster, cheaper, electric
• Hemp house using hemp to furnish and build a restaurant/small hotel (fabrics, hemp concrete, furniture, utensils, plastic alternatives, etc.)
• Develop hotels and restaurants that are 100% sustainable in their practices
• Trash/Recycling/Compost organizer–put the item you wish to get rid of in the organizer and it’ll sort it into place
• Water filtering in hotels to reuse dirty water, similar to how NASA recycles all water in rockets
• Dissolvable packaging. Every package you order online or get in-store comes with a natural/chemical-free solution that then gets poured on the package and dissolves it

You can hear more from Dr. Corsun and two of his exceptional seniors who their peers chose to represent the class through the friendly vision pitch competition, Mireille Baxter and Kevin Pereira-Léon, in this podcast episode.