When Airbnb hit the market in 2008 it started a revolution on how consumers travel. Now, after 10 years, how consumers choose where and how they stay in a destination has changed, and hotels have noticed. So, how can hotels compete in this rising share economy?

Millennials were born between 1980 and 2000. They grew up witnessing corporations threatening their personal security through events like the global financial crisis. They also grew up with the internet, which has empowered their opinions and rights.

The result is that we have a generation of people who are both driven and sceptical of authority. This is new territory for hospitality employers, who are perhaps used to a generation that was a little more appreciative and loyal. 

Hospitality requires a unique mix of skills. Not only are staff expected to know physical hard skills, but they are also expected to perfect soft skills, which are a lot more difficult to teach in a traditional classroom.

According to the Department of Tourism, Leisure, Hotel and Sport Management in 2015, “The hospitality workplace demands skills such as problem solving, critical thinking, emotional intelligence, maintaining professional and ethical standards, and leadership”.

Today, many hospitality schools are embracing blended learning. For example, William Blue College of Hospitality Management in Sydney offers online and on-campus study options for most of their degrees, as well as a blended-learning model that allows students to mix their online and on-campus study.

The Glion School of Hospitality and Business in the UK and Switzerland also offers blended learning options to their students. The university offers an MBA in hospitality that can be studied full-time on campus, completely online, or as a blended option that alternates between campus-based and online courses. 

If you walk into David A. Boody Junior High School in Brooklyn, New York, you’ll notice each classroom is around the size of a basketball court – and all 100 students are plugged into a laptop. The room is divided into 10 sections and there are 15 teachers and teaching aids available for one-on-one support.

When the sixth graders get to class, they either log onto their laptop or check a monitor at the front of the room to find out where they are to sit for the day. This is delivered by an algorithm that monitors the students’ daily performance.