We live in such an exciting time when it comes to technology. It’s incredible when you think about where we were 20 years ago, and where we are today – back then we had no concept of smartphones or e-readers or social media. If you’d told me my next-door neighbor would have his own personal drone, I would have laughed in your face!

When it comes to training and education, innovations in technology have given us access to so many resources that we never had before. This is fantastic for the hospitality industry, where consistent training has always been difficult.

We decided to take a look at some of the most exciting innovations that are happening in training today, and how these things could help further the growth of the hospitality industry. 

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.