After checking into a hotel for the 23rd time since March of 2020, there is something that is eating at me as a consumer. The travel and hospitality industry continues to operate with a fraction of the staff that it had pre-COVID. Everywhere you look, hotels, airlines, rental car companies, and restaurants have reduced or eliminated non-essential or complimentary services in an effort to keep operating costs low. At the risk of sounding like a spoiled traveler who is bellyaching about not getting my usual upgrade or having the hotel staff make my bed each day, the big question I have is whether these businesses will ever return to the normalcy we were all accustomed to.

As someone whose job is to be an operational critic, I suppose the only thing to do is look at the situation objectively and see if there are lessons to be learned. For companies in the service industry, one big upside to the COVID pandemic has been a hyper focus on business continuity; more specifically, on waste reduction. This effort was necessary for many to survive; for others it presented an opportunity to trim some fat and lean out their operating processes. The results were so impactful that many changes will likely be permanent. Adapted services like virtual doctor’s appointments, remote meetings, electronic real estate transactions, QR code restaurant menus, self-service kiosks, and many, many more are all examples of ways companies have improved operating efficiencies and eliminated procedural waste.