With staffing challenges still front and center for many hotels, technology is no longer a future investment—it’s a present-day operational necessity. The latest session of the TECH Matchmaker Webinar Series by ExploreTECH explored how automation and staff-focused technologies are helping hoteliers ease pressure on their teams, streamline processes, and ultimately improve guest service.

Shari Dragonja, representing HotelKit,
Linda Girrbach, from RobosizeME,
and Baris Borucu, of Triptease.

Together, they covered practical strategies, real-world challenges, and where hotels can start when it comes to adopting workforce technology.

Operations first: Getting the basics right

Shari Dragonja of HotelKit highlighted a simple but often overlooked truth: great guest experiences start behind the scenes. Without efficient internal communication and task management, guest-facing operations suffer.

HotelKit focuses on operational automation that helps hotel teams coordinate more effectively. Shari emphasized that automation should be seen not as replacing staff but as removing friction in everyday workflows—simplifying handovers between shifts, tracking tasks more accurately, and reducing repetitive manual work that wastes staff time.

Her advice to hoteliers considering operational tech? Start with tools that align to your existing processes rather than trying to reinvent them. Efficiency improvements behind the scenes translate directly to smoother guest service.

Automate slowly, but start: Overcoming fear of AI

Linda Girrbach of RobosizeME tackled a common hesitation among hoteliers: trust in automation. Many worry that AI-driven tools can’t handle tasks as well as a human employee. Linda’s advice was clear—start small, but start.

Rather than jumping into complex automations, RobosizeME recommends beginning with simple, repetitive processes. Once teams see the practical benefits, confidence grows. Linda emphasized that automation isn’t about eliminating people from the process but freeing them from routine tasks so they can focus on work that adds more value.

“Trust builds through use,” Linda noted, encouraging hotels to focus on incremental wins—automating one task at a time to build momentum.

Direct bookings through smarter pricing: The commercial side of automation

Baris Borucu from Triptease brought a commercial lens to the conversation, focusing on how automation can help revenue and marketing teams. One of the key challenges for hotels is rate parity—when online travel agents (OTAs) undercut direct rates, potential guests book elsewhere.

Triptease’s approach is to automate price matching in real time, using AI to monitor rates across OTAs and adjust direct pricing dynamically. According to Baris, many hotels are missing out on direct bookings not because they lack demand but because they’re being undercut without knowing it.

Another area of focus was personalized marketing. Triptease’s platform uses guest behavior and location data to target potential bookers with tailored offers and retarget guests who abandon the booking funnel—a tactic common in ecommerce but still underused in hospitality.

Baris also highlighted that many hotels in the Middle East have a conversion rate as low as 4%, a figure he believes can be significantly improved through automation and personalization.

His closing reminder: technology can automate the work, but hotels still need solid internal alignment between marketing, sales, and revenue teams to maximize the benefits.

Where to start? Panelists share their final tips

To wrap up the session, each speaker shared their key advice for hoteliers:

Shari Dragonja recommended focusing on behind-the-scenes processes first: when your staff operate smoothly, guest satisfaction improves naturally.
Linda Girrbach encouraged hoteliers to start small with automation, tackle simple tasks first, and let trust in technology grow organically.
Baris Borucu pointed out that automation is only as effective as the data you feed it. Ensuring internal teams are aligned is essential before implementing commercial automation tools.

Moderator Vicky Varfis summed it up neatly: “Hotels can either adopt these tools or risk falling behind. But it’s about starting at the right pace and building understanding.”

A practical conversation for modern hoteliers

The TECH Matchmaker Webinar Series continues to bring practical, vendor-neutral discussions to the forefront, helping hoteliers navigate technology choices with clarity.

If you missed the live session, the full recording is available via ExploreTECH—and well worth sharing with leadership and operational teams alike.

Workforce automation & hotel staff tech

ExploreTECH Content Team

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