By Maria Gebbels
Publication Date: 2026-01-29 17:34:00
The future of work is being rewritten by artificial intelligence (AI) – but technology skills alone will not be enough to empower the workforce of the future. While AI has enormous potential to improve efficiency, accuracy and productivity in the workplace, it is less clear how it will evolve to advance the people-centric concerns that face all businesses.
Hospitality’s human-centered skills (empathy, creativity, adaptability, kindness, resilience and cultural intelligence) have proven to be strategic advantages when using AI in the workplace – things like chatbots or virtual assistants. They also remain the most difficult capabilities to reproduce in and through AI.
These qualities aren’t just soft skills – they should be at the core of all customer service businesses. They enable employees to transform routine interactions into memorable experiences through emotional connection and anticipation of customer needs. At least for now, the AI is ill-equipped…