The hospitality industry, which encompasses hotels and restaurants, has had it tough since the decade began. In 2020, daily life was turned upside down with the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic. Nebraska was no exception.
“We were deeply affected,” Zoe Olson, Executive Director of Nebraska Hospitality Association told KLIN News. “With the exception of healthcare, we were probably one of the most affected industries in the country.”
Olson noted restaurants and hotels gained an infamous reputation “that never proved to be true” of being super-spreader areas, leading to forced shutdowns of both.
In order to survive, restaurants and hotels scrambled to find ways to either keep employees paid or rehired them once business were allowed to reopen. “Our whole industry had to change on a dime, multiple times,” Olson continued.
Many changes made by necessity seem here to stay. Daily room cleanings in hotels, once considered mandatory, have become more commonly by request only. “Nobody comes in just to freshen up your room unless you ask them to, Olon told KLIN News. “Most hotels now are saying, if you’re going to be there a week, we’ll come every third day.”
Additional changes to hotels becoming more ubiquitous include mobile check-in and receiving your key card on your phone. These days, a hotel guest may never need to go to the front desk during their stay.
Restaurants have also seen their fair share of upheaval. An increasing number of diners are being served by robots. Because of staff shortages, there are also some establishments utilizing a pod serving system, where a group of several employees will work a single table. Staff shortages have also led to eateries closing at least once a week, be it an entire weekend, a national holiday, or a day-and-a-half where services resume at lunch.
This dramatic shift in hours extends beyond the hospitality industry, too.
“If you look at grocery stores that used to be open 24/7, we don’t have those anymore,” said Olson. “We don’t have convenience stores open 24/7. I think we’ve learned that we don’t have to do that, and certainly when we don’t have enough people, then we cut back hours, because we cannot provide that great guest service with limited staff on limited hours.”
Limited staff is the next problem the hospitality industry has dealt with in recent years, but it’s not entirely the pandemic’s fault. A combination of COVID and a low unemployment rate in the state has led to a great many “Help Wanted” signs. Wages have increased in recent years, too, so people who were working two jobs several years ago may be getting by today with just one.
The hotel and restaurant industry woes don’t stop there. As Nebraska and the rest of the world began to recover from the pandemic, the war in Ukraine began. The war has had worldwide ramifications, and Nebraska is no exception.
“Ukraine, for one thing,” began Olson, “is a huge producer of wheat. We were going through a stretch where pasta, for example – you couldn’t get enough pasta. So, people were limiting those dishes.”
Ukraine’s grain exports have begun to approach pre-war levels. But the local hospitality industry hasn’t gotten back to where it was at the end of the 2010s.
“I don’t think we have bounced back,” said Olson.