The most important hospitality competences in the times of digitalization

In this thesis, the author tries to identify the most important competencies, which are needed to succeed in hospitality industry, but modernize them to better reflect the digital age of today. In the first chapter, there’s an overview of the thesis, it’s background and justification for its importance for today’s hospitality industry. The most important questions that are tried to answer are: 1. What are most relevant skills, knowledge, abilities and competencies, in hospitality industry, that are affected by digitalization? 2. How are most relevant skills, knowledge, abilities and competencies, in hospitality industry affected by digitalization? The most relevant concepts are presented in the chapter 2, where competence, hospitality industry, digitalization and digital competence are explained for this thesis’ purposes. Then the seven studies from different authors in recent years are presented. The studies present most important competences in restaurant-, lodging-, travel- and events industries according to managers in different positions. The competences from those studies are analyzed based on how digitalization is affecting them. Most important competencies in hospitality in the times of digitalization are presented and explained in chapter 3. The seven competencies are: Finding the relevant knowledge, digital interaction with colleagues, digital personal presentation, customer care, digital marketing, presentation & sales skills, ability to use technological software and hardware and accounting. In the end the thesis presents conclusions and recommendations for the industry on how to prepare for the digital future of the hospitality industry, from competency perspective