Some hospitality businesses may turn to automation to deal with rising staff costs next year
That's the warning from a recruitment group, which says the industry will struggle to deal with the rise in the minimum wage in January.
Excel Recruitment's Hotel and Catering Salary Guide found businesses are increasingly relying on staffing agencies and automation to balance rising costs with customer expectations.
Shane McLave from the group, says we're already seeing technology fill the roles traditionally taken by humans:
"I don't think we're necessarily going to see a massive spike in robots serving us but certainly we're seeing more tablets we're seeing more online check ins. The customer doesn't have a chance to ask questions, or give feedback on service, so it takes an awful lot of the personal touch away"
