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How and why employees hold key to unattended airport concessions

The need for unattended retail became obvious during the pandemic, but HMS Host employees played a critical role in assisting guests with technology at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport.

Roxann Favors of Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport and Neil Thompson of HMS Host share insights on successful unattended retail at the Georgia World Congress Center.

May 17, 2023 by Elliot Maras — Editor, Kiosk Marketplace & Vending Times

When the Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport introduced unattended retail to terminals during the pandemic to address public hygiene concerns, the mandate was clear. Allow the guests to make purchases without interacting with humans.

But as traffic returned, so did the need for labor to assist with unattended concessions.

Fortunately, HMS Host, the airport's foodservice operator, recognized early on the importance of having employees on site to guide guests in using its self-checkout food and beverage coolers.

"When you have a person there who's no longer behind a counter punching things in but becomes a guide to the (traffic) flow, your number of transactions rises exponentially and the level of guest service rises … using the same unit of labor," Neil Thompson, vice president of digital at HMS Host, said during an education session at last week's NAMA show at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta.

The session was titled, "Increasing Adoption of Unattended Retail to Drive Transactions and Revenue."

"The pandemic sort of kicked off digital transformation within our industry," he said. "Travel came back way before labor and this new way of operating that you see today."

By the time the pandemic hit, many customers were already educated about using self-service, said Roxann Favors, the airport's chief revenue officer and assistant aviation director, who co-presented with Thompson.

"The customer was educated coming into the facility," she said. "They have spent two years in their house, and they want to see the world."

Boosting the guest experience

HMS Host installed a number of Mashgin kiosks, a touchless self-checkout system powered by AI and computer vision that allow guests to scan multiple items at once.

It also installed QR code ordering tableside in restaurants. There was a 20% adoption of this in the middle of the pandemic as people began to return to the airport.

Digital is about enhancing the passenger experience, Favors said. "From roadways to runways and everything in between, we impact the passenger.

"It's helping all of our passengers kind of cultivate their own experience … They're willing to pay for that experience. Digital applications have helped passengers and their excitement to get back to traveling. The recovery has come back strong."

Options needed

Thompson cited the importance of offering the guests more than one choice in an airport.

"I think what's really interesting about the airport dining experience … every guest in our dining room knows exactly how much time they have and exactly when they need to leave," Thompson said. "And that's where technology can create this great guest experience.

"Grab-and-go is all about speed. Dine in is all about comfort, being able to go at your own pace," he said.

A dine-in guest can use the QR code ordering for full order or for a partial order if they don't see their server.

He related a recent experience at Home Depot where an employee guided him to where the item was, and once he got there, he used self-checkout.

"The part of the transaction that needed a degree of hospitality, it was there and it was excellent," he said. "And the part that didn't, that was excellent because now I just wanted to go."

Favors observed unattended retail technology has taken hospitality beyond utilitarian speed of transactions to the experience of the transactions. As a result, the unattended retail generates sales similar to other restaurants using less labor.

"The benefit to us as an organization is that it doesn't require nearly the amount of training," Thompson said.

Top challenge: traffic flow

The biggest challenge in deploying a self-service solution in a retail location is arranging the kiosk in relation to guest flow, Thompson said. The guest needs room to assemble their orders.

"Everything is really laid out in a very specific way" to maximize efficiency, he said. The traffic flow in an airport can also change depending on the time of day. Traffic might come from one direction in the morning and different later depending on flight schedules.

"You don't know exactly how this is going to work and exactly what the customer will think once you do it," he said.

Staff input is often important in understanding traffic flow and in managing the traffic flow.

Managing labor

While unattended retail clearly helps alleviate the current labor challenge facing retailers, the challenge is by no means less problematic for retail. As noted above, employees play an important role in unattended spaces. The number one function of the employee is to answer questions and make sure the guests are happy.

None of the stores at Phoenix Sky Harbor are completely unattended, Thompson said. But the employees are providing a service to the customer, not performing a function related to the transaction.

Favors agreed, noting that the airport has redeployed staff to be more engaged with the passengers.

"People will still need that human contact," she said. "It's not just the speed of the transaction, it's also the passenger experience."

Employees are also important for providing feedback that may not be obvious to management once an unattended solution is introduced.

When you empower the guest to control the purchase, you won't get it right the first time, especially in a high-volume setting, Thompson said. Listening to the employees is critical.

"They're not replacements for labor," Thompson said for self-service installations. "The goal is to create a better version of hospitality by using technology and people will always play a critical role in that."

This being the case, the venue needs to pay careful attention to employee needs, Favors said. For example, many airport employees want food delivery for themselves.

The question of how to best introduce self-service technology to employees was raised during the question-and-answer session, an issue that often emerges at technology conferences.

Thompson said his organization focused on how the employees can raise the level of hospitality.

"That's really the need of the staff," he said. "The job sort of shifts from being someone who stands behind the cash register ringing things up all day to truly (being) an ambassador. That's not necessarily for everybody, but that's for a lot of people."

"Today it's 'can you greet somebody with a smile' and have a nice conversation while still enabling his ultra-fast transaction?" Thompson said. The majority of the HMS staff enjoys the hospitality role to the extent that the issue of introducing technology to employees is currently not a problem for company.

The issue of theft was also raised. In airports, Thompson said pervasive surveillance cameras largely deter theft. To the extent that it exists, it's usually confined to pre-security areas, not post security.

"Technology is to enhance hospitality by removing friction for the traveler," Thompson said. "That's been kind if our North Star."

Photo: Networld Media Group.