Efficiently Human Hospitality: Meet Resort Leaders Using Technology to Be More Productive & Present

A US Army article questions if efficiency is worth sacrificing our humanity. Vogue declares our “obsession with efficiency will cost us our humanity”. Ranting Redditors warn that “humanity will die at the altar of efficiency.” Everywhere you look, efficiency and humanity are positioned as opposing forces.

Except in hospitality. Here, being both isn’t optional – guests notice when one is missing.

We surveyed General Managers and operational leaders from Westgate Resorts, Resort Management & Consulting Group and Grand Pacific Resorts, and to understand where leadership time actually goes and how technology fits into their daily operations.

What we learned challenges the entire efficiency-versus-humanity debate: technology isn’t replacing the human touch in resort leadership. It’s creating capacity for more of it.

Protect the Human Experience Even When It’s Harder Operationally

“Protect the human experience for guests, owners, and staff, even when it’s harder operationally. Resorts don’t win by being efficient if they lose their people in the process.” — Stacy Dounias, Vice President of Operations, Resort Management & Consulting Group

Resort leadership doesn’t come from textbooks. It comes from making operational choices that prioritize people even when processes would be easier. Stacy’s principle captures what showed up repeatedly in survey responses: the best resort leaders protect human experience first, operational convenience second.

Brahim Ait Daoud, General Manager of Westgate Vacation Villas & Town Center Resort, frames leadership through the guest lens. “Lead as if your family’s dream vacation depends on it.” He’s putting himself in the place of every guest walking through his resort, recognizing that what’s routine for staff is someone’s highly anticipated escape. That shift in perspective (treating each stay like it’s your own family’s vacation) changes how every operational decision gets made.

Rick Kinert, Regional Vice President of Resort Operations at Grand Pacific Resorts, prioritizes care that rolls downstream from leadership to the guest. “Team First. When you genuinely care for your team and show up for them in an authentic manner, they in turn will take care of your guests. If your team feels valued, supported and empowered, service excellence follow.”

Clay Zellermayer, General Manager of Westgate Park City Resort & Spa, rejects the status quo entirely: “Maintain is a bad word. Push for PROGRESS.” That drive for continuous improvement shows up in how leaders approach both operations and people development.

Stacey Herndon, Regional Director of Resort Operations at Westgate Resorts,has a short, but impactful golden rule to report leadership.

“Let your leaders, lead.”

It’s about building leadership at every level of the operation, not just the GM office. When shift supervisors own their decisions and department heads drive improvements, that’s efficiency in practice. When decisions happen, completed work happens, without everything bottlenecking through one person.

More on the Floors, Less in the Office

“Technology adds to the efficiencies in being able to predict how our business is going to look in both the short and long terms. It allows for GMs to do more on the floors and be less in the office.” — Clay Zellermayer, General Manager, Westgate Park City Resort & Spa

Brahim describes how CRM technology changed his entire role. Instead of reacting to yesterday’s reports, he’s “exponentially more informed and thus proactively orchestrating the overall resort experience in real-time.” The technology didn’t replace his judgment. It sharpened it.

Stacy describes AI as a thought partner. “Technology, especially AI, functions as a thought partner that helps me sharpen judgment, reflect more intentionally, and show up more human, not less.”

Holly Ansley, Regional Vice President of Resort Operations at Grand Pacific Resorts, uses AI to reduce time reading bylaws, CC&Rs, and project work. The time savings let her communicate more clearly with team members, board members, and executives. The efficiency created space for better human connection.

Cherie Frost, General Manager of Grand Pacific Palisades Resort, sees AI as something that “helps polish communication, streamline data analysis, and save time by delivering clearer, more meaningful insights.” But she’s clear about the boundary. “Technology is not a substitute for the personal connection our associates and guests deserve. It enhances efficiency, but human interaction remains at the heart of hospitality.”

The technology that works for resort leaders isn’t replacing people. It’s eliminating the administrative friction that kept them from being more present. Real-time dashboards spot issues while guests are still on property. Automated systems handle routine communications. Predictive analytics enable proactive leadership instead of reactive firefighting.

The result is more floor time, more conversations, and more capacity to actually lead people instead of managing paper.

Leadership Requires More

“Listen with intention. Leadership starts with truly understanding others, and that requires more than hearing words—it means listening to uncover the real issue. When people feel heard, trust grows, and decisions improve, leading to better outcomes for everyone. Pay attention to body language and tone as much as the message itself.” — Cherie Frost, General Manager, Grand Pacific Palisades Resort

When we asked resort leaders where they currently spend most of their leadership time, half said team development and culture. When we asked where MORE time would have the biggest impact, half said the same thing: team development and culture.

They’re already prioritizing the right thing. They still don’t think they’re doing enough of it.

That gap reveals something important about what modern resort leadership actually requires. It’s not that leaders are allocating time poorly. It’s that the kind of leadership that works demands more capacity than most properties can create.

Jim Szabo, General Manager of Westgate River Ranch Resort & Rodeo, captures this in his golden rule. Always walk beside your team members, never in front of them.” Not running ahead from the front, not demanding from behind. Walking beside. It’s a posture that requires time, presence, and genuine connection to walk in sync.

Cherie’s quote explains why leaders need more capacity. The listening she describes (intentional, unhurried, attentive to unspoken cues) doesn’t happen in rushed check-ins between crises. According to Gitnux’s 2023 Active Listening Statistics and Trends report, managers who received training in active listening saw a 30% improvement in employee satisfaction, and active listening increased collaboration and productivity by up to 25%.

But time pressure undermines that capability. Research published in leadership communication studies shows that when working memory is taxed by time constraints, leaders default to egocentric communication—they miss what team members actually need and can’t pick up on subtle cues about what’s really happening. When leaders are overwhelmed, scanning for the next crisis, their brains literally can’t do the deep listening that builds trust and catches real issues.

This is where efficiency creates humanity instead of replacing it. When technology handles routine tasks, when automation eliminates administrative friction, when systems provide real-time insights, leaders get back the cognitive capacity and actual time to do the listening Cherie describes.

The 50% of leaders who want more time on team development aren’t asking for less work. They’re asking for more capacity to do the work that actually matters. They are seeking more efficiency in tandem with more humanity – and their work is proving the two can increase together.

The Path Forward

The efficiency-versus-humanity debate assumes a trade-off that resort leaders figured out doesn’t exist. Efficiency creates the space where humanity thrives. Technology provides the capacity for more human connection. Automation doesn’t replace judgment. It sharpens it.

The properties that thrive won’t be the ones that choose between operational excellence and people-first leadership. They’ll be the ones that understand these priorities work together, each making the other possible.

Resort leaders are already living this reality. Half of their time goes to developing people and building culture. They wish they had more time to do exactly that. The innovation isn’t in the technology itself. It’s in understanding what that technology makes possible. More presence, better listening, and the capacity to lead the way five-star hospitality has always required.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Kelley Ellert is the author of “Hospitality Innovation in Action” and founder of Waterwheel Marketing, a marketing agency + consulting hybrid that helps companies in the hospitality space tell their stories and reach the right people. She works with hospitality brands to create and distribute content that connects – through writing, video, social media, paid advertising and public relations.

Find her at waterwheelmarketing.com or on LinkedIn.