Marvin OnumonuThe Hospitality People Survey 2026, commissioned by Access Hospitality, found that 91% of hospitality employees said technology is improving work-life balance.
The survey found that 27% of staff said artificial intelligence (AI) has made their role much easier and over half (52%) view AI as a helpful tool for their job.
Despite these positive figures, 40% of employees said they felt AI is a threat to their role, and 8% remain undecided about the impact of AI technology.
Additionally, job satisfaction has gone up, with 98% of staff saying AI has improved their job satisfaction.
Only 2% disagreed with this statement.
Rob Paterson, commercial director at Access Hospitality, said: “It is positive to see that over half (52%) of hospitality employees now view AI as a helpful tool.
“We have seen this improve in recent years (up from 41% in 2025), as AI is being increasingly used to streamline workflow and make day-to-day tasks efficient and manageable.”
“Yet the data also shows a rising number of employees feel that technology is making their job harder.”
Paterson added: “This is what HR teams need to pay attention to, realising that the technology itself is not the differentiating factor, but choosing the right tools and implementing them well is.
“With a portion of the workforce still concerned that the tech could be a threat to their role, a helpful way to focus efforts is by using it to improve the employee lifecycle, and educating teams on how AI supports them.
“AI can be applied meaningfully throughout recruitment, retention and scheduling.”
He said: “Businesses that do this are already seeing a 30% reduction in hiring costs and 25% uplift in sales forecasting.”
“With technology already proving that it can positively impact work-life balance and the success of businesses, now more than ever, as an industry, we must embrace emerging technologies, such as AI, within the workplace to allow the industry to flourish.”
