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Keeping Hospitality Connected: How Solotel Bridges the Gap Across Venues

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Hospitality is one of the most people-driven industries in the world. Whether it’s a guest enjoying a cocktail at a bar, checking into a hotel, or grabbing a quick meal, their experience hinges on the people delivering it. And for those people to succeed, they need to feel informed, connected, and part of something bigger than their individual shift.

For multi-venue operators, achieving this is no small feat.

Different sites. Different shifts. Different teams, each with its own rhythm and culture. Ensuring the right information reaches the right people at the right time - consistently and across an entire portfolio of venues - is one of the biggest operational challenges in hospitality.

Solotel, one of Australia’s most recognized hospitality groups, knows this challenge well. Operating restaurants, pubs, and bars across Sydney and Brisbane, they’ve mastered the art of keeping a dispersed workforce connected, consistent, and engaged. We spoke with Hannah Costigan, System Admin and Training Manager at Solotel, to uncover what it really takes to make it work.

The Noise Problem

Ask anyone in multi-venue hospitality about communication, and they’ll likely tell you the same thing: the problem isn’t a lack of information - it’s too much of it, scattered across too many places, and not always reaching the right people.

“The biggest challenge is just cutting through the noise,” Hannah explained. “There’s always a lot going on across the business, and not everything is relevant to everyone, but it can all end up in the same places. Then you’ve got different shifts, different venues, and a mix of how people prefer to get info, so it’s easy for things to get missed or lost along the way.”

When communication breaks down in hospitality, the consequences are immediate and visible. “Things get inconsistent across venues, mistakes happen, and teams can feel a bit disconnected or out of the loop. Managers also end up repeating themselves a lot, which isn’t the best use of their time. It all adds up to impacting the guest experience and how connected people feel to the business.”

This isn’t just an internal inconvenience. Communication breakdowns ripple outward, affecting the guest experience and, ultimately, the business’s bottom line. The cost is real, even if it’s hard to quantify.

Culture Across Venues

One of the biggest challenges in multi-venue hospitality is balancing a consistent brand experience with the unique character that makes each venue special. Lean too far in one direction, and every venue feels like a franchise. Lean too far in the other, and the group loses its cohesive identity.

For Solotel, the solution lies in clarity - being unambiguous about what the organization stands for - and trusting each venue’s team to bring that vision to life in their own way.

“Every venue has its own vibe and rhythm, which is part of what makes hospitality great, but there still needs to be a common thread,” Hannah shared. “A lot of that comes down to the leaders in each venue and how they bring that to life day to day. We also lean on things like onboarding, training, and recognizing great work to keep things consistent. It helps create that feeling that you’re part of Solotel as a whole, not just your individual venue”.

This approach reflects a broader truth across industries: the most effective cultural glue isn’t a set of values on a wall - it’s the day-to-day behaviors of leaders closest to the frontline. When thoseleaders are aligned, informed, and actively reinforcing what good looks like, the culture follows.

One Place for Everything

For Solotel, the most impactful change to frontline connection was surprisingly simple: giving their people one place to go.

“Having one place where everything lives has made a big difference with having the MYSolotel App,” Hannah said. “Moving away from messages being scattered across different channels means people actually know where to go to find what they need. It also takes some of the pressure off managers being the middle person for everything”.

In fragmented communication environments, managers often become de facto aggregators - spending time relaying, repeating, and clarifying information instead of leading their teams. Consolidating communication into a single platform not only helps staff but also gives managers their time back.

Solotel also made a conscious effort to make communication feel less one-directional. “It’s also been important to make it feel a bit more two-way. Giving teams visibility across the group and a chance to engage makes them feel more connected, not just informed”.

That distinction - connected versus informed - is critical. A team that simply receives information feels managed. A team that can engage with the wider business and contribute to it feels like they belong

Advice for Other Operators

For hospitality operators looking to better connect their people and operations, Solotel’s advice is refreshingly straightforward: start with the problem, not the solution.

“Start simple. Be really clear on what problem you’re trying to solve before bringing in any technology to just ‘fix it.’ It’s easy to end up with too many systems, which just creates more noise. The goal should be to make things easier, not harder”.

On the role of technology, Hannah’s perspective is practical. “Good tech should fit into how your teams already work. It should feel natural and take friction out of the day, not add another thing to manage”.

And perhaps most importantly, the platform is only part of the equation. “How you roll it out matters just as much as the tool itself. If people understand why it’s there and leadership is on board, that’s what really drives adoption”.

This advice applies well beyond hospitality. Technology doesn’t connect people - creating the right conditions for technology to be used well does. Get the culture, leadership, and rollout right, and the tool will take care of itself.