The oldest city is following technological advancements for success

By Gabriella Palomo

Although St. Augustine markets its old-world feel, those in the hospitality industry say that technology shapes everything from staffing to customer flow to basic day-to-day operations.

Flagler College Hospitality and Tourism Management professor Zachary Cole, PhD, said that technology is especially important in tourism-heavy cities like St. Augustine because it improves efficiency for businesses that serve large crowds. Most relevant technology is not visible to customers.

“It’s much more behind the scenes,” Cole said. “Guests aren’t interacting with the technology directly, but it frees staff to focus on the parts of service people actually notice.”

Payment systems have sped up and new tools allow servers to print checks faster or take payments at the table. This prevents long delays, especially on busy nights, according to Cole.

Hotels and attractions also use technology to adjust pricing automatically.

“We used to get daily reports and change the prices ourselves,” Cole said. “Now the systems read the numbers for us and adjust much faster than a person could.”

Technology helps attract visitors to St. Augustine. Promotions, travel apps and targeted ads reach audiences far outside the state.

“A small city like this can get national attention because technology makes that reach easy,” Cole said.

Crowd-control tools also become necessary during big events like Nights of Lights, when the city uses apps to share shuttle schedules and traffic information.

“Our problem used to be Wi-Fi,” Cole said. “Now the issue is we run out of cellular capacity when too many people are downtown.”

At Whips, a waffle shop on St. George Street, manager Jessica Littlefield said technology helps small food businesses keep up with the fast pace of downtown.

Some of their cooking equipment is automated.

“You don’t have to be a highly trained chef to use it,” Littlefield said. “The machine tells you when it’s done, and it keeps the food consistent.”

Their point-of-sale system handles most of the work for the staff.

“It tells you the tax, the price and the change,” she said. “You’re not handwriting tickets anymore.”

According to Littlefield, these tools make the job faster, but they also create problems when the network is overloaded during busy days.

“When the Wi-Fi lags, the whole system slows down,” she said. “Most people don’t know how to run things manually anymore, so it becomes difficult.”

She also sees technology changing customer service. Younger employees sometimes struggle with face-to-face interaction because so much of their communication happens through phones.

“They’re very good with technology, but they can be timid in person,” Littlefield said.

Littlefield also believes that automatic tip prompts affect the customer experience.

“People feel obligated,” she said. “Sometimes you’re tipping for someone who just worked the register, and customers feel bad saying no.”

Still, she said the technology keeps their shop efficient during busy days.

“You couldn’t run a place downtown without it,” Littlefield said.

At LaNouvelle, a French restaurant in Lincolnville, hostess Jeanne Tissot said reservation technology is essential for high-end dining rooms.

“Technology is a big part of my job,” Tissot said. “We use OpenTable, and most of our reservations come through the app.”

She said that without it, the restaurant would struggle to organize the flow of guests.

“We wouldn’t know how many guests we can welcome at one time,” Tissot said. “We also wouldn’t know what the waitlist looks like.”

LaNouvelle’s reservation system also helps the managers decide how many people they need on staff each night.

“It helps us estimate how many servers we need, how many people in the kitchen, and whether we need one or two hosts,” she said.

Tissot said technology has influenced tipping in her past jobs as well. At a bakery she worked at downtown, automatic tip buttons increased what customers gave her.

“When the options were 15% or 20% or 25%, I made better tips,” she said. “At La Nouvelle, customers choose themselves, and they do the math.”

She said she appreciates how much easier technology makes her job now.

“I’m thankful for how advanced everything is,” Tissot said. “It helps us keep everything organized.”

As tourists support economic stability in St. Augustine’s unique attractions, technology supports local workers to keep their city standing.