How hotel businesses can avoid “Toggle Tax”

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April 16, 2026

On April 16, 2026

Data from Access Hospitality reveals that 47% of hotel businesses are using two to four systems and 25% are using over five ^[1], leaving many operators exposed to what’s known as “toggle tax”.

“Toggle tax” refers to the time, attention, and human connection lost when front desk staff are constantly switching between disconnected systems.

Recognising this, hospitality AI tech company, Access Hospitality, is urging the hotel industry to reclaim the time lost as a result of “toggle tax” by sharing their top tips for moving away from fragmented systems and towards smarter, integrated technology.

Hotel staff are wasting 322 hours each year switching between systems

Hotel employees spend a large amount of time switching between systems. This results in longer check-in times, increased risk of human errors and decreased guest satisfaction.

Access Hospitality found that UK and Ireland hoteliers use 5.2 systems on average, and hotel staff are wasting 322 hours a year switching between systems.^[2]

Four tips on how to avoid the “toggle tax”

Nicola Longfield, Chief Commercial Officer, Global Accommodation & Payments at Access Hospitality, has shared four tips on how to avoid the “toggle tax”.

Nicola comments: “The operators who will be best positioned over the next three to five years are the ones making deliberate technology decisions today. Not panic decisions, not rip-and-replace, but strategic ones informed by where the industry is heading.

Audit your tech stack with a different question than you have asked before

“The old question was: does this system do what I need today? The new question is: is this technology for the next decade, or a tool solving yesterday’s problem with yesterday’s solutions?”
Consolidate where you can

“Platforms that unify your operations across guest engagement, workforce management, procurement, and distribution, in the case of hotels, give AI a complete picture to work with, and AI only gets better with time and good data.

“Fragmented point solutions give it fragments. We see this across our own customer base: operators running multiple modules on our platform report stronger operational outcomes than those on isolated tools, because the data compounds.”
Quiz your technology partners

“Ask your technology partners what they are actually building, not whether they have an AI roadmap.

“Ask what is in production today. Ask whether it is powered by hospitality-specific operational data or generic models available to anyone. The quality of those answers will tell you where that vendor will be in three years.”
Rethink how you evaluate switching costs

“The traditional calculus was about migration pain: data transfer, retraining, disruption. That is real. But there is now a cost on the other side of the ledger. Staying on disconnected, isolated, and therefore AI-incapable systems means being locked out of the operational improvements your competitors will have access to. In an industry with razor-thin margins, that cost compounds fast.”

“The technology decisions you make in the next 12 to 18 months will shape how your business operates for a decade. The operators who get this right will not just navigate the transition, they will be the ones setting the pace.”

How hotels can consolidate their booking & management systems

Nicola Longfield continues, “Hoteliers are switching between two to five systems everyday, and while these systems collect a lot of data, they don’t always provide clear, cohesive insights.

“At Access Hospitality, we believe that people should shape software, and the key to being successful is being AI-powered and having all systems in one place.

“Using a consolidated system like Access Hospitality’s Property Management Suite, can reduce hotelier headaches, elevate guest experience and avoid toggle tax because everything you need is all in one place.

“By making the switch, operators can reclaim hours lost using disconnected systems, as well as facilitate the overall growth of their business.”