Can VR Fix Hospitality’s Retention Crisis? with Alison Barker Founder of Immersive XP #40

Hospitality training is broken, and VR may be the fixThis episode explores why traditional hospitality training often fails under real pressure and what needs to change. Hakim speaks with Alison Magee-Barker F.I.H, founder and CEO of AG Lakes Consultancy and Immersive XP, about building scenario-based VR training that helps teams practice guest complaints, service recovery, leadership moments, and decision-making before those moments happen on the floor.Alison also explains how Immersive XP uses short modules, analytics, eye-contact assessment, and replay feedback to improve confidence, consistency, and retention in hospitality teams.Timestamps(00:00) Hospitality does not have a motivation problem(01:44) Why current training feels irrelevant and repetitive(04:00) Promoting great staff without teaching leadership(06:08) How AG Lakes Training Academy began during the pandemic(08:10) A Roblox moment that sparked Immersive XP(10:48) The real signs that a training system is failing(13:22) What a VR hospitality scenario feels like in practice(15:03) Eye-contact scoring and guest connection(16:16) Short scenarios, game over, and instant retries(17:09) Management portal, analytics, and leaderboard features(18:54) Core modules in the MVP and founder partner opportunities(23:10) Why service recovery creates guest ambassadors(25:51) Training, retention, and the cost of poor culture(30:10) How technology can make hospitality more human(40:45) Measuring ROI from training and reduced turnover(42:59) How onboarding and licensing work with hotels(45:54) The next five years of hospitality and immersive learning(47:57) What Alison would remove from current training structures(52:18) What “level up” means to Alison(54:43) VR retention rates compared with other training formats(55:36) Free trial and closing thoughts