INNOVATIONS IN THE HOTEL AND RESTAURANT BUSINESS

Introduction. The hotel and restaurant industry is one of the most dynamic sectors worldwide, constantly evolving in line with changing consumer preferences, technological advancements and economic changes. Innovation in this sector is critical to maintaining competitiveness, improving operational efficiency, improving customer experience and adapting to external challenges such as economic downturns or global health crises. Considering the above, there is an urgent need to improve and adapt the management of innovations in the hotel and restaurant business in today's complex conditions. Purpose. Therefore, taking into account the above, the main goal of this study is not only a comprehensive study of the modern practice of innovation management, but also the determination of the specifics and improvement of the efficiency and selectivity/directedness of the use of innovative technologies by corporations and companies in the field of hotel and restaurant business to increase the overall efficiency, competitiveness and sustainability in crisis conditions. Materials and methods. The research materials are: 1) the author's experience, the author's heuristics, accumulated during the implementation of innovative IT projects in the management of effective and competitive enterprises in various sectors of the economy; 2) statistical reports and industry reviews of domestic and foreign authors conducting scientific and practical research in the field of hotel and restaurant business; 3) works of domestic and foreign authors conducting scientific and practical research in the field of innovative management of the hotel and restaurant business. In the process of carrying out the research, the following scientific methods were used: theoretical generalization and grouping; formalization; analysis and synthesis; logical generalization of the results. Results. The scientific article substantiates the relevance of innovation as an important factor in ensuring the efficiency and competitiveness of the hotel and restaurant business, highlights the main directions of innovation in the hotel and restaurant industry, develops recommendations for ensuring the sustainability and environmental friendliness of innovations in the industry under consideration, proposes applied tasks of innovative investment in the hotel and restaurant industry business in modern conditions, a combination of innovations using Big Data and Machine Learning to create adaptive AI projects in hotel and restaurant projects is proposed. The proposed hybrid methods, technological methods and algorithmic solutions will be relevant and effective not only for hotel and restaurant complexes in the conditions of Ukraine, but in the conditions of other regions and countries with increased investment risks and crisis effects. Discussion. Innovation and crisis management in the hotel and restaurant business are becoming increasingly important, especially in response to the challenges posed by global disruptions such as the COVID-19 pandemic, economic downturns and natural disasters. The hospitality industry is very sensitive to crises and innovation has become a key tool to maintain resilience, adapt to new customer needs and ensure business continuity. As the hospitality industry continues to face challenges such as pandemics, natural disasters and economic instability, integrating innovative solutions will be key to ensuring long-term survival and success. This direction of the author's current research (crisis management in the hotel and restaurant business using modern information technologies) will be presented in the author's next publications.