40-Hour Workweek in 2027 Will Speed Up Robots and AI in Hotels, IMEF Says

Cancún, Quintana Roo — Mexico’s shift to a 40-hour workweek in 2027 will push hotels to speed up automation, deploying robots and artificial intelligence to keep costs down, the head of a leading business group said.

Ángel Gerardo Dzib Flores, president of the IMEF (Mexican Institute of Finance Executives), said employees will work two fewer hours a week starting next year, a change that will hit the tourism sector particularly hard. Companies are already adopting AI to automate tasks, and the shorter workweek is expected to accelerate that substitution.

Digitalization and artificial intelligence will take on a central role, he said. Marketing, customer service, reservations, cleaning and other repetitive tasks now handled by operational staff can be moved to automated platforms.

“We’re already seeing robots cleaning hotels, and we’ll be seeing that more often,” Dzib Flores said.

The change is not only regulatory but operational, he warned. Beyond the added cost, employers will have to put digital entry and exit controls in place to prove they are complying with each employee’s schedule, which means investment in systems and closer administrative oversight.

At companies with 500 workers — common in Cancún and the Riviera Maya — the impact will be felt immediately: fewer hours available, a need to reorganize shifts and staffing, and lower tip income, one of the main components of earnings for workers in the tourism sector.

While business groups applaud the push for dignified working hours, hoteliers will look for ways to offset the cost and maximize their profits, Dzib Flores said.

He added that the tourism sector, which brings in foreign currency, could cushion part of the blow from the peso’s depreciation — expected to close the year near or above 18 pesos per dollar and edge slightly higher in 2027 — but that 2027 will still bring major challenges in labor costs and technology adoption.