Tourism and the hotel industry is constantly changing, and not just because of current health and safety regulations but also on offering seamless guest experience by offering automation.
Guest writer Flora Keresztely from GuestJoy shares her tips. Let’s go beyond the pandemic this time.
While it is clear that it hit the hospitality industry severely, there is a lot more to what guests need and what they expect on their next vacation.
High-tech hotels with an automated & seamless guest experience should be the new normal as this will be in need for the long term in the hospitality industry.
Not just because of safety, but because it’s modern, fast, and spares your personnel from repetitive tasks. Look further than just “Let’s put hand sanitizer in the lobby”; the high-touch, high-contact places need to be rethought and modernized.
Not exclusively because of health and safety protocols, but because people hate queuing, and due to the pandemic these places have become psychologically unattractive.
Automation is here. Most hospitality companies have developed their response and offer guest communication tools, online-check in, and key cards to hotel rooms to make seamless customer experience as modern as possible. Lets further discuss some key thing you can implement at your property if you haven’t yet:
1. Guest communication is key.
Visitors need to know about local and hotel safety measures, and they need an easy way to communicate with the hotel regarding cancellations and special requests.
Beforehand customer engagement is a great way to communicate before your guests arrive. The best way for this is a pre-arrival email or personalized text message. Be clear about your cancellation policies to avoid confusion.
2. Contactless check-in is now also possible.
Enable your guest to securely provide their data. It can be facilitated with a pre-arrival email or with a hotel mobile app. No need to queue up at the reception front desk and fill out paper-based forms.
This is a modern solution for hospitality that’s a must-have these days for any hotel. As our data shows, a year ago upselling was the most used feature of a hotel, now check-in has become the most popular online activity for guests.
Data Courtesy: GuestJoy
And don’t be afraid to try this out – remember, people have been using keycards to access their workplaces for years now, so it’s not something drastically new that could scare your guests.
4. Food and Lobby areas.
These are also included in the high-touch communals, make sure you have alternative options for those guests who would like to order something but wouldn’t compromise their own safety.
This could be drink and snack deliveries to the room (room service) or uber eat style breakfast/dinner box. Offering the F&B service outside the guest doors is a good option instead of wasting costs on the buffet spread out.
5. Feedback.
I’m sure you are eager to know whether your hotel was up to standard.
But these days online reputation is key; countless surveys show that besides the restrictions, guests chose their accommodation according to how safe they felt, and how the property presented itself online.
If you have a communication tool you can always gather feedback/customer satisfaction from your visitors and boost your online reputation with a few clicks. Tripadvisor renewed their feedback collecting system and it puts an emphasis on automation and COVID related safety.
All these trends will ensure guest and staff safety, modernise and enhance your guests’ experience, and lift a tremendous amount of labour off your personnel’s shoulders.
The technology is there; any hotel can have customised online guest communication and check-in, adding an entry card service.
Contactless experiences are, all things considered, superior in this day and age, because they’re technologically more advanced, safe, seamless, and fast.
This article has been written by guest writer Flora Keresztely.
About the Guest Writer
