Traveler’s have a distinct sense of urgency when they arrive at a hotel. The urge to begin vacation immediately preoccupies their mind enticing them to rush to the next part of their trip. Why do so many individuals feel this way? No one will ever be able to get the time back that they spent waiting.
Waiting can occur in many different dimensions: at check-in, for room service, and even time spent looking at local restaurants and their menus. Technology has been able to change or enhance the interactions that occur between the hotel and guests in these situations, but have not reached full usage across the industry. For example, mobile check-in allows travelers to tell the hotel they are ready for their room before they arrive on premise. Attach a mobile key solution with mobile check-in and you are one step closer to creating an end-to-end system. Regardless, time being spent in “waiting” situations cannot be reattained and hotels should utilize technology that enables interactions to occur without much wait.
Mobile Check-In
Waiting lines annoy most everybody. Hotel lobby lines, though, may seem worse. The general anxiousness to start a trip begins early in the guest’s mind, and they would rather not think about the time it takes to get settled into a hotel. Through mobile check-in, hotels have been able to improve their guest experience by eliminating long lines to wait for a room. This technology has also created new ways to utilize the capabilities of the front desk, allowing staff to be more attentive to the needs of the traveler. Some mobile check-in capabilities allow consumers to notify the hotel of their preferences (bed linens, shampoo, towel count, etc.) before they arrive on site. Altogether, mobile check-in technology improves guest satisfaction and leads to other opportunities to better understand who is staying on your site.
Room Service and Requests
As mentioned, room service can be provided before the guest arrives on site. How about when a guest is in their room? Pre-existing concepts have been introduced to the hospitality industry to deliver more immediate and impactful service. These concepts are SMS texting and instant messaging. Although closely related, the two have small distinct differences. However, function primarily the same. Through SMS, guests can be directly interacted with as most every text ever sent has been read. This guarantee means that your chances of reaching a consumer with offers or requests are significantly higher than a phone call or e-mail. Simultaneously, instant messaging offers the same abilities but through another channel. Both guests and hotels can chat on an immediate channel only decreasing the amount of time one must wait to interact. By utilizing similar technologies, hotels can provide room service and status updates that they know will reach their guests.
In-House Revenue
The idea of proximity marketing has been around, as it provides immediate notifications based on locations around the guest’s phone. For example, imagine walking past an in-house restaurant and a notification pops up including a coupon for a free drink and “Click to see the menu”. Instantly, you have the option of seeing what’s on a restaurants menu before you leave the building. One plate catches your eye, and you are sold to go in. With immediate texts or notifications, hotels can convince guests to stay in-house and eat. This immediacy eliminates the time consumer’s need to think about other restaurant decisions while increasing a hotel’s revenue.
Time spent waiting while on vacation cannot be bought back. Often, nuisances interrupt or deter interactions between hotels and guests. However, technology that can put some processes before the stay or immediately in the moment will drive guest satisfaction as they are waiting on less. Implement similar technologies to help drive your real-time interactions with your guest and ensure they don’t leave your premise.
