The Tricycle of Guest Service Excellence: A Perfect Model For Remarkable Experiences
Doug Kennedy | October 4th, 2024
The Art of a Great Arrival for Luxury Hotels
Adam and Larry Mogelonsky | May 22nd, 2024
DAZN Selects PPDS – Teaming Up to Bring the World’s Largest Sports Streaming Platform to Hotel Rooms Exclusively on Philips MediaSuite TVs
PPDS | February 1, 2024
New partnership sees Philips MediaSuite from PPDS become the first dedicated hospitality TV to feature the DAZN app – used by more than 300 million people monthly – bringing more than 30,000 live sports and entertainment events to hotel rooms around the world, for the first time. PPDS is delighted to announce a new partnership with DAZN – the world’s leading sports entertainment platform and Europe’s largest football broadcaster – to bring its live and on-demand content streaming services into hotel guest rooms for the first time, exclusively via Philips MediaSuite hospitality TVs. Set to be unveiled an...
Prime Time for Service Robots
PolyU’s School of Hotel and Tourism Management | January 31, 2024
The COVID-19 pandemic catapulted the hospitality industry into a more digitised future. Coupled with the vast social changes and prominent safety concerns, this wave of technological innovation could transform the hospitality workforce, according to Professor Seongseop (Sam) Kim of the School of Hotel and Tourism Management (SHTM) at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University and co-authors. Service robots could solve many of the safety concerns felt to this day, but how are they perceived by customers? To probe these issues in more depth, the researchers investigated how feelings of safety and the intention to visit an establishment are shaped by ...
How Centralized Data Powers Sonesta’s Award-Winning Loyalty Program
Hapi | January 29, 2024
After growing through acquisition, Sonesta turned to Hapi to centralize and normalize guest data from multiple Property Management Systems across its various brands in real-time, which will power a new Customer Data Platform. Boston-based Sonesta International Hotels was founded nearly 100 years ago, but it was just over the past few years that Sonesta kickstarted its growth trajectory to becoming a global hotel powerhouse. Even before the acquisition of Red Lion Hotels in 2021, which added more than 1,000 franchised and managed properties and pushed Sonesta over the 1,200 properties mark, Sonesta had standout hotels in Los Angeles, Chicag...
“We Deliver Amazing Customer Service”: The Difference Between Perception and Reality
Shep Hyken | January 25, 2024
By Shep Hyken This is an important topic that every CEO, business owner, leader, manager, and supervisor must understand. When it comes to customer service and customer experience (CX), there is a difference between perception and reality. First, how we think our customers perceive our customer service and CX is often not the reality. It’s just our perception. Reality isn’t what we think or believe. It’s what our customers say. Often, there is a big difference between our perception and the reality of our customers’ experiences. Some may be saying, “Shep, you’ve covered this before.” Yes, however, it is worth cove...
InnSpire Partnership With RealTime Reservation Empowers Hotel Guests With Seamless Control of Their Property-Wide Stay Experience
InnSpire | January 24, 2024
New technology integration creates a unified booking experience for all property amenities, from F&B to beach chairs, pool cabanas, services and experiences. Stockholm & Washington DC – January 24, 2024 – InnSpire, the leading provider of innovative hospitality technology solutions that help drive seamless, world-class guest experiences for some of the world’s most iconic hotels and brands, has announced a strategic partnership with RealTime Reservation (RTR), a centralized inventory control and management platform that assists hotels in maximizing ancillary revenue from services and amenities. The new partnership integrates...
7 Ways QR Codes Can Revolutionize the Hotel Guest Experience in 2024
Sharat Potharaju | January 22, 2024
By Sharat Potharaju Modern hotel guests expect efficient, personalized, and tech-enabled services throughout their stays. Nearly 40% of travelers would even opt for entirely self-service accommodations and no staff interactions except by request. Innovative technologies, like QR codes, present the perfect solution to meet and exceed rising expectations while driving revenue and loyalty. A simple smartphone scan bridges the physical and digital, unlocking convenience, customization, and satisfaction from check-in to check-out. To revolutionize the guest experience in 2024, consider these seven QR code use cases. Speed up check-in a...
“We Deliver Amazing Customer Service”: The Difference Between Perception and Reality / Shep Hyken
Shep Hyken | January 18, 2024
This is an important topic that every CEO, business owner, leader, manager, and supervisor must understand. When it comes to customer service and customer experience (CX), there is a difference between perception and reality. First, how we think our customers perceive our customer service and CX is often not the reality. It’s just our perception. Reality isn’t what we think or believe. It’s what our customers say. Often, there is a big difference between our perception and the reality of our customers’ experiences. Some may be saying, “Shep, you’ve covered this before.” Yes, however, it is worth covering again, espec...
Ten Room Features to Help Guests With Insomnia Conditions
Adam and Larry Mogelonsky | January 17, 2024
By Adam Mogelonsky, Larry Mogelonsky Sleep tourism is in vogue and will be for quite some time because many travelers now value getting good sleep to prioritize their health and wellbeing. With that in mind, we can look beyond just some of the fancier amenities that hotels are developing and look more specifically at insomnia-like conditions with these ten features. With a big emphasis to start, both of us are not trained medical professionals. These ten features are ideas that we’ve come up with after reading extensively on the root causes of insomnia and how hotel guestrooms or hotel spaces can be redesigned in a value-engineered wa...
Three Customer Service Lessons from a World Traveler
Shep Hyken | January 11, 2024
By Shep Hyken I’m always looking for good customer service stories that teach or remind us about creating an amazing customer experience. I experienced something worth sharing recently, and we can take at least three lessons from it. I booked an international trip for a speaking engagement. On the day of departure, I was dropped off at the airport and went directly to the ticket counter. It would take two flights on two airlines to get to where I was going, so I expected two boarding passes. The agent only gave me one and told me to get the next boarding pass when I landed. I’ve done this many times before and never had tro...
Newly Opened Mondrian Cannes Partners With InnSpire to Offer Guests Unmatched In-Room TV and Entertainment Solutions
InnSpire | January 10, 2024
Luxury French Riviera property deploys InnSpire’s IPTV and in-room entertainment technology platform to enhance guest satisfaction and offer flexible viewing options. Stockholm & Washington DC – January 10, 2024 – InnSpire, the leading provider of innovative hospitality technology solutions that help drive seamless, world-class guest experiences for some of the world’s most iconic hotels and brands, has announced that its advanced IPTV, InnSmart and Proxy Casting guestroom entertainment solutions have been implemented at the newly renovated historic property that opened as Mondrian Cannes in March 2023. The first Mondrian ho...
The Ashbrooke Hotel Delivers Ultimate in Guestroom Experience Personalization With GuestCast Streaming Platform
Hotel Internet Services, Inc. | January 9, 2024
Premier adults only destination ensures visiting guests can instantly and effortlessly customize television content to align with individual preferences. EGG HARBOR, Wis. — January 9, 2024 — Hotel Internet Services (HIS), a full-service provider of internet services and solutions for the hospitality industry, has been credited with enhancing the quality of in-room entertainment experiences at The Ashbrooke Hotel with the deployment of its GuestCast streaming solution. A luxury property located in Wisconsin that specializes in serving as an adults only retreat, The Ashbrooke Hotel with GuestCast is now able to ensure that visiting...
AI + Hotels = An Ideal Guest Experience
SHIFT DIGITAL | January 8, 2024
AI is changing how hotels operate and, consequently, transforming the customer experience into one that’s customized, elevated, and, frankly, top-notch. Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly transforming industries across the board, and the hospitality industry is no exception. From streamlining operations and reducing costs to improving customer experiences, AI is solving workforce and technology challenges for the hospitality industry while meeting ever evolving (and high!) customer expectations. Part one of Shift’s three-part blog series examines how the hospitality industry uses AI to enhance the customer experience. By seaml...
Top Customer Service and CX Predictions and Trends for 2024
Shep Hyken | January 4, 2024
By Shep Hyken Happy New Year! What’s 2024 going to be like? I recently wrote two articles in my weekly Forbes column with my top predictions and trends for customer service and customer experience. I’ve taken five of my favorites from the list to share here in The Shepard Letter. Here are my top predictions for 2024. You can simply read these predictions or take action on them. (I hope you choose to take action!) So, here are my top predictions for 2024. 1. Smarter Customers This is the same prediction I’ve started with for several years. Our customers are smarter than they were last year (again). They no longer compare ...
Do More In ‘24: Ten Customer Service and CX Tips for the New Year
Shep Hyken | January 2, 2024
By Shep Hyken Happy New Year! I want this year to be your best year ever for creating amazing customer service and experiences. And for everything else, too! But as it applies to the customer experience, I thought it would be fun to share some ideas we need to do more of. With that, here are 10 ideas. Many, if not all, will apply to you and your business. Do more in 24! 1. Be more responsive – We start with one of my favorites. How fast do you respond to customers? Trust me, the faster you respond, the better. Customers appreciate a quick response. I often joke about a company that took four days to get back to me with an ans...
Technostress and the Guest Experience, Part 2
Fran Worrall | December 21, 2023
By Fran Worrall Last week, in part 1 of this two-part series, Hotel Online talked with Samuel Lee, Ph.D., professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), about technostress and the guest experience. Lee, a faculty member at UNLV’s William F. Harrah College of Hospitality, led a research team that co-authored a groundbreaking study entitled Technostress and Hotel Guests: A Mere Hurdle or a Major Friction Point?, which examines the anxiety hospitality consumers experience as a consequence of technology use. The study is among the first to explore the concept of technostress in consumer behavior, namely hotel guests, as opposed to ...
Customer Service Management With a People-First Hospitality Touch
Meygan Gerber | December 19, 2023
By Meygan Gerber Are your customers receiving excellent service? How can you be sure? These questions are a good place to start when examining one of the most influential aspects of business success: customer service management. In today’s business world, companies that prioritize customer satisfaction and build their strategies around people achieve higher profitability and brand loyalty. In this article, we will explore the importance of people-centricity in customer service management and how it can be applied to improve customer experiences. We will also discuss practical approaches to gathering customer feedback and how a hospit...
INTELITY Announces Steve Proctor as CEO to Lead Turnaround and Modernization of Hospitality Tech Platform
INTELITY | December 15, 2023
Amidst raise of $5 million in strategic growth capital for company Orlando, FL (December 15, 2023) – INTELITY®, provider of hospitality’s leading guest experience and staff management platform, has secured $5 million in strategic growth capital inclusive of LLR Partners and SaaS industry veterans Steve Proctor and Tim Stafford. Proctor has been named Chief Executive Officer and brings more than 25 years of experience in the software industry to INTELITY, where he will focus on modernization and product innovation that customers expect in the industry leading tech platform. Proctor joins INTELITY with prior distinguished performance...
The Link Between Sales and Customer Experience
Shep Hyken | December 14, 2023
By Shep Hyken Customer service and customer experience (CX) are more than what happens after the sale. It’s not just a department to call when there is a problem. It actually begins long before a customer ever makes a purchase. Then, there’s the experience during the sales process and what happens after the sale, which could include a typical customer support call and more. Every interaction the customer has with us, from learning about our company, our marketing messages, the sales experience and then anything after the sale, is all part of the customer experience. I’m often asked to be the keynote speaker at sales meetings. ...
Technostress and the Guest Experience, Part 1
Fran Worrall | December 14, 2023
By Fran Worrall The hospitality industry is increasingly dependent on technology to enhance the guest journey. Indeed, in recent years, hotels have allocated enormous financial investments to the implementation of solutions—from mobile keys to self-service kiosks--designed to streamline the delivery of guest services. Technology is changing the face of the industry, but at what cost? In many cases, it enhances the guest journey; yet in other cases, it introduces challenges that frustrate consumers and lead to dissatisfaction. Last year, Samuel Lee, Ph.D., Mehmet Erdem, Ph.D., Eda Anlamlier, Ph.D., Chih-Chien Chen, Ph.D., Billy Bai, Ph...
Decoding the Modern Guest Journey: Here’s How Hoteliers Can Stay Competitive
Joe Vargas | December 12, 2023
By Joe Vargas When booking hotels, guest journeys look very different now than they did just a few years ago. Mobile-centric consumers and ever-evolving expectations for more options transform linear touchpoints into more dynamic experiences. Guest values and social influence also play a greater role, with social media outpacing agents, publications, and entertainment as the main source of travel inspiration. Hotels still relying on outdated solutions and infrastructure designed for linear journeys of the past don’t just risk losing satisfaction and loyalty. They also miss out on accessing key guest insights—information that will he...
Customer Service Excellence in the Luxury Segment: How To Stand Out
EHL | December 11, 2023
By Breandan Ritaine In this article, we shine a light on: Consumer trends that are transforming the luxury segment The ten commandments of luxury brand service strategy Practical ways to build customer service excellence Relevant KPIs to measure customer experience in the luxury segment The luxury sector is growing steadily and creating great opportunities for brands to enter the market or grow their audience. But it’s no longer all about being flashy and pricey, today’s luxury shopper is more influenced by personalization, innovation, conscious consumerism, and an emotional experience. So while today’s luxury industry...
Win the Customer, Not the Argument
Shep Hyken | December 7, 2023
By Shep Hyken In a confrontation with a customer, you have a goal: win the customer, not the argument. I’ve written about this before, and it’s worth coming back to this topic from another angle with a different example. First, an interaction with a customer should never result in an argument. The best people in customer service, sales, or any frontline customer-facing job avoid escalating a confrontation to the level of a dispute. Instead, the best people de-escalate a confrontation to a mutually agreeable solution. Here’s what I witnessed this week. I was on a plane and noticed that the flight attendant greeting pass...
Doug Kennedy Announces Next Topic in His Webcast Training Series: Hospitality Training: 12 Steps to Reclaiming Your Spirit of Hospitality From the Gra
Doug Kennedy | December 5, 2023
Complimentary Registration Sponsored By Travel Outlook, Better Talent, and Track Hospitality Software Kennedy Training Network Inc. (KTN) announced today the topic for Doug Kennedy’s next training webcast. This month’s topic rotates back to hospitality, and it is one that a lot of our participants can relate to: 12 Steps to Reclaiming Your Spirit of Hospitality From The Grasp Of Cynicism scheduled for Monday, December 18, from Noon – 12:40pm EDT. REGISTER HERE “As we look to the start of a new year and reflect on a string of several of the most stressful years in the history of the lodging industry, I hope to remind us all why we...
Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Year for 2023 Is “Authentic”: Is Being So More Important Than Ever Before to Our Guests?
Doug Kennedy | December 4, 2023
By Doug Kennedy As the final days of slip away, how interesting it is that Merriam-Webster’s “Word of the Year” for 2023 is “Authentic,” meaning it was the “most searched” on their site. Because I failed miserably at learning a second language, I have become somewhat of an Etymologist, so I was eager to see how Merriam Webster defined it in their announcement. “Authentic has a number of meanings including ‘not false or imitation,’ a synonym of real and actual; and also ‘true to one’s own personality, spirit, or character.’” To me, this year’s announcement seems even more interesting, since 2022’s most sea...
