MCLEAN, Virginia—It’s 3 p.m. on a Monday at Homewood Suites Largo Washington D.C., arguably one of the busiest times for this hotel’s lobby. A guest, having checked in on Sunday, would like to inquire about dinner reservations. They approach the front desk. Although the hotel is at capacity, there is no line. The guest is welcomed personally by a smiling Hilton team member, who has time to ask about their preferences, dining style, and more before making a recommendation.
This in-person connection is enabled by a new cloud-based hotel property engagement platform (PEP), co-developed by Hilton and HotelKey, now powering more than 1,000 properties within the Hilton portfolio. The platform’s ability to help computer-based transactions at the front desk and throughout the hotel can reduce guest wait times and increase the amount of time hotel team members can put toward providing personalized service.
Homewood Suites Largo Washington D.C. is one of the first hotels in Hilton’s portfolio to implement PEP and is a testbed for the project rollout, which will reach more than 7,000 hotels worldwide over the next three years.
“Since implementing the PEP solution in early 2022, we rarely have a line at our front desk, allowing us to spend more time connecting with our guests,” said Andron Gordon, general manager, Homewood Suites by Hilton Largo Washington D.C. “Our regular, extended stay guests are even noticing the dramatic changes in efficiency. We are huge fans of PEP.”
Gordon credits the platform with reducing the amount of time for team-member training and day-to-day technology and billing errors as well as enabling more time to build relationships with their guests.
According to a recent Hilton report, “The 2023 Traveler: Emerging Trends that are Innovating the Travel Experience,” more than half (56 percent) of consumers planning travel in 2023 said they want an easier travel experience this year. PEP, which was co-created with Hilton for use at Hilton properties, enables the company to incorporate software solutions to streamline operations, address guest and team member needs, and identify cost efficiencies within one platform that can be scaled worldwide. The collaboration will improve the guest experience across Hilton’s 19 brands and reduce team member upfront property management system training efforts from 40 hours to 4 hours, by providing access to HotelKey’s TrainKey solution.
“As a business of people serving people, we’re always looking for ways to deploy solutions that meet the evolving needs of our team members and our guests,” said Michael Leidinger, senior vice president and chief information officer, Hilton. “In addition to benefiting from our new property engagement platform, to achieve a more frictionless travel experience, guests can also engage in our other industry-leading digital innovations, such as enhanced booking options, Digital Key and Digital Key Share through the Hilton Honors app, and personalized in-room technology.”
Fareed Ahmad, co-founder and chief executive officer at HotelKey added, “Our partnership with Hilton is a testament to our hospitality platform technology and capabilities that allow a single property platform to serve many distinct brands across the globe. This engagement also highlights our partnership approach to integrate our technology as a part of the broader workflows of a large hotel enterprise.”
HotelKey Co-founder Aditya Thyagarajan said, “We are enthusiastic about the new ground being blazed by our collaboration and look forward to a long partnership with Hilton to complete the deployment of our Hospitality Management Platform across their global portfolio.”
