NEW YORK—ALICE announced a range of advanced feature upgrades for its Housekeeping solution to empower hotel staff with efficiency in managing daily tasks and guest-related requests. With the new enhancements set to be demonstrated at HITEC 2022, the upgrades enable leaner operations capable of sidestepping labor shortage challenges while meeting growing guest expectations for a cleaner and more responsive hotel environment.
The ALICE Housekeeping solution’s latest enhancements include property efficiencies like Turndown Service, a new function that automates the monitoring and assigning of all turndown-related tasks. Eliminating manual processes prone to human error, Turndown Service provides housekeeping staff with a real-time and mobile accessible snapshot of which rooms require a turndown and the level of service required. Turndown Service’s ability to remove guesswork is achieved by integrating with a hotel’s PMS with tasks assigned to housekeepers based on reservation information, such as the reservation status. The feature allows managers to assign and update tasks and monitor the progress of assignments in real-time, regardless of where their housekeeping teams are located.
With housekeeping responsibilities subject to sudden change as guests arrive or leave, Housekeeping also provides supervisors with the ability to reprioritize employee tasks as business needs evolve. Mobile Rooms Reorder sends updates to staff devices, alerting them to a need to refocus their efforts on more pressing assignments. This can include cleaning a room for a guest who has checked in early or a guestroom requiring more intensive cleaning. Mobile Rooms Reorder allows managers to reprioritize cleaning rooms based on guestroom type.
“Hotel housekeeping departments are essential to providing guests with exceptional experiences and a clean and safe environment. However, our industry is going through a historic labor shortage, the cost of labor is higher than ever, and labor experience levels are at an all-time low,” said Jason Luo, CEO of ALICE. “Our Housekeeping solution directly addresses the labor challenges faced by hoteliers. It leads to higher team productivity and team member eNPS while providing visibility and accountability to ensure no guest expectation is missed. By providing a single comprehensive tool featuring real-time updates and seamless two-way communication, we look forward to demonstrating to our customers and HITEC attendees how operational complexities that stand in the way of running a streamlined, adaptive, and successful hotel operation can be overcome.”
Also new to Housekeeping is the ability to track and manage requests for extra guestroom items, including foldout beds, cribs, or exercise equipment. With guests frequently becoming frustrated due to item delivery delays, the new Housekeeping feature prevents housekeeping staff from wasting time searching for items by providing real-time visibility into the precise location of a requested amenity. In addition, by fully digitizing the process, employees can also determine available inventory levels to ensure a swift response to guest requests.
Further increasing housekeeping efficiency is the upcoming Connecting Rooms release, allowing employees to identify which guestroom connecting doors are being used by guests traveling within the same party. Accessible via an employee’s device and with user-friendly icons that depict which guestrooms have been merged, Connecting Rooms ensures that staff always know how to best approach room cleaning assignments to ensure maximum efficiency. Using the additional new feature, Return Later, employees can even prevent housekeeping tasks from slipping under the radar whenever a guest requests services to be performed later.
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