NEW YORK—Porter & Sail has a new digital app that combines smart mobile functionalities with dynamic, customized city guides. Aimed at leading lifestyle hotels, the app turns guests’ off-property experience into the hotel’s newest amenity. The Porter & Sail app moreover reimagines the city guide concept as a 21st century hotel-guest touch-point; one that speaks directly to the guest, like the concierge used to. Following guests’ activity in app, Porter & Sail can more closely align the hotel and guests’ interests.
“Our curated encounters extend the hotel beyond its walls into the metropolitan landscape, transforming the guest experience both on and off property,” says Caitlin Zaino, co-founder and CEO of Porter & Sail. “By networking the hotel with local experiences, the whole city becomes your resort.”
Wholly independent, insider content comes from local experts and tastemakers on the ground in each destination Porter & Sail covers. Their insights are curated into a city’s most memorable eating, drinking, shopping, arts, and experiences, be it haute or hole-in-the-wall. All writing and photography is original, snapped and penned exclusively for the app.
The app is location and time-sensitive, serving content at just the right time and place. Walk by a Porter & Sail recommendation and an automatic notification is sent, so the best in the city is never missed. At lunchtime, the app’s dynamic feed prompts the traveler to locate the perfect lunch spot. It’s like having the concierge available 24/7 and in your pocket.
Content is data driven and highly actionable. In the app, guests can browse nearby or by neighborhood, read insider tips, favorite a spot, view images, map it, add it to their personalized itinerary, request a restaurant reservation, and call an Uber—anytime and anywhere.
Access to the app is granted exclusively to guests of Porter & Sail’s partner hotels in London, Singapore, Miami, and most recently, Los Angeles. Hotel partners include Soho Beach House in Miami, Town Hall Hotel in London and Naumi in Singapore.
Dedicated city guides for New York City, Tokyo, Milan, and Shanghai are also in the works.
Guests can use the app to explore their hotel, communicate with the front desk, and even check out. And this smart app doesn’t just benefit guests. The Porter & Sail online hotel dashboard puts guest analytics at the fingertips of hotel staff, providing insight into a guest’s off-property behavior—their spending power, interests, and preferences.
Hotel staff use the Porter & Sail dashboard to power hotel-guest communication, manage restaurant reservations, and view profiles, allowing for smarter service and increased guest satisfaction. Through Porter & Sail, the hotel is empowered to better understand their guests and meaningfully connect with them where they are—on their mobile devices.
