Technology both facilitates hotel operations and enhances the guest experience, but it is the latter area that has seen the most advancements coming out of the pandemic. The staffing shortage existed pre-pandemic, and so did software that automated operations to assist with that shortage. As INTELITY CEO Robert Stevenson observes, “While there has been a more recent uptick in the importance of staff-oriented software, the fundamental tools have been around for many years.”
But when people resumed traveling, contactless transactions were in high demand and have become an expectation for hotel stays. The convenience of those transactions—from mobile check in/out to mobile dining orders—are a major part of today’s guest experience. “The pandemic was a primary driver of digitizing the hotel guest experience,” maintains Sharat Potharaju, founder and CEO, Beaconstac. “Hotels had to incorporate mobile and touchless technology solutions to protect guests and staff. And now, flexible options, like remote check ins, remain an essential guest expectation. Today, nearly three-quarters of travelers prefer hotels offering self-service options to minimize contact with other guests and staff.”
Competition from short-term rentals and alternative lodging products has also pushed hoteliers to upgrade the digital experience for their customers. “From a lodging standpoint, hotels predominantly used to be the only kind of product in town, and that has really changed over the last decade,” notes Harman Singh Narula, co-founder, Canary Technologies. He explains that companies like Airbnb, for example, feature the latest technology for guests and have raised the bar on the digital experience.
With the realization that all guests are expecting more mobile transactions, the rise of digitization has extended to properties across all chain scales. “From a segmentation standpoint, we’ve seen a strong adoption at the upscale and luxury levels, but with a more noticeable increase at the mid-market and limited-service areas in the last two or three years, especially through the pandemic,” says Stevenson. “That said, as contactless check in and keyless entry become more widely embraced, we anticipate mid-market and budget-level brands will continue to adopt this technology in greater numbers over the next few years. Like it or not, the pandemic taught everyone on the planet that their mobile phone can be homebase for just about everything one might need to do in a day, and that trend is not reversing anytime soon.”
The Scope of Digitization
That “homebase” is becoming active throughout the entire guest journey, with contactless check in being just one of many stages. As Narula describes, “Every touchpoint that the hotel can have with a guest after the booking is now a part of the guest journey: confirmation, pre-arrival messaging, mobile check in, requests that guests might make pre check out, mobile check out, a post-check out message, etc.” For hoteliers who have the goal of digitizing the full journey, it’s ideal to work with a vendor whose solution offers the full gamut of services. “Make sure you work with somebody that can provide you the full platform, end to end, whether that’s mobile check in, digital tipping, upselling, messaging, mobile check out, and the list goes on,” Narula recommends. “That way, it’s all interconnected and you don’t have [different vendors] providing different pieces of the journey.”
Of course, working with a comprehensive solution provider does not preclude a more piecemeal adoption of the services, where a hotelier begins by exploring certain digital initiatives. “If the hotel says, ‘Hey, I want to start with mobile check in and check out and see the impact that’s making and then decide whether to layer on additional pieces, that’s great,” says Narula. “It’s just an adoption curve, and some hoteliers have a ‘crawl, walk, run’ type mentality around it. Others say, ‘I know I’m going to need the full platform.’ It’s just different approaches.” But even those who begin with a full platform should be ready to scale up when new forms of digitization become popular. “Digital tipping is something that’s really important for folks in North America, especially right now. But in six to eight months, there will be additional things that are really important as well. And so, working with somebody that has the capabilities and the resourcing to be able to have a rapid pace of iteration is key,” Narula explains.
A Wellspring of Analytics
Apart from enhancing convenience for guests and meeting their expectations, digitization greatly facilitates the collection of data on guest preferences. The platforms generate customizable reports that enable hoteliers to adjust their offerings according to the results. For Narula, this benefit of digitization is “phenomenally important. It’s one of the things that we talk about a lot with our customers because they’re collecting such great data that can then help improve their operations,” he says. “One of the key pieces that hoteliers will think about on the ancillary spend side, especially at the enterprise level, is, what are the top ancillary items that guests are buying? What time of day are they buying those things? And then they’ll take that knowledge and implement it across their portfolio.”
Stevenson gives an example of INTELITY’s partnering with clients to develop guest analytics. “We’ve worked closely with several smaller brands, including one that operates several hotels in the Midwest that is obsessed with tracking its data. Using the INTELITY platform, this brand group has been able to analyze its guests’ behaviors to optimize mobile check in and improve non-room revenue in multiple areas, including valet parking and onsite dining,” he relates. “Many other hotels and independents have used our dining and services data to optimize their offerings, including descriptions, call-to-actions for upsell, pricing, and more. Typically, we see large improvements on a first pass using data optimization against most services.”
And not to be overlooked is the security benefit of digitally collecting data on guests. “Security compliance fraud prevention also comes into play here,” Narula adds. “When collecting information from the guest digitally, it allows for more security validation. This is something that especially the limited-service hotels deal with a lot—fraudulent bookings and so forth.” Improving Profitability
The goal of better tailoring offerings to guests is ultimately to drive revenue, which demonstrates the ROI of a guest management platform. Increased ancillary spend is a major component of that return. For example, Canary reports that hotels upselling via its platform have seen a 40 percent increase in ancillary revenue, and INTELITY reports that the clients who have implemented the company’s mobile app see a 25 percent to 30 percent increase in their in-room dining sales.
Regarding the latter statistic, “there are several factors that contribute to this increase that we have observed and compared data on over the years,” says Stevenson. “First, the casual nature of ordering from an app feels familiar to guests who have grown accustomed to ordering takeout using popular delivery apps. Additionally, guests who might want to order just a single slice of cake or a glass of wine while they watch TV can quickly do so without picking up the phone and waiting on hold to speak with a team member. In that vein, we’ve noticed guests who might have a larger appetite are less likely to feel ‘judged’ on their order if they place it through a digital platform versus in person or on a call.” Upselling to diners via the app also explains the rise in in-room dining revenue. “The ability to automatically suggest, without fail on a digital platform, a side of mashed potatoes or a glass of Cabernet when a guest orders a steak leads to an increase in add-on orders,” he says. “Lastly, for those traveling outside the country, ordering digitally helps eliminate language barrier issues that might deter a guest from making a full or complex in-person order.”
Revenue advantages can also come from implementing in-room guest tablets in addition to a mobile app. While both devices offer similarly functionality, guest perceive their utility differently. “We’ve found that the browsing of dining menus, retail offerings, or other similar amenities is more heavily consumed on smart-room tablets because the context to the guest is more about experiencing the resort,” Stevenson explains. “Digital compendiums are also heavily used. Although mobile apps support these functions, guests tend to see them as more transactional and communication focused; for example, as a means to check in or update the guest’s card on file.”
Optimizing Operations
Guests’ digital interactions with staff tend to be faster and more efficient than those conducted over the phone. And while saving staff time has always been important, the priority has increased since the staffing shortage began. “Each and every guest interaction takes time,” says Stevenson. “Take in-room dining, for example. A hotel team member needs to answer the phone, receive the order details from the guest, suggest additional items to add to the order, and then notify the kitchen either directly or through the POS system. In just this simple interaction, many accidental mistakes can be made by the team member, especially if they’re very busy and task-switching. Even if the dining order takes five minutes to reach the kitchen, this process, compounded by hundreds, if not thousands, of interactions a day, leads to valuable time lost.” The point applies to numerous other guest/staff interactions beyond dining. “Think about all the other types of simple requests, such as a maintenance request, scheduling a spa appointment, or requesting valet services. Although these might appear to be short interactions, they have a compounding effect on the back-of-house team’s time,” he says. “And from the manager’s perspective, these solutions save time because they’re able to easily track exactly how their staff is performing on a daily basis.”
Staff training on the platform will of course be needed, but the time investment is relatively minimal, especially considering the payoff. “Getting the operations and workflow set up might take a little bit of time upfront, but this time investment pays off in dividends once it’s easily integrated into a property’s workflow,” Stevenson explains. “INTELITY works directly with managers and team leads to ensure a smooth training process to get up-and-running on the software as efficiently as possible.
Canary also provides robust support to customers during onboarding and beyond. “We take care of a lot of the setup configuration for a hotel prior to them even getting on a training program, and then we manage the training for them,” Narula explains. “We also spend a lot of time making sure that our tools are simple and straightforward for hotelier teams. There is a decent amount of turnover in the hotel space, and so you want people to be able to get up and running on the solutions quickly and easily.”
The Evolving Digital Guest Journey
New technologies continue to enhance the digital guest journey, two recent examples being facial recognition and artificial intelligence (AI). “At INTELITY, we’ve already incorporated technologies such as facial recognition into our platform,” says Stevenson. “For instance, our partnership with Incode ensures a more fluid mobile check-in process utilizing facial recognition to provide a safe, secure, and reliable check-in workflow by fulfilling the hotel’s ID verification requirements. Additionally, AI can be used to review a hotel’s performing or underperforming options—such as in-room dining—and automatically optimize or suggest menu improvement options. Dining price elasticity can also be computed using AI.”
Looking to the future, Stevenson suggests that “these types of technologies will become more commonplace in the hospitality industry to drive improvements in the guest experience and solve gaps in staff operational workflows.” Hoteliers, staff, and guests can thus look forward to a hotel tech infrastructure that makes their lives easier and even more productive.
QR Code Strategy: Getting the Most Out of This Popular Tool
QR (quick response) codes are proliferating in hotels today, with room key and menu applications just scratching the surface of what this tool can offer. “QR codes ease the burden of daily operations while helping hotels deliver exceptional guest service,” says Sharat Potharaju, founder and CEO, Beaconstac. “More and more hotels will use dynamic QR codes, which are editable, customizable, and measurable, to streamline the check-in process, reward loyalty members, collect payments, and gather guest feedback.” Potharaju discusses specific QR code uses in more depth:
- Providing information: “Hoteliers can replace in-room guest information folders with QR codes. Once scanned, QR codes can include WiFi passwords, check-in and check-out times, pool hours, coffee machine instructions, locations of extra pillows and blankets, and information about area spas, restaurants, and tourist attractions.”
- Room service ordering: “Hotels can deploy QR codes for guests to access the room service menu and order. This self-service approach improves accuracy by reducing potential misunderstandings between guests and staff. QR codes also shrink printing costs because hotels don’t have to replace physical in-room menus to reflect price or dish changes.”
- Collecting feedback: “The hospitality industry relies on customer feedback to deliver the best experience for their guests. Typically, hotels leave paper feedback forms at the front desk for guests to complete before checking out. Instead, hotels can post QR codes throughout the hotel (e.g., at the front desk, near the elevators, and in rooms) for customers to scan and provide a review when most convenient. Hotels can analyze collected data to generate insights and fine-tune services based on feedback.”
- Loyalty and promotions: “QR codes can direct guests to enroll in hotel loyalty programs or download apps. To add more incentive, hotels could consider providing additional discounts to customers using a QR code to sign up for a loyalty program. Hotels can also use QR codes to retain customers after they’ve left the property. When guests scan a QR code, hotels can add them to a retargeting list. Promotional advertisements for that particular hotel will appear on platforms the customer uses, like Google and Facebook.” Last but not least is the sustainability benefit of deploying QR codes. “To appeal to sustainability-conscious guests, more hotels will replace paper printouts at check in or check out with QR codes acting as digital receipts,” Potharaju predicts.
