Whether for business or pleasure, when customers spend the night in a hotel, they want the experience to be as enjoyable as possible. Although training staff to be polite, professional, and courteous will help to achieve a good customer experience, there are also ways that technology can help to enhance and improve their stay.
Here are 4 ways technology can improve the hotel guest experience.
Remote check-in
One of the downsides of staying in a hotel is the check-in process. Depending on how many reception staff there are, guests can be waiting for a considerable time. Not only can this be frustrating, but the wait will be eating into their stay. This is partly why many hotels are veering towards a contactless guest experience.
By using a remote check-in service, guests can provide the hotel with all the necessary information they require and access their rooms using key-less entry – and all without venturing anywhere near the reception desk. Not only does this make for a quicker and happier guest experience, but likely to reduce staff workloads too.
IT facilities
Hotels can make a great deal of income from business guests and so a good broadband connection and fast broadband speeds are essential. If corporate guests are taking part in a conference call, they will not want there to be service interruptions or a lag of any kind.
Just like companies such as Zoom, for example, who enhanced their security posture last year, hotels must review and ensure that their IT security is top-notch. Guests will be using the hotel Wi-Fi regularly and will want reassurance that it’s secure and poses no cyber-security risks. It’s also crucial to ensure that all customer data remains confidential at all times.
Room service
Many hotels still use traditional room service methods, which typically involve a telephone call and long wait. Others, however, have used technology to make this a far more pleasurable experience for guests. By using an app, guests can look at drink and food availability as well as ordering online. Orders are issued directly to the hotel kitchen or bar staff, which speeds up the process considerably.
As well as modernizing the whole experience, it provides guests with a far sleeker means of ordering food and drink when they want to.
Smart room technology
Just like the smart technology we use every day in our homes, many new hotels are being designed and constructed with the same technology. It allows guests to control things like heating, air conditioning, and lighting either from an app on their mobile or from a tablet dedicated to their room. Hotel staff can also use this technology to turn lights on before a guest arrives or set the room temperature in advance of a customer checking in.
Not only does this technology enhance the guest’s comfort, but it can benefit the hotel too. Large hotels can have hundreds of rooms to facilitate at any time, so having the ability to make changes or preparations at the touch of a button could save lots of time and money.
