With modern technology, you have the power to make check-out queues a thing of the past.

It’s the same with check-in. Did you know that Americans forced to wait five minutes will knock 50 points off a guest satisfaction score (out of 100)? With safety fears uppermost in many people’s minds who knows what that score will be if people have to wait with strangers in the near future?

Integrating tech for a better guest experience

To reduce hanging around time, self-service kiosks are becoming more widespread in hotel lobbies, even luxury ones. Every individual is different so while some will want to chat to reception desk staff, others are happy to talk to the tech. Remember, just because it’s not a person it can still be personal. Integrate your CRM system so each guest has a personalised message. This is especially important for your loyal, frequent visitors. Why not reward them with a room upgrade?

The personal touch can be extended to other tech offerings. Some high-end hotel chains use mobile apps with a chat mode offering dozens of languages. Guests feel more at home when they can express themselves in their mother tongue.

It's estimated that nine times out of ten the requests front desk staff deal with are the same. A chat-bot can provide instant answers, freeing-up busy reception workers time to spend on more complex issues. It turns out more of us are happier talking or texting someone or something than a real-life chat over a phone.

Automating day-to-day tasks may be a saviour if you are struggling to recruit or retain staff, as some areas of hospitality are already reporting. It allows you to redeploy your highly trained staff elsewhere where they can add more value.

The good news is that your guests are much more digitally aware now than they were pre-pandemic. They’ve grown used to one-click checkouts and contactless payments, so they’ll be more accepting, and frankly grateful, to have the same smooth process

in your establishments.

In other words, they are more savvy. A digitally encrypted key on their smartphone or watch to unlock their room, won’t phase them. They’ll be pleased they haven’t got a real key or key-card to lose.

Making payments easier

Guests want payments to be easy. They don’t want to keep getting their cards out when the stay. They are more open to the idea of presenting the card once and the hotel storing the details on file, as long as this is done securely.  Tokenisation allows them to do this.

Encrypt a guest’s payment details on any token with near field communication (NFC), like a card or a bracelet, and they can pay with this around the hotel without having to remember their room number, sign a bill or pull a card out of their wallet or purse. Painless and let’s face it, it’s much easier to buy another drink when the credit card is out of sight. By the way tokenisation is another way to let your guests avoid check-out queues.

Tokens also allow you to track your guests; to see where, how much, and on what they’re spending their money in real-time across the hotel. It’s the ID that links all the data together, which then allows you to reward guests with discounts, loyalty points and special offers.

The adoption of new payment methods has astonished industry observers, who believe we’ve leap-frogged five years in just a few months. So, it’s vital your payment moments live up to expectations. As international travel resumes (fingers crossed) you’ll put a smile on the faces of your guests if they can pay the way they want to. For instance, the vast majority of Chinese customers will expect to be able to settle up with WeChat Pay, Alipay or UnionPay.

Also, Currency Conversion is a great way to let guests feel they are in control – many of us prefer to pay in our own currency rather than a local one and wait for the conversion to show up later.

The hotel industry has had a tough, horrible year but can look forward to better times ahead. Travel is back on the agenda and guests are desperate to explore. However, their expectations have changed; increasingly they’re looking for the real world, hotels included, to replicate the online world with its seamless digital interactions.