For hoteliers looking to maximize guest experience and minimize unnecessary staff time-spend, in-room tablets could be just what you didn’t know you were looking for.
There’s more hospitality tech now than ever before. In fact, there’s more tech now than ever. The upside for hoteliers is that they can be choosy about what works best for their property. The downside is that the sheer multitude of options can be difficult and overwhelming to wade through. Last year, the hospitality industry quickly jumped on board with mobile platforms, as a result of COVID requiring a focus on contactless options. There’s no doubt that the pandemic has been the defining influence in tech trends over the last year. Even now, travelers are planning to see family and friends again in-person, some for the first time in a year, the new normal after COVID is a huge part of up-and-coming hotel tech. As travel recovers, properties are trying to keep up with the ever-shifting discussions arounds immunizations, passports, and continuing COVID restrictions.
With occupancy rates climbing, and projected to continue to climb, hoteliers are looking for ways to ease the tension between more guests and current COVID precautions. After a year of focusing almost exclusively on mobile, a new tool is emerging to provide guests with all the information and communication tools they need while minimizing face-to-face contact.
Many hoteliers wonder if tablets are even necessary in such a mobile-focused landscape. But perhaps better questions would be: is mobile tech right for everyone? Could it become even more powerful with the perfect partner? And perhaps it’s worth looking at what tablets add to the guest experience that mobile does not. In-room tablets might be tech you didn’t know you needed.
So let’s find out what they can do for you and what they can provide for your guests.
What tablets do for you and your staff
An in-room tablet is an information hub that frees up valuable time for staff. It provides quick communications and service requests and updates. It can take over the role of compendium and act as an in-room concierge—all while remaining easy to clean, maintain, and update. And with tablets creating better staff workflows and saving employee hours, staff can remain focused on the most important thing on your property: the guest experience.
Beyond that, tablets are a huge win from a sustainability standpoint. Replacing clunky physical compendiums with digital compendiums saves paper from being printed and reprinting to add updates. There’s also a huge potential for new revenue; in-room tablets offer a landing point for high-impact visuals for promotions—if there’s something you want to make sure your guests see, this is the place to put it.
What tablets do for your guests
At the end of the day, it’s obvious from consumer research that mobile hospitality tech is the most effective guest tech on the market. However, in-room tablets have one distinct and powerful advantage that mobile doesn’t—a nearly 94% guest engagement rate.1 Some hoteliers are facing concerns that their guests won’t adapt to mobile tech; the worry here is, what if you invest in mobile and those efforts fail? What if you don’t have the marketing resources to ensure guests download the app? One thing you can know for sure when looking to invest in in-room tech: if the tablet is there, guests will use it.
You want to add a personal touch to every guest stay? Set a custom greeting to welcome them by name when they walk into their room for the first time. Looking to create a more luxurious experience? Put temperature controls and a digital compendium within an arm’s reach of their bed, offering a dedicated in-room device that can meet their needs in just a few quick taps. Both a practical tool and a luxury experience, tablets offer an opportunity for hotels to go above and beyond to impress guests and one-up their competition.
Tablets work as companions to mobile or as solo acts
For properties that have a mobile platform, tablets offer a more holistic digital experience for guests when they are in their room. As guests continue to become more tech-savvy, dedicated in-room devices for all things information, communication, and control is right up their alley. Mobile and tablets work together to make the guest experience as smooth and simple as possible at every step in the guest journey. It’s a better experience, one that facilitates better service and builds guest loyalty.
For hotels that don’t have an app, the tablet can be a one-stop shop for dining, amenities, service requests and more. In-room tablets provide nearly all of the benefits of an app, while remaining easily accessible to guests and requiring little upkeep from staff.
So there you have it. Without an app, tablets provide the convenience and communication opportunities of an app plus the extra features exclusive to the in-room experience. And paired with an app, the tablets create a holistic digital experience for both guests and staff. Regardless, guests have never had so much access to staff and never been more encouraged to reach out and ask for what they need from you. They don’t even have to make a trip to the front desk—great service is just a few taps away.
See how in-room tablets can serve both guests and staff at your property. Request a demo today!
1 Internal INTELITY reporting and customer data, 2021.
