Learn key takeaways from a webinar with INTELITY and spa management software partner Book4Time

Recently INTELITY Sales Director Ben Teplitsky joined Sal Capizzi from Book4Time to discuss how hoteliers can enhance the guest experience with in-room, on-demand technologies. Specifically, the seamless Book4Time and INTELITY integration powers the ability for hotel and resort guests to view and book spa and wellness services and products, all from a mobile device. The lively conversation explored how the guest experience has evolved through mobility and innovative technology, advancing the ability to engage guests through mobile apps and promote hotel amenities–on property, in-room, and beyond.

Watch the Replay

Here are the three highlights:

Leverage digital booking engines for property amenities

With in-room tablets and hotel mobile apps, hoteliers can leverage a property’s spa amenities to increase guest engagement. Selecting technology partners with seamless integration, like Book4Time and INTELITY, augment the services and systems you’re already providing and make for increased adoption and ease of use by both guests and staff. The platform and service isn’t necessarily meant to replace what a property is already utilizing, but meant to enhance and provide a new conduit between hotel staff and guests, elevating amenities and services and leveraging the data and analytics on the back end to enhance guest engagement.

A downloadable branded mobile hotel app includes not only spa services, but also leverages other digital features such as mobile check-in, mobile key, and digital concierge menus and services. With in-room tablets, hotels can also engage with guests during their stay, promoting hotel services and amenities directly to guests and enabling one-touch booking.

Integrated mobile platforms provide a seamless experience for both guests and staff

The guest journey is evolving, and as more travelers use online booking and mobile apps for ride shares and airlines, by the time they get to a hotel property, it’s no longer just a nicety to have mobile apps and in-room technology, it’s an expectation. The INTELITY Team has seen almost double the amount of hotel mobile app downloads and a sharp increase in engagement with in-room tablets. Additionally, we’re seeing that hotels that leverage digital tools frees up their staff to spend more time with guests and provide a more high-touch, high-service experience.

Certified integrations with a property’s PMS, POS, and other tech systems such as lock providers and spa management, builds a seamless tech stack that is leveraging guest data and analytics to provide a more personalized experience for guests while easing workload for staff.

Drive revenue from spa services and products through innovative guest engagement

Pushing personalized promotions and spa services directly to guests via an in-room tablet and hotel mobile app entices guests to explore the menu and book services with one click, never having to make a phone call or leave the comfort of their room. For example, Is it warm outside? Offer guests a cooling facial treatment or relaxing foot bath. Is a guest celebrating a special occasion? Serve them a promotion for in-room bubbly and fresh berries. The possibilities are endless to offer guests personalized promotions via an in-room tablet or mobile app that immediately drives revenue.

When digital technology becomes part of your property’s ecosystem, and you’re providing guests a feature-rich mobile experience, you enable so much more than just skipping a line; guests are able to more actively engage with the hotel and the amenities offered, increasing revenue for all aspects of the property.

The additional engagement afforded by a digital guest experience, especially with in-room technology, can not only increase revenue for your property, it greatly enhances guest satisfaction, leading to more positive reviews and repeat visitors.

To learn more about what hotel tech is available to boost your digital guest experience, request a demo today.

Request a Demo

With two years of pent-up demand, vacations are back with a vengeance. How will this impact hotels?

While phrases like “the new normal” or “essential workers” have now become commonplace, the de rigueur expression you may have already heard is “revenge travel.” It sounds ominous, and you may be wondering: What does this mean? How does it impact me? Why should I care? The truth is, if you have any role in the hospitality industry, this phase of travel is a pot of gold! 

What is Revenge Travel? 

The phrase “revenge travel” in its simplest form refers to choosing to travel right now. The revenge in this expression refers to many people unable to travel or forced to postpone vacations during the COVID era, who now are taking revenge on a time when many could not travel. 

Because travel was restricted and many hotels were either forced to close temporarily or shutter for good, people began to see travel in a different way. 

Before 2020, people had a tendency to defer starting a diet, learning a new hobby, furthering their education, and even travel, thinking “there’s always tomorrow.” One blessing we universally learned during the last two years is the value of time, people, and experiences. Quality of life, nurturing relationships, and accumulating experiences and memories are more important now than ever. 

How will Revenge Travel impact me?

Although “revenge” can be viewed as a negative word, for those in guest services and hospitality, this should sound so sweet! 

For hoteliers and their staff, revenge travel means the summer rush is going to be busier than ever. Regardless of costs, people are more motivated to travel and explore. Allianz Partners found that travel to Europe from the U.S. is likely to significantly increase 600% over last year. Data collected from Vacasa found 3 in 5 Americans are planning a summer getaway. “The pandemic made people realize you can’t take travel for granted,” said Daniel Durazo, director of external communications at Allianz Partners USA. 

Not to mention, the rise in remote work will also increase revenge travel, as remote workers are itching for a change of scenery. According to Ladders projections, 25% of all professional jobs in North America will be remote by the end of 2022, and remote opportunities will continue to increase through 2023. 

Revenge travel is the key to a thriving hotel! 

Why should you care about Revenge Travel?

Bottom line, it will bring you more business. Nothing makes a hotelier happier than a full hotel. However, a full hotel with limited resources, equipment, and staff can quickly become disastrous.

At the end of the day, we know you want your guests to have a memorable and incredible experience at your hotel and you need your staff to be ready and able to provide that to guests. Employee satisfaction and staff who don’t feel overwhelmed are key components of excellent guest services. An easy place to begin immediately is preparing your hotel to accommodate revenge travelers by leveraging technology to enhance the experience for both your staff and guests. 

For example, providing tablets in each room can help limit calls to staff requesting more towels, food and drinks, information about the pool, etc. Enabling guests to browse a menu of services, enhancements, amenities, and other hotel offerings and then make requests with the touch of a finger, streamlines the ticketing process for staff and excites hotel guests with the digital offerings available to them on a familiar device. 

Investing in technology is an investment in your hotel’s efficiency and guest satisfaction. Digital requests placed through an app on a tablet or phone can help your staff manage the chaos and provide pristine service to the revenge traveler!

As revenge travel continues to rise, make sure your hotel is equipped with the right staff, the right resources, and the right technology to best manage a thriving hotel and take advantage of this travel trend.

Small changes can have large impacts; don’t miss an opportunity to get a 5-star rating every time

Professionals working in the hospitality industry know the top guest review websites rank based on a combination of quantity, recency, and quality of your reviews. It’s not hard to see how good, recent reviews can help bury and balance out any poor reviews.
According to TripAdvisor, “because the Popularity Ranking is based on user feedback, consistently collecting new, high-quality reviews—that reflect levels of service and value that meet expectations—is the best way for businesses to improve their position over time.”
If “95% of all travelers read online reviews before booking,” then how can you increase your stars to gain the confidence of travelers? Here are five simple ways how to increase your stars on top guest review websites to improve the guest experience at your property!

1. Confirm Up-to-date Information

In this ever-changing world, it’s imperative to make sure your information on the internet is up-to-date. From Google Business to Yelp to TripAdvisor, guests have a wide range of outlets to find out information about your property. For the most part, this information should be evergreen and not require constant updating. However, with the pandemic, staff shortages, and changing requirements, this information might be in a continuous state of flux. The last thing you want is a frustrated guest who has found incorrect information. To avoid this altogether, make sure all guest review websites have the correct information. From times of service to availability of hotel amenities, allocate this task to an appropriate employee. This simple but often overlooked task will save you immensely.

2. Teach Employees Service Standards

From the general manager to the maintenance worker, everyone should know the basics of how to provide the best service and hospitality for each and every guest. At the end of the day, every single employee represents the hotel’s overall brand. Make sure your staff is knowledgeable about these necessary standards and is placing guest service at the forefront.

3. Meet Guests Where They Are

In today’s digital world, just about everyone is on a smartphone. So why not offer mobile solutions to connect with your guests? Adding features like mobile check-in/out or mobile key entry can dramatically improve your guests’ user experience. It can also significantly increase guest engagement with your hotel. The ability for guests to access everything they need on their mobile devices is now an expectation, and consequently is becoming an industry standard. Of course, we know not everyone prefers this type of service. Your goal should be to meet your guests where they are, with mobile and in-person solutions to service all types of travelers.

4. Give Guests the VIP Treatment

Smart rooms and the convenience of technology brings added luxury to the hotel guest room as well as elevates the guest experience. According to MediaPost, “69% of households in the U.S. have at least one smart device, while 12% of those (about 22 million homes) have several.” This means a significant number of hotel guests are accustomed to using smart devices and connecting to the Internet of Things.

By providing smart devices like:

• Smart-room Tablets with features like a digital compendium and digital service requests
• Smart TV capabilities like casting and access to streaming providers
• Smart-room Controls like lighting, window treatment control, and temperature adjustments

Can only elevate the guest’s overall room experience. The more they enjoy the room and stay, the more likely they are to express this on guest review websites.

5. Thank Guests for Their Stay

Another easy but often overlooked detail! Keep it short and sweet. Thank the guest for their stay and request a review with a link to a popular guest review website like TripAdvisor. Don’t be discouraged if not everyone provides a review. Typically, only “5-10% of consumers write [a] review.” Regardless, sending a thank you note to guests can leave a positive impression.

Whether or not you put into practice all five or just one of the methods above, making adjustments toward elevating guest experience is the ultimate goal. If the hotel information is correct, service standards are instilled, guests have mobile and tech options, and feel welcomed at your hotel, the likelihood of a 5-star review–and returning guests!–are certain.

For more ways to increase your 5-star guest review, click the button below to schedule a demonstration of INTELITY’s solutions including mobile check-in/out, mobile key entry, smart-room tablets, and casting.

Request a Demo

What shifts in guest behavior mean for hoteliers in the coming days.

The hospitality industry has been waiting, hoping, and working tirelessly to facilitate a return to pre-pandemic occupancy rates. According to STR and Tourism Economics Hotel, occupancy is expected to continue trending upward from the historic lows of 2020, averaging 63.4% for the year. But will the industry ever really return to “normal?” The answer is no–but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Travel has already rapidly increased over last year, and room reservations are projected to climb even more in the coming months. But the landscape of travel has changed dramatically, along with the conveniences and expectations guests have become accustomed to having. To keep those glowing reviews coming and also ensure guests return, hotels, resorts, and casinos should plan for the guest preferences and expectations of today’s travelers. Here are three places to start on how to meet new guest preferences:

1. Prepare for the Influx of Leisure Travel

Morning Consult’s State of Travel and Hospitality reports that 64% of U.S. adults say they have traveled within the past year, with younger and higher-income consumers leading the way. Americans were among the most eager to get back to traveling, with 50% already planning to take a leisure trip within the next six months (AHLA 2022 Report). We’ve written recently about the importance of personalization-focused loyalty programs so guests experience targeted marketing that makes them want to return to a property and even visit recommended sister properties. Leisure travel is not a one-time thing; if guests, especially younger guests, love their stay, they’ll be itching to come back.

2. Embrace the New Remote Business Travel

Due to the rise in remote work, fewer people are traveling for business but more people are working while traveling. Whether they are in town for vacation or they are a local remote-worker looking for a change of scenery, more travelers are taking their work on the move. That’s why many hotels now offer expanded office space options and amenities. Some hotels are renting out rooms as office spaces during work hours, or offering a remote-work package that includes a private office space for the guest to use. Offering amenities and special packages for “bleisure travelers” and remote workers can further increase bookings and guest satisfaction. Creating targeted promotions, like an evening spa treatment discount or a happy hour special, that are marketed through smart-room tablets or a mobile guest app encourage guests to take some R&R during their stay and increase revenue for the hotel.

3. Meet and Exceed Tech Expectations

During the pandemic, contactless options became a lifeline for many hospitality businesses to keep operations running while protecting guests and staff. Now, many of those technologies, like mobile check-in/check-out and mobile key, are the standard expectation for most hotel guests. The majority of travelers today are chronically online and expect to have the same convenience of accessing everything they need on their mobile devices. When it comes to looking for a dinner spot or local attraction, modern guests are used to scouring the internet for what they want. So why not offer them a “digital concierge” by laying out relevant local information in a hotel guest app? When it comes to service requests and, at the end of their stay, reviews, making a hotel guest app the one-stop-shop for everything a guest needs allows them maximum convenience while giving the property access to vital data about what their guests want from their stays.

Rising to meet the modern guest preferences starts with personalization during their stay that offers convenience and added value. Whether business or leisure travelers, young or old, making your physical space work for modern guests and providing digital touchpoints elevates their experience overall.

To learn more about hotel tech that can elevate your guest’s experience, start a conversation today.

Request a Demo

In the age of personalization, loyalty programs are evolving to elevate guest experience and increase incremental revenue.

Many, if not most, hotels, resorts, and casinos utilize some form of loyalty program, but how effective are the loyalty programs in place? A stagnant loyalty program does little to motivate return stays or advance revenue streams. A recent study by Catalyst found that many loyalty programs have not evolved with the modern guest. 60% percent of loyalty programs offer transactional rewards–think points redemption and member’s only discounts–while a minority offer rewards focused on access and personalization. For those not utilizing personalization strategies, this could be a missed opportunity, because points and rewards only go so far without personal touches and a data-driven member experience. Adding personalization into a loyalty program can elevate the user experience while also creating greater opportunity for incremental revenue.

Get the Word Out

What’s the benefit of a loyalty program if no one uses it? Step one to revitalize a loyalty program for today’s guests is to ensure the guests know about it. A hotel guest app can be utilized to promote a loyalty program and support a personalized customer experience. Customized, automated text messages; eye grabbing banners on the top or bottom of the app homepage; and an information page detailing the benefits of joining are just a few ways to make sure a loyalty program doesn’t go unnoticed. And where can personalization come into this part of the process? Guests who’ve booked with a property before should get a tailored invitation to join the loyalty program. Hoteliers can use data collected from a hotel app to learn certain guest preferences and behavior and create certain offers to attract them. Targeting emails and texts can be the difference between a guest staying with you once or twice and a guest making your property their first choice when they travel.

Create Incentives to Join

Once guests know the loyalty program exists, what will give them that final push to sign up? In an effort to motivate guests to take that step, creating incentives can help make signing up a no-brainer. Consider offering a discounted drink or spa treatment when a guest signs up for the hotel’s loyalty program. For some properties, a special deal on a future stay might be fitting. Whatever the incentive may be, creating an instant reward for a guest who is already at your property can have major ROI down the line. And to sweeten the deal even further, this is a perfect opportunity for additional personalization– drawing from past data to make the incentives tailored to certain guests. For example, if a property’s hotel guest app has logged that a guest ordered the same drink two nights in a row, making the next one in the house if they join the loyalty program can make signing up irresistible.

Use Every Tool in the Tool Belt

While the majority of these ideas and strategies revolve around digital personal touches, it’s important to utilize physical opportunities as well as digital ones. For instance, a QR code on a sign in the lobby, restaurant, or on the TV in a guest’s room can enable guests to access a hotel’s loyalty program landing page with one touch. Whatever data a property has access to, can be utilized to target loyalty programs, opportunities and promotions, both through a mobile app and/or on a smart-room tablet. The avenues for motivating guests to join are limited only by imagination and the tech a hotel invests in. Exploring and experimenting with the tools available can lead to breakthroughs suited to the unique features of a certain property.

Get the word out to your guests about what you have to offer, add incentives that make it clear it’s well worth signing up, and use all the tools in your physical and digital toolbelt to make your loyalty program a success.

To learn more about how to advance your loyalty program through a hotel guest app, reach out to our team.

Request a Demo

Curate your hotel content to improve guest satisfaction and deliver a memorable guest experience 

When the hospitality industry made the big shift to contactless solutions during the pandemic, a wave of properties invested in features like mobile check-in and mobile key. But those features only scratch the surface on how a comprehensive hotel app that includes a content management system can elevate the guest experience. A content management system hosted on a mobile app, or in-room tablet allows management teams and staff to carefully curate content that can transform a hotel app guests use sparingly, to an information hub that guests frequent.

The App as an Extension of Your Brand

When considering ways to boost guest app engagement, a good place to start is by viewing the hotel guest app as an extension of your property rather than a siloed piece of tech. Visuals and language on a guest app that follow a hotel’s brand guidelines strengthens its brand identity and recognition. For a hotel with a casino, this could mean using vibrant imagery and colors. For a boutique seaside hotel, this could mean building a simple home page with a beachy design. Content management is really about allowing your app to be the window and map to what your property has to offer your guests. That starts with adding personal touches and making the design and layout unique to the property. Making a guest app feel like an extension of the hotel doesn’t have to be complicated, it just needs to be intentional.

Giving Guests Control through Content Management

What if the only thing stopping your guests from their ideal stay is that they don’t have the right information? With an easy to use content management system, hoteliers can offer more than the basic room information. They can offer information about their amenities and enable guests to curate their own itinerary. With a hotel app, guests can access information on nearby attractions, book local tours or unique experiences, even make dinner reservations and arrange rideshares. Hotel and amenities information is the bare minimum for a guest app, but that won’t make a property stand out. Good content in a hotel app can raise guest engagement as well as showcase what a hotel, resort, or casino really has to offer.

Staff Processes to Keep Content Up to Date

A barrier to successful content management is foresight. Without a plan for updating content, a hotel guest app won’t remain relevant. A property doesn’t need a team of writers or developers to keep content fresh and accurate – all that’s needed is some planning. First, decide which staff members will be responsible for updating app content. Then those staff members may need some training on how to use the app, such as upload images, or add rich media. Then create a schedule of when the content needs to be updated. It can also help to have brand guidelines and resources handy. The more team members understand the importance of content management, the more knowledgeable they can be when interacting with or updating the app.

Lean into Creative Ideas

For anyone looking to upgrade their content management skills, don’t be afraid to try different tactics. Every property is unique and while you can read a million blogs about ways to improve your content, a big part of successful content management is trying new ideas and seeing what works for your property. This could mean utilizing data collected from your app to come up with promotions and upgrades that will be enticing to your guests. Brainstorm with your staff to come up with content that will help deliver a memorable experience for your guetss.

Want to learn more about how to elevate guest experience through a hotel guest app? Start a conversation today.

Request a Demo