As COVID variants and staffing concerns continue to present issues for the hotel industry, hoteliers can offset low occupancy periods with the right tech strategies.

The path to recovery for the hospitality industry is fraught with ongoing staffing concerns and travel uncertainty as spikes in COVID cases and new variants crop up around the globe. Despite the constant unknowns, hoteliers can institute strategies to ensure optimal guests experience, mitigate revenue loss, and help prevent staff burnout. Here are three tech strategies to put into place during times of industry upheaval.

1. Plan For Uncertain Occupancy Levels

One thing is clear, recovery for the industry is not a straight line. While we saw record occupancy rates in December, the sharper than usual decline in January is proof that COVID will continue to have a big impact on travel plans and hotel bookings this year. Plus, Skift reports that the booking window has narrowed since the pandemic started as guests wait closer to their travel dates to nail down details. This shift in consumer behavior means that hotels might not be able to rely on traditional travel patterns to predict when high occupancy and low occupancy periods will occur, and so hoteliers will need to prepare in advance for both.

How can tech help with the peaks and valleys brought by COVID?

A comprehensive guest app opens up a myriad of opportunities for additional revenue that can help provide a buffer for when hotels experience low occupancy. With a guest app, hotels can promote their amenities and entice guests to use them by offering discounts or specials, such as to a spa, a nice dinner at a hotel’s restaurant or a round of golf if a hotel has a golf course. Having guests spend more during low occupancy periods can help optimize revenue. A guest app can also help drive guest loyalty by enabling them to have more control of their stay and access services more easily. Via a guest app, guests can order food delivery, request room service, get recommendations for local activities, order rideshare service and more, making their stay a memorable experience. Even when occupancy is at higher levels, having a guest app can offer a property a competitive advantage. A recent survey conducted by Metova found that 90% of travelers prefer a hotel that offers a guest app.

2. Prioritize Digital Communication

A recent study by Local Measure found that hotels that digitally engage with their guests via an app see a 40% increase in return visits and increase ROI of 564%. With a guest app, hoteliers can communicate with guests at any point of their journey via guest messaging and push notifications. Pre-arrival, hoteliers can send important information such as check-in details, new COVID safety protocols, late check-out option, and direct guests to a hotel compendium where they can find hotel information and more. Guests can also easily communicate with staff to make special requests such as ordering extra towels, and ask any questions. Additionally, by providing an easy line of communication via an app, staff can better track and respond to guest complaints or any service issues in a more timely manner, thereby boosting customer satisfaction.

3. Support Your Staff with Good Tech

Staffing shortages have been a constant source of stress for hotels over the past few years, and as many are still working with lean teams, it’s important to invest in tech that can support both full and lean teams and work well with the tech you already have. Hospitality Tech noted in their 2022 lodging study that a major pain point for hotelier’s implementing new tech is difficulty integrating with legacy systems, which cause issues for staff along with missed revenue opportunities. But hoteliers who give staff the best tools for an efficient workflow reduce unnecessary tasks, keep revenue lines open, and help prevent staff burnout.

What should hoteliers look for in their tech? 

• Tech that’s intuitive, and customizable to fit your specific needs.
• Tech that’s responsive, easy to use from any device.
• Tech that’s adaptable, able to integrate with your currents and future systems.

The pandemic has brought on new consumer behavior where travelers today are looking for a more personalized digital experience during their hotel stay. As hoteliers continue to grapple with various challenges brought on by the pandemic, incorporating digital guest facing solutions into their tech stack will enable them to remain competitive and provide a modern guest experience.

Want to learn more about tech that can elevate guest experience and reduce pain points for staff? Start a conversation today.

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Innovative technologies are transforming every industry, moving them into the digital age; here’s how hotels can utilize new emerging technologies in the near future.

All tech is interconnected; when new advancements are made in other industries, there is a natural ripple effect. Whether it’s transportation, internet, or even gaming related, as tech progresses new advancements eventually become relevant to hospitality. Here are a few tech innovations that have people talking and how they might provide exciting opportunities for hoteliers in the near future and down the line.

Cryptocurrency

Guests Are Already Using It
Cryptocurrency, a digital form of payment, has grown widely popular in the last few years. Because crypto functions through the internet, its accessibility and its gold-standard digital security have been integral to its rise in usage. As the world moves further into digital spaces, security is paramount, and because of this, crypto has the potential to be a preferred payment for travelers in the coming years–especially when it comes to large payments at an upscale resort or a high stakes game. And since crypto is not tied to a certain region or physical currency, using a crypto wallet instead of a physical one can simplify international transactions while providing that added measure of digital security. While some hotels have already been making the shift to accept cryptocurrency, hoteliers should anticipate that guests will expect to be able to pay with crypto, sooner rather than later. Particularly, moving beyond just booking with crypto, but also linking their crypto wallet to the hotel guests app for purchases during their stay.

How Will This Benefit Hotels?
The most notable benefits to adding crypto as a payment option is the additional layer of digital security that cryptocurrencies have. Despite crypto’s consistent value fluctuation, it is becoming so integrated into global commerce, it might actually be able to simplify payments, making it more convenient for guests to make purchases while adding an extra layer of protection against fraud.

Virtual Immersion

Opening a Virtual World of Opportunity
Last year, Facebook announced its intention of building the Metaverse, a Virtual Reality (VR) world where commerce and social connection intersect. Microsoft also announced its own take on mixed reality with Mesh, a communication and collaboration platform that enables team members to have a shared virtual experience. Some in the hospitality industry are concerned about the negative ramifications of virtual immersion, wondering if the ability to “go anywhere” without leaving the comfort of your home will demotivate people to travel. But from a consumer perspective, VR is not, and may never be, a replacement for physical travel. Rather there are many exciting opportunities VR brings to table to enhance guests experience while staying at a hotel, resort, or casino. Here are few ways hoteliers have started to explore VR in hospitality:

Events
When people think of VR, they usually think of gaming. While some hotels have made VR gaming available to guests, VR offers more applications than just games. Adding virtual immersion shopping, gambling, even concerts and conferences, could be a way for hotels to offer unique experiences that don’t require good weather or a lot of space. Instead of thinking of VR as something separate from what a property is already doing or offering, hoteliers could consider how VR can be an exciting addition.

Walk-Throughs
During the pandemic, VR house tours rose in popularity as they offered an alternative for house hunters who were not able to tour a home in person due to COVID concerns or travel restrictions. Hotels, resorts, and longer-term vacation rentals have also been using this application to showcase their property, guest rooms and facilities to guests before they book.

Putting a Face To Automation
“The metaverse could help break the ‘walls’ between humans and machines,” says Linchi Kwok, Associate Professor at The Collins College of Hospitality Management. Kwok suggests VR avatars could help to humanize the more “robotic” services that a hotel has to offer. Automated services, when provided by avatars, could add a personal touch. Beyond that, using AI-powered avatars could further support the hospitality industry during periods of staff shortage, automating tasks to balance a lean team’s workload.

NFTs

Non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, represent ownership of one-of-a-kind digital collectables such as digital art. In the last two years, NFTs have become widely popular and their value often depends on their rarity. But NFTs are more than just art pieces to view, they can also be VR experiences, or even act as tickets to access exclusive promotions or loyalty programs.

How is the Hospitality Industry using NFTs?
Since the technology is new, this past year has been a year of experimenting. Some hoteliers are getting creative with NFTs and seeing what comes of it in terms of interest and revenue. Here are few example of innovation with NFTs from 2021:

• SLS South Beach and SLS Brickell offered a range of physical and digital entertainment and art through the NFT BAZL marketplace from the comfort of their guest rooms.
• Marriott released three NFTs; attendees of their FaZe Forever were able to enter to win one of the three NFT virtual reality experiences as well as reward points.

What Can Hoteliers Do To Prepare?
While some of the advancement currently in the limelight may seem overwhelming, there are few tech adoption principles hoteliers can always rely on:

1. Choosing the tech that integrates well with your current tech stack will set you up for success as digital spaces and devices continue to advance.
2. Partnering with a vendor who prioritizes your needs will make adapting new tech smoother all around.
3. The guests’ experience is paramount; implement tech that serves your guests to fullest.

To learn more about what tech is available to elevate guest experience, start a conversation today

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A look at the trends and predictions for the hospitality industry in 2022

If 2020 was the year that knocked the hospitality industry off its feet, 2021 was the year of false starts and uncertainty as the industry struggled to get back up. The pressing question now is, what will the state of hospitality be in 2022? It’s clear that people are itching to travel again, but will new Covid variants, travel restrictions, and ongoing staffing shortages continue to thwart their travel plans and disrupt the hospitality industry? As we prepare and plan for 2022, here’s what may be on the horizon for the travel and the hospitality industry.

The Big Question: Will There Be a Return to Travel?

The ongoing challenges of the pandemic, particularly the Omicron variant, make it difficult to predict at what capacity travel will return in 2022. In a recent STR forecast report, a strong demand for travel, in particular domestic travel, is predicted to continue throughout 2022 assuming no new variant will cause further travel restrictions. In a recent study on current customer engagement,  Hospitality Tech found that consumers’ increased confidence in hotel safety, due in large part to the safety and health efforts taken by hotels to protect their guests such as the adoption of contactless tech solutions, could also help drive hotel recovery in 2022. The study noted that because of their confidence in hotel safety, guests are more comfortable using hotel amenities and engaging in activities such as gym and pool use, spa treatments and attending entertainment events.

On the other hand, potential rising inflation, lingering labor shortages, and struggles to access vaccinations may continue to impact travel in 2022. At the 2021 NYU International Hospitality Industry Investment Conference, the panelists discussed how some places in the world, certain areas of the Caribbean for example, are still struggling to get access to enough Covid vaccines for their population, contributing to a decrease in travel in 2021 and potentially in 2022.

So will there be a return to travel this year? The answer is yes–but with a caveat. There will be a return to travel but there are still many unknowns as to what types of travel restrictions and safety concerns hotels, resorts, and casinos will be dealing with in the coming months.

The Prime Focus: How Can We Recoup Revenue?

In 2020, the hospitality industry had to pivot to implement contactless options and mobile solutions. And for many hoteliers, that new tech wasn’t fully put into place until 2021. As we head into another year dealing with pandemic-related challenges, hoteliers are no longer strangers to lockdowns and travel restrictions. The focus has shifted from a scramble to implement needed tech to an exploration of how tech can support recouping of revenue losses. Last Autumn we wrote about how hoteliers are finding success with incremental revenue opportunities through their hotel guest app; offering digital storefronts and in-app dining allows for major revenue increases without needing a huge lift from the hotel staff or even an IT department. You can expect hotels, resorts, and casinos to lean even further this year into hotel tech to make up for the losses of the past couple of years.

The Optimum Opportunity: What are People Saying About You?

“The importance of positive online reviews remains central as well—the well-known ‘halo’ effect of positive reviews helps to reinforce a hotel’s overall messaging and ensure guest confidence.” – Hospitality Technology 2021 Report

Now more than ever, new guests want to know what others have to say about a property before booking. Highs and lows, wins and mistakes are all communicated through word of mouth and online reviews. Which is why hoteliers with guest apps are taking the opportunity to make it easier than ever for guests to leave a positive review. But what about negative reviews? A hotel app supported by a  comprehensive guest platform can filter negative reviews and send them straight into service recovery, providing a hotel with the opportunity to fix any problems and restore customer satisfaction.

The Best Path: Be Ready to Adapt!

If there’s one thing we’ve learned from this pandemic it’s that you have to roll with the punches. Whether your property has a full team or a lean staff, losses to make up for or opportunities to expand, being flexible and adopting the right technology will help you address bumps in the road that may still be in store in 2022.

Want to learn more about holistic guest platforms that can help recoup losses and support any size team? Start a conversation today.

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With each new challenge faced by the hospitality industry this year, hoteliers responded by adopting new technologies to support lean teams and deliver an enhanced guest experience.

The year 2021 brought various challenges to the hospitality industry including continuing health and safety concerns, loss of revenue due to travel restrictions, and widespread staffing shortages. Many hoteliers faced these challenges by adopting new strategies and technologies to meet the changing demands of today’s guests and adapt to the new normal.  Below are a key trends and topics in hospitality that emerged in 2021:

Contactless Solutions for Guests

Creating a seamless, contactless guest experience became vital for hotels to stay in business.  To that end, hoteliers adopted mobile technology that enabled guests to safely check-in and open their guest rooms without the need to interact with the front desk. By using a hotel app, guests could access hotel information and make service requests right on their smartphones. Mobile apps also alleviated the front desk workload while allowing guests a more convenient, safer and contactless experience.

Tech Solutions to Support Lean Teams

As events, business trips, and vacations began to ramp up over this past summer, many properties operating with lean teams were suddenly faced with clogged front desks, decreases in work order fulfillment, overwhelming housekeeping tasks, and little to no time for service recovery. When consumers began traveling again, adopting tech that could help a stretched workforce meet the needs of their guests and streamline their daily tasks, became hoteliers’ top priority. On the backend, hoteliers sought to streamline their lean team workflow through automation. Adopting a holistic guest platform, hoteliers could improve both guest communication and tracking for booking details, tasks, and work orders. When many IT departments were outsourced or cut altogether, it became crucial that the hoteliers invest in a tech partner that could provide the maximum benefits for their staff while requiring minimal onsite upkeep.

Luxury + Convenience Through Smart-Rooms

2021 was a big year for smart tech in hospitality. This is largely because everything can be tailored to the current guest while offloading tasks from staff. Smart-rooms offer modern conveniences that today’s guests are accustomed to at home and elsewhere. Using smart-room tablets, guests can dim the lights, adjust the room temperature, message staff, view a sleek digital compendium, request in-room service, and more–right from their smart-room tablet. Plus, tablets were able to make  guests feel like the hotel staff was always just a few taps away. Many hoteliers this year discovered that smart-room tablets are the perfect room companion. While mobile check-in and mobile apps have their many benefits, guests might enjoy not having to rely on their personal devices to access hotel features when they are in their rooms. Plus, some guests prefer a tablet’s larger screen and find it easier to navigate. A dedicated device that acts as the room command center offers guests control capabilities as well as more convenience.

Communication 

Improved communication and guest engagement took the spotlight in 2021. This year, hoteliers put an emphasis on communicating with guests before, during, and after a guest’s stay. For instance, sending guests a welcome email to remind them to download the hotel app to access hotel information, make service requests and more can set the tone for their stay. During a guest’s stay, staff were able to use the hotel’s app to communicate with guests on a one-on-one basis or to a larger group. Utilizing SMS, Messages in app, or even displaying eye-grabbing banners in a hotel app allowed staff to communicate with guests about any health and safety updates, or acknowledging their service requests. Communication shouldn’t end when guests end their stay either; follow-up emails, surveys, and personalized promotional offers for future stays are key in encouraging guests to return and becoming loyal customers.

Mobile Ordering and In-App Dining

Mobile ordering allows guests the convenience of being able to browse a hotel’s restaurants’ menus and order food items directly from their mobile device or smart-room tablet. With in-app dining, guests can get their food delivered to them anywhere on the property, schedule room service in advance or even schedule a pick up order right from the hotel’s app. Many pick up orders can be offered to non-guests as well, allowing day visitors and event goers to experience the same level of ease and convenience at on-property dining establishments. This year it became more clear than ever: paper menus will soon be a thing of the past. Which is why those with on-property dining shifted to in-app menus where they could make immediate menu updates, save on printing costs, and create eye-grabbing promotions. As properties reopened from lockdowns, digital storefronts helped recoup some revenue by increasing accessibility and visibility to their guests.

On the staff side of things, mobile ordering directly through the hotel’s app elevated guest delivery and reduced order confusion by streamlining the backend. When dining capabilities are consolidated within a hotel app, orders are easier to view and keep track of, reducing mistakes all around. In-app digital dining can also provide actionable guest metrics, such as which menu items are more popular, that can help with making more efficient purchasing decisions.

As we head into 2022, there is new hope for a year of recouping revenue losses and utilizing even more solution-driven tech. For further information on how INTELITY’s platform can support small and large teams and elevate guest experience, start a conversation today.

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In the age of mobile, see what travelers want most from a hotel’s guest app.

Your guests are on their phone—pretty much all the time. And when they aren’t, you can bet their phones are close by. The pandemic motivated many hoteliers to pivot to mobile solutions for mainly safety precautions. But even as the pandemic’s threat begins to wane in some places, guests still want to access everything from their devices. In fact, guests’ expectations for a mobile-first guest experience are higher now than ever. Here ten of the top activities guests want to do from their phones:

10. Check-in and Check-out

From the moment they walk through your doors, guests want to have complete access to and control of their stay. Instead of waiting in a long front desk queue, guests want to be able to quickly and easily check-in right from their mobile device. With mobile check-in that includes digital ID verification, guests don’t have to wait around for physical verification by someone at the front desk. And don’t forget about the check-out. Leaving a hotel should be just as easy as arriving. With a mobile app, guests can view their folio before they check-out via their mobile device.

9. Mobile Room Key

With a mobile room key, guests can use their phones to quickly access their room without going through the front desk. Guests love not having to keep track of a plastic key; and since they already have their phone on them at all times, it makes coming and going that much simpler. Reducing a dependency on generating plastic room keys can also save costs for hoteliers as well as reduce their carbon footprint.

8. Cast from their Device to the TV

When it comes to TV viewing, streaming is king. Guests want to be able to continue to view their shows and movies from where they left off at home. Beyond just shows and movies, guests can also cast their music or podcasts through their rooms’ TV speakers, as well as browse through their photos or cast a video call on theTV screen. With casting from their devices, guests have better control on what they watch on their room’s TV screens.

7. Order Food

Whether they’re in their room, by the pool, or in a remote work space, guests want to be able to have their food brought to them. And for those times when they are on the go, you can give them the option for pick up. During the pandemic, ordering food pick-up and delivery from a mobile device became the default; guests want that same ease and convenience when traveling away from home. And don’t forget to keep your digital menus updated so guests always have access to what’s available for order or pickup right on their mobile device.

6. Digital Concierge

Many guests prefer accessing information about a hotel’s amenities before and during their stay via their mobile devices.  With a digital concierge, guests can learn about local hotspots, upcoming events, on-site and off-site activities, dining options and more right on their mobile phones, whether they are in their rooms, by the pool or out and about.  Access to this type of information enables guests to choose how they want to spend their leisure time and further control their stay. Including links to ride share services, local hotspots and more on a digital concierge also provides an added level of convenience.

5. Get Updates

Safety alerts, COVID precautions, hours of operations—these are all things guests need to know but don’t want to have to search for. Sending one-to-many alerts and updates keeps guests informed, such as pool closure or upcoming happy hours. They’re easy for staff to input and send and ensure guests are kept in the loop.

4. Book Treatments/Activities 

One of the the benefits of having a digital concierge is to view treatments and operation hours on a mobile device; it’s even better when guests can make bookings/purchasing within a hotel’s mobile app. Offering booking and ordering capabilities within a hotel app provides guests a more convenient and personalized guest experience.

3. Access to Exclusive Promotions

Guests love promotions especially if the deals are customized to their preferences.  When guests book via a hotel’s app, their preferences can be stored so the next time they visit a hotel, management can offer promotions customized to their past interests. For example, if a guest books a spa treatment during a visit, the next time they stay at a particular property, management can offer them a discount on their next spa appointment to incentivize them to return.

2. Service Requests

When guests need something like extra towels, they should be able to request it without a hassle. Pivoting service requests to your hotel guest app allows guests to easily submit their requests through their mobile device and get updates as the task is being completed. This keeps guests from wondering if their request has been lost in the void while automating certain operational tasks.

1. Everything!

Anything guests can do from their phones, they want to do. Our lives at work and at home are piloted from our phones—why should it be any different when traveling?

To learn more about what your guests are expecting to do from their phones in 2022, start a conversation today.

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Read why there’s a rise in hoteliers using QR codes to link to their hotel’s guest app.

QR codes that were once seen as cumbersome and outdated have experienced a resurgence due to the pandemic. Boosted by mobile phones’ recent ability to read QR codes without the need of a third-party app and the need for contactless solutions, the demand for QR codes has gone through the roof. Now, QR codes are making a comeback, and while the catalyst for this comeback was COVID, QR codes provide great value beyond curbing the spread of the virus. If you are wondering what all the fuss is about, here are a few ways hoteliers are using QR codes to elevate the digital guest experience and boost revenue.

What QR Codes Are Good For 

App Adoption
QR Codes make downloading a hotel app easier than ever.  Guests simply need to scan the QR code with their phone camera to access a hotel app. There is a misconception amongst hoteliers that if app downloads are low, it’s an indication that guests don’t need or want to use your app. The real reasons are much simpler – they forgot about it, they don’t want a single-use app on their phone, or downloading the app seems too much of a hassle. Having a QR code to help get over that initial hump of downloading can greatly improve guest app adoption. Once guests do download a hotel app, they have access to many features that can enhance their guest experience. With a hotel app, guests can use their phones to check-in, access their rooms, and view a digital compendium that highlights a hotel’s services and amenities.

Menus
While the pandemic motivated restaurants to provide contactless menu options, many restaurants are ditching printed menus post-pandemic in favor of digital menus that will save them printing costs and enable them to update food items, prices, promotions and more – instantly. With QR codes displayed on a restaurant’s window or on a tabletop stand, customers can easily access a restaurant’s food and drink menu right on their mobile phones. Plus, you can feature special items or promotions in a visually interesting way that your customers won’t be able to miss.

Targeted Promotions
QR codes are a great way to make guests aware of promotions or offer exclusive discounts, and to target information to a specific group. QR codes can be used during conferences and corporate events within a hotel to promote educational sessions or upcoming happy hours.  They can be displayed at the conference or even on a guest’s TV. QR codes can also be used during wedding events to keep guests informed on the wedding itinerary. With a little foresight and creativity, the possibilities for QR codes are endless.

Where to Put Your QR Codes 

Where is the best place to put your QR codes? Well, that largely depends on what your code is linking to. If you are trying to get more downloads, you want the QR code to be somewhere visible when guests are first arriving. Whereas a menu QR code should be visible in a space where guests are more likely to order food, like in their room for room service.

A few ideas for QR codes locations: 

• Lobby signage
• In the elevators
• On an in-room TV
• In your on-property dining areas
• In conference or event brochures

For more information on how to integrate and utilize QR codes with your hotel guest app, reach out today.

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