Remote-workers are seeking out hotels, casinos, and resorts where they can combine business and personal travel. Learn how hoteliers can position their properties as enticing “bleisure” destinations.

After over a year of moving to remote work, as the world continues to reopen, many companies have opted to keep “work-from-home” options in place. Employers save on expenses that naturally come with in-office work, and employees get more flexibility—it’s a win-win. This surge of implementing fully-remote or partially-remote schedules also benefits both travel and hospitality industries. Remote workers can work from anywhere, which is why hotels, resorts, and casinos are seeing a rise in work-from-hotel guests. Hoteliers can capitalize on a combination of business and pleasure, now coined as “bleisure” trips, for guests who want the feel of vacation while still spending time on the clock.

Let the World Know You are Work-From-Hotel Friendly 

What do you have to offer remote-workers? Tables with killer views? Private spaces for virtual meetings? Whatever it is, let potential guests know! Create promotions around your unique bleisure features and offerings. If they are working poolside, offer them a discounted beverage. Offer your hard-working guests reduced-price spa treatments or golf games for the weekend. Remote-working guests want two things: accomodations that make work seamless, and vacation-like activities, views, food and drink so they can enjoy their time more than they would when working from home or in-office. All you have to do is let them know what’s available to them and help them make the most of both their work and R&R times.

Provide Remote-Work Travelers with Cutting-Edge Tech 

Guests traveling for both work and play are more likely to look for a smart hotel or properties that include high-speed wi-fi internet, work space, and especially ease of travel. Hoteliers who want to attract “bleisure” travelers can offer them a branded mobile app so they can  easily check-in and enter their room through their mobile devices.  A smart-room tablet also enables guests to make their hotel “work” environment their own through the ability to set room temperatures, order room service, and schedule leisure activities via their smart tablets. Work-from-hotel guests are seeking a getaway from office or home-office life, so give them the best version of that.

Don’t Forget Your “Bleisure” Guests Need to Eat Too 

Consider what remote-working guests will want out of their dining experience. When they are in the “zone,” food is a necessity; when they’ve closed their laptop for the day, dining is part of the vacation experience. Your hotel app can reflect this, offering both quick bites and guilty pleasures. And it’s not just about what you offer, but how you offer it. With mobile ordering, guests can get food or drink brought to wherever they’ve hunkered down to work. And with pick-up options, they can grab a meal on their way out in the morning, or bring something back to their room as they settle in for the night.

And for hotels that don’t have on-property dining, building out the information pages on your app to act as compendium and concierge so guests know what food is close and fast while they’re working and where they can get highly-rated, sit down meal when they’re ready to relax.

Ultimately, work-from-hotel guests want what you already have to offer, but they will be more likely to book with you (and rebook with you) if they feel your space fits their needs to a tee. So make sure they know what you have to offer, and that you’ve carved out spaces just for them.

Want to learn more about how to get your property’s platform ready for work-from-hotel guests? Request a demo today.

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Discover the insights from the hospitality and technology leaders who hosted sessions on digital transformation, AI and Data, and more at HITEC

Last week at HITEC, hoteliers, operators and hospitality leaders convened in Dallas to discuss the state of the hospitality industry and how technology fits into the new hotel landscape post-COVID.  Although travel has reemerged slowly and unevenly across the US and the rest of the world, the tone of the show was cautiously upbeat. How has COVID changed the way hotels operate? What new trends are in the pipeline? Here are the 4 key topics we saw at HITEC this year:

1) Big Data and AI Technology
Big data and data lakes have been around for a while in the hospitality industry. However, hoteliers are now grappling with the challenge of what to do with the mass amount of data they’ve gathered, how to structure it, and how to effectively analyze and use the data. Using AI technology, namely machine learning and natural language processing, hoteliers can begin to use their data to improve revenue management, and operational efficiency. With AI, hoteliers can analyze and pull info from data lakes to make fast informed business decisions, use dynamic pricing (based on seasonality, local competition, hotel history etc.) and offer more personalized guest experience.

2) Innovation Adoption
As hoteliers increase their tech adoption and build their tech stack, deciding on what technology they need to invest in and when, is the number one challenge. Advancements in technology have created a field of new solutions for the hospitality industry that sound exciting but may not yet function properly or be in great demand. For hotels who want to be or remain cutting edge, adopting these emerging technologies can be beneficial but carry a higher risk of proper functionality, require more investment (such as replacing legacy PMS with a cloud-based PMS, upgrading Wi-Fi network solutions), and guest adoption.

3) Labor Shortage
Labor shortages continue to plague the hospitality industry with little reprieve in sight. So how can hotels retain their current staff, continue to provide elevated guest experience, and still generate more revenue with a lean staff? With technology such as mobile apps and ticketing solutions, work management and communications between guests and staff become more streamlined. These tech solutions enable hotels to remove the need for guests to call the front desk for room services and enable them to directly put in a request via their mobile app or smart-room tablets. Guests can also communicate with staff using chatbots at any area of the property. With ticketing solutions, hotels can alleviate some of the staff workload by assigning tasks and managing projects via an app or platform.

4) Personalized Guest Experience
As a result of more consumers relying on contactless mobile technology during COVID, they have become accustomed to receiving more personalized treatment across their entire customer journey.  Hotels will need to provide customers with a hyper-personalized experience in order to remain competitive. With technology, hotels can gather data on guests which can later be used to target services and features specifically to them. In order to offer personalized experience, hotels will need to consolidate customer data that can be easily retrievable and structured. With that in mind, hotels are now shifting from PMS to CRMs as their central system. Future technology will now be built and integrated with their CRMs. With technology advancements, hotels will be able to provide more personalized guest experience, improve their revenue and boost customer loyalty.

To see how INTELITY can help you with your digital transformation, request a demo today.

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Technology solutions are often purchased for the now, but how can hoteliers make sure the tech they are implementing will be more than a passing fad or temporary fix?

The path to technological success can feel like an uphill trek. Especially in times like these, when the hospitality industry has spent the last year trying to keep up, first with the contactless solutions necessary during the pandemic and now with tech solutions to pad out a smaller workforce. But setting yourself and your properties up for success means looking to the future and selecting tech that will help you run your hotel optimally for a long time. Here’s how to start:

1. Don’t waste your money on siloed tech.

Short term and long term, the best way to ensure your tech will not be wasted or become obsolete in a few years is to prioritize new tech that integrates with the tech you already have. The fastest (and often most common) way to take a loss when it comes to hotel tech is by throwing money at a platform or product that will not communicate with your existing systems. As you look to purchase and implement new tech, double and triple check that it will integrate well with the tech you currently have.

2. Use your tech to fulfill, and exceed, guest expectations.

When guests book a stay at a hotel or resort, they aren’t necessarily just looking for a room to sleep in, they are buying a particular experience. The expectations your guests have when they enter your property are what drives revenue, especially when it comes to microtransactions and upgrade purchases. Travellers today want the convenience of self service that comes with mobile guest solutions, as well as the ability to choose the level of access they want with staff. Your tech should facilitate this balance by offering a platform that makes your staff feel present and available. You can offer this guest experience by enabling your guests the ability to request services, look up property info, book treatments, order food and more—all from a personal or smart-room device.

3. Your tech success is linked to your guest data.

Ensuring your tech is successful, not just now, but in a lasting way, means understanding where tech trends are heading. The most advanced players in hospitality tech platforms are prioritizing data, specifically data surrounding guests’ experience. Tracking and acting on guest preferences to create a more personalized experience for them and more revenue for the hotel will be necessary in order to remain competitive. For hoteliers hoping to get in on that in the next few years, the sooner you shift operational management to the cloud the better.

4. Choose vendors who will be partners and guides. 

Tech is ever-changing, right? It can feel like every time you invest in one product, another, shinier one appears on the market. But success doesn’t always mean getting the next best thing. It means investing in the next right thing. That’s why it’s vital to partner with vendors who understand your established systems, current pain points, and future needs. When you’re looking to implement new tech or are considering a different system make sure you have a trusted vendor who can be your guide.

5. The future of your tech depends on what you do now.

Finally, setting your property up for success means being proactive in your adoption of tech, not simply reactive. During the early days of COVID, the hospitality industry was forced to step-up their contactless and mobile capabilities. And now staff shortages have many scrambling for tech to optimize operational efficiency. Don’t wait for the next calamity, set yourself up for success now.

Want to learn more about technology solutions for both now and the future of your property? Let’s talk.

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For hoteliers considering transitioning from on-site to cloud-based software at their property, here are a few ways making the change can elevate guest experience before, during, and after their stay.

In the case of property management systems, there’s been a number of hoteliers who want to stick with the devil they know: on-site systems. While switching to a cloud-based system is becoming increasingly popular, there is still pushback against moving from running tech via a physical device to managing hotel operations and solutions through the cloud. What this tension ultimately boils down to is, what’s the benefit of making the switch? And will it outweigh the hassle?

Before They Even Arrive, Give your Guests the Comfort of the Cloud

More Booking Flexibility 

With the recent wave of COVID outbreak driven by the Delta variant, travelers are once again hesitant to make travel plans for fear of having to cancel their bookings or change them last minute. With a cloud-based PMS, hotels can offer flexible cancellations options. When a platform connects to the cloud, guests can utilize self-service capabilities to update bookings details. Refunds and rescheduling can be made easy without adding extra work for staff.

Security at Every Step

In the current age of technology, vigilance around digital security is more important than ever. Verifying guest IDs and banking info through cloud-computing massively elevates security because the guests’ information isn’t actually on-site. Cloud-based ID verification mimics the process of physical verification without opening up a guest’s ID and banking info to the same vulnerability that an on-site verification process does. Plus, cybersecurity offers added protection such as firewalls, SSL encryption, intrusion detection that physical on-site hardware typically don’t.

During Their Stay, Make Every Interaction Count 

Personalization

Having a cloud-based platform means customers’ preferences can be stored and automatically acted on in future stays. Room control preferences, for example, can be saved so the next time a returning customer books a stay, their room will be set to their liking—temperature, lighting, and more. Beyond that, their interests can be logged to the cloud and further utilized through targeted microtransactions via smart-room tablet or mobile app ads.

Service Recovery 

With staffing shortages affecting the hospitality industry worldwide, service recovery is vital when making up for gaps that may arise from having a reduced staff. With cloud-based technology, service recovery is made easier, and most of the work can be offloaded from the staff. Ticketing and service recovery steps can be tracked through a system that communicates well with both guests and staff devices. Cloud-based solutions can also allow management teams to generate reports that can be used for further review and analysis of customer complaints and recovery time.

After They Depart, Leave Them Wanting More 

Checkout… and Security Again 

Checking out should be painless. And guests should be able to leave a hotel feeling confident their information is going to continue to be secure. However, their banking and identification details should be able to be verified easily, when needed; specifically, when they go to book again. Keeping everything in the cloud allows for added digital protection while making it so returning guests won’t have to re-register or fill out forms again when booking a visit.

Follow-Up 

Personalization doesn’t stop when a guest checks out. A scheduled follow-up email can go a long way. Some properties are finding added value in attaching a survey to the follow-up email. With a cloud-based system customer pain points can be gathered and tracked. This allows hotel management to locate issues much quicker and more effectively.

One of the benefits of cloud-based technology is the ability to add various tech solutions to your tech stack that would improve operations functionality, guest communication, revenue management and more. Having a well-integrated tech stack can also provide you with data and deep customer insights that can be used to improve operational efficiency and customer experience. This is why the most important aspect of choosing a cloud-based system is trusting the vendor. You need a vendor who will keep up with software updates and troubleshoot any integration issues for you. Is switching to the cloud worth it? We say yes, as long as you have the right vendor in your corner, making the switch go as smoothly as possible so you can start reaping the benefits, ASAP.

Want to learn more about cloud-based systems and what they can do for guest experience? Let’s chat.

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As the hospitality industry struggles to fill staff openings and COVID variants present new health and safety concerns, see what hoteliers can do with the team they have to prevent guest experience fallbacks.

With rising concerns about the Delta variant along with continuing staff shortages, the hospitality industry continues to grapple with how to operate with capacity limitations and uncertain consumer demand. As hotels, resorts, and casinos try to keep up and ramp up, the goal now is to maintain quality of service while reinstating certain COVID precautions that make guests feel safe and comfortable. In the current landscape, these can feel like impossible objectives. But with the right technology platform all of this is possible.

Smaller Teams Can Still be Effective

Utilize Mobile Options
During the height of the pandemic, digital room keys and mobile apps that enabled guests to have a contactless experience became less of a nice-to-have feature and more of a must-have. Today, guests still seek a digital experience that will enable them to better control their hotel stay and decide for themselves how frequently they want contact with the staff. Using mobile apps, guests can check in to their hotel before they even arrive at their destination, order room service, adjust their room temperature, and review all the services the hotel offers.  For the hotel staff, mobile options can alleviate some of their daily tasks such as front desk check-in/checkouts and scheduling housekeeping, taking pressure off a leaner staff.

Opt-in Housekeeping
Another tactic born largely out of dealing with staff shortage is the optional housekeeping. As COVID concerns continue to grow, giving guests the opportunity to decline unwanted housekeeping allows them to set their own safety standards. In an effort to combat a drop in service quality, many properties are doing housekeeping by request only. This allows guests who want daily housekeeping the opportunity to have it, while making sure guests who don’t want it or don’t care still feel that the quality of service has not decreased.

Informed Staff
A small staff can make a positive impact just by the way they conduct themselves when it comes to COVID. You can give your guests a sense of confidence in your COVID response by simply making sure your guest-facing staff are talking and acting in a way that reflects the properties commitment to keeping guests safe, such as wearing face masks and social distancing. Beyond that, front desk staff should know what precautions the property as a whole is taking so they can answer questions guests may have.

Safe Activities Can Still Be Sensational 

Take It Outside
How this shakes out depends entirely on the property. For some hotels or resorts, hosting happy hour events outdoors makes sense, while other properties may decide to move their gyms and spa treatments outdoors. Hotels can even consider investing in an event pavilion, which opens up a wide range of outdoor possibilities. Properties with pools and gyms may choose to stagger their open activity hours when COVID cases start to rise or when the property experiences pool staff shortage.

Offer Dining Pick-up
Properties that are planning to reopen some form of dining, adding a pick-up option can be a great way to offer dining services to guests, especially if the hotel has a lean restaurant staff or lacks resources to deliver room service. Encouraging guests to order food via in-room tablet or mobile app also removes the need for printed menus and allows for digital menus to easily be updated. Plus, whether guests are planning to invite friends to dine in their room or they need to grab a bite on their way out, pick-up is a great way to ramp back up dining options without overloading your team.

Intentional Communication
Using hotel technology to communicate with guests can eliminate unnecessary face-to-face interactions while increasing guest interaction. Mobile apps, smart tablets, voice assistants and other technology allow guests to communicate via phone, text or voice chat to the staff to request services or answer questions. Digital devices also have the ability to collect customer data that can be used to offer more personalized services. For instance, a hotel can send personalized texts to business travelers when certain conference rooms are available for them to conduct Zoom calls. Whether it’s texts, event announcements, or a robust digital compendium, information can be delivered in ways that still feel personal but require less from staff and less contact overall.

As infection rates in many areas are climbing again, it can feel disheartening, heading into another COVID-affected season of travel. But if the last year taught us anything, it’s how to prepare and how to prioritize safety. The hospitality industry is not left in the lurch this time around because there are tried and tested strategies that can be utilized. As staffing issues continue to put the industry at a disadvantage, we’ve seen the ways tech can support smaller teams to prevent major quality decreases. So stay informed, be intentional, and get the tools you need to make your property a success even in times like these.

For more info on how tech can support your current team, request a demo today.

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