A Blog by INTELITY

At Your Service

The latest innovation and trends in contactless guest experience and the products that are revolutionizing the service industry.

Robert Stevenson

An Update from INTELITY CEO Robert Stevenson

Over the last 18 months, we’ve seen the hospitality industry rise up to meet each new challenge brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. In my last COVID Update, we were hopeful about a vaccine being on the horizon, and today, I am very relieved to be writing this at a time when vaccines from multiple pharmaceutical companies are being distributed globally and many countries have made strong headway with their distribution and immunization programs. As summer begins, travelers and hoteliers are getting ready for a much-anticipated (and much-needed) vacation season.

We were already heading that way, but in 2020, mobile became a must. Hoteliers, from the smallest owner-operated properties to some of the largest brands, embraced mobile technologies like contactless check-in, mobile key, and mobile food and beverage delivery like never before. To service the demand, INTELITY’s Implementations, Customer Success, and Technical Support teams remained fully operational and available to support our customers as they moved into this contactless landscape. When our customers pivoted to getting their properties up to COVID-safe standards, we were here to help with the tech side of those endeavors.

Today, with nearly 100% of our customers’ properties open, hoteliers are now shifting their focus to making sure they are ready for the already rising influx of guests, most of whom haven’t traveled in over a year. I expect this eagerness to travel to continue well into the summer travel season. It’s really an unprecedented time and we at INTELITY have boosted our services to assist with the increased support needs during this exciting window. As you are ramping back up, so are we.

Just to put a finer point on the data, earlier this week, PwC projected an accelerated recovery timeline for hotels due to the swift rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine. Other statistical analysis leaders like STR and Deloitte have also adjusted their timelines. And as occupancy rates climb their way back to pre-pandemic levels, those guests who spent the last year doing everything from their phone will expect mobile options. They will want access from the palm of their hand; this includes everything from check-in, to room-key and dining requests, to post-stay updates. The more intuitive and accessible things are for your guests before, during, and after their stay, the more they can focus on what really matters: enjoying themselves at your property.

As this pandemic chapter comes to a close, we at INTELITY are hopeful. The future is bright and full of exciting tech developments. As such, I anticipate this will be my last COVID-19 update. I’m so grateful to be a part of this industry; the ways in which we’ve come together through this last year have been deeply encouraging. So thank you, truly. And as always, be well, be safe, and look out for each other.

Robert Stevenson, INTELITY CEO

A New Update on COVID-19

From INTELITY CEO Robert Stevenson

Since my last update over two months ago, the world and the hospitality industry have drastically changed. As we start to see the light at the end of the COVID-19 tunnel, I want to share a new update on behalf of the INTELITY team.

Over the past many weeks through this crisis, we have been fully operational and in regular contact with our customers, and we are seeing our portfolio of hotels carefully re-opening. Similar to the data being reported by the brand leaders, along with the key data sources for the industry, around 50% of hotels within the INTELITY family have reopened in June. While we continue to be concerned about the health of staff and guests, we are thrilled to see the progress our resilient industry has made in pre-planning and implementing safe, clean environments and enhanced re-opening processes. These steps will make a massive difference in traveler perception and trust as we advance into the summer season for the Northern Hemisphere.

As mentioned in my previous correspondence, our teams here at INTELITY have been fully functional. Still, I’m pleased to share that our offices are beginning to open back up, and we are carefully bringing key team members back into the office and the field. As we adjust to our new normal, our commitment to providing our customers with the best possible service remains. Our teams across Customer Success, Technical Support, and Implementations are available at all hours.

As a part of the re-opening across our portfolio, we have been busy working on best practices for implementing a contactless guest experience by optimizing the use of the mobile features our platform offers. Mobile check-in/out, mobile key, and mobile dining are just some of the key features that have been a top priority for customers, and we’re happy to offer the most advanced solutions available for a truly contactless guest experience. If you’re looking for more comprehensive details regarding our contactless mobile capabilities, have questions about our mobile features, or just want to chat, contact us now.

These are challenging times for the travel and hospitality sector, but as I mentioned previously, we’re proud of the speed and attention our industry has dedicated to putting safety first and tackling what the future guest experience will look like. At INTELITY, we will continue to do our part by supporting our hotelier customers in their time of need.

Be well, be safe, and let’s continue to look out for each other, even as this crisis wanes.

Robert Stevenson, INTELITY CEO

An Update on COVID-19 from INTELITY CEO Robert Stevenson

On behalf of the INTELITY team, I am writing to share an update on COVID-19’s impact on our industry and our deepest sympathies for what we know is an extremely difficult time for most hoteliers, both personally and professionally. We have been in constant touch with our customer base and observing the impact that the novel coronavirus disease outbreak is having on the hospitality sector and the travel industry as a whole.  As developments are moving quickly, I wanted to take this opportunity to provide an update on the steps we have taken in response to the outbreak and how they pertain to the services we provide for our hospitality customers, partners, and the greater community.

As we monitor the global impact of the outbreak, we will continue to provide around-the-clock support and technical service to our customers without any gaps in coverage. All customers will continue to receive the same level of access, service, and support on the INTELITY platform, including:

  • Full 24/7/365 platform availability and functionality;
  • Continued ongoing engagement with our Customer Success, Project Management, and Sales teams; and
  • Our Technical Support team continues to be available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, via email at support@intelity.com, by accessing our online help center, or by phone at +1 (407) 965-2222. We will always respond within 2 hours for non-urgent issues and within 15 minutes for more urgent cases.

I also wanted to share with you that as of Tuesday, March 10, as a COVID-19 precautionary measure, INTELITY has updated our policies to implement a remote work environment and limited all non-essential travel for team members in order to ensure the safety of our employees, their families, and our customers. However, we are working closely with our server sites and supply chain partners, and we will continue to operate 24/7/365 and do not anticipate any disruption to the level of service we are providing.

These are challenging times for our industry, and we need to come together to tackle the difficulties that lie ahead. At INTELITY, we are doing our part by supporting our hotelier customers in their time of need. Be well, be safe, and let’s look out for each other.

The Importance of International Adaptability

Connecting Hoteliers to Guests at a Global Scale

This article was originally published on Hospitality Technology on November 25, 2019.

The Pew Research Center recently reported that over 5 billion people worldwide now have mobile devices, and many people travel with up to three devices. In addition, the availability of 4G or better cell networks has increased at a global scale with 4G availability at approximately 80 percent across most countries.

The increase in cellular usage and availability has led to the need for the hospitality sector to meet the rising tide of digital-first travelers via the channels they’re most comfortable with—their mobile devices. We have already seen the airline industry adopt this type of mobile technology to great success and the ride-share industry was built using mobile, self-service technology as its foundation. Yet, the hospitality industry has been slow to embrace this technology, which has allowed entry for tech-leading competitors like Airbnb and VRBO.

The modern traveler wants to be able to book their flights to anywhere around the globe, check-in, access their boarding pass, track their luggage, catch a ride from the airport to their hotel, check-in to their room and order room service—all from their phone. The flow of information across international borders, currencies, languages, and even customs should feel seamless and completely natural.

While both airlines and ride-sharing companies have seen considerable success in utilizing mobile technology to the tune of billions of dollars in consumer and shareholder upside, why has the hospitality industry been slow to adopt mobile-first technologies at scale? Cost and ease of use are often key deterrents, along with high turnover rates that require training new staff and implementing new tech into an existing, often complex, tech stack. This list of barriers to entry gets longer when you add international brands and properties into the mix, as they also have to adhere to different regulations (such as GDPR) and various local currencies and taxes. Hospitality tech platforms need to be flexible and able to adapt to the industry’s wide range of needs.

Today’s mobile solutions and cloud-based platforms models make hospitality tech more accessible and affordable, reducing the barriers that hotels have historically faced. Mobile apps provide hotels with an instant connection to guests via the channel they’re already engaged on and create an opportunity to house many functionalities in a single location. Cloud-based platforms tend to be more flexible, customizable, and extremely easy to maintain compared to on-premise systems, which allows properties of all sizes to offer connected services and a guest experience modern travelers expect.

INTELITY offers customizable mobile app solutions designed to accommodate the needs of both smaller boutique properties and large enterprise brands across the globe. Mobile apps cross international borders by giving hoteliers a branded channel where they can connect with their guests before, during, and after their stay. Through INTELITY’s mobile solutions, hoteliers can offer mobile check-in and mobile key functionalities, as well as mobile dining, messaging, and access to existing loyalty programs, booking engines and more.

In addition to customizable enterprise mobile apps, the INTELITY platform offers cloud-based solutions that provide a seamless digital connection between hotel guests and staff. The solutions are multilingual, supporting all Western and character-based languages, including simplified Chinese, Spanish, French, Hebrew, and more. Guests anywhere can use INTELITY’s solutions to easily order everything from in-room dining to housekeeping requests in their own language. Language support not only makes it easier and more convenient for guests to interact with staff, but it also increases revenue opportunities for the property by leveraging promotional and marketing opportunities in guests’ native languages.

Multiple languages are also offered within the staff-facing solutions of the platform, allowing hotel staff to process guest requests, daily tasks, work orders, and more in the language of their choice. The INTELITY platform also supports local currencies and taxes and offers flexibility within its workflow management tools, giving hoteliers the ability to adapt the platform to their specific operations no matter where they are located.

The INTELITY platform is currently in use on six continents and in over 40 countries. We have gone to great lengths to ensure our platform is flexible and easy to implement into a brand or property’s existing tech stack. INTELITY’s platform currently integrates with more than 120 software and hardware providers, including PMS, POS, ticketing, and spa management systems that are popular in various across the globe.

To learn more about the international adaptability of the INTELITY platform, please visit our website or email demos@intelity.com.