Guest Messaging

October 30, 2019 by INTELITY

Using Retail Psychology in Hospitality to Increase Revenue and Delight Your Guests

How Hoteliers Can Leverage Technology to Drive Incremental Revenue

If you’re reading this, chances are you have a calendar of upcoming events and happenings that you’re juggling. This means your staff needs easy ways to send offers and promotions directly to guests. According to a new survey published by Kelton Research and SheerID, 84% of Americans say exclusive offers make them more likely to shop, which is good news if you can deliver relevant messages to your hotel and casino guests.

This positive research indicates guests react in real-time. The same survey shows that consumers who will use an exclusive invitation will use it quickly. 41% said it would likely make them seek out something to buy, just to use the offer. Utilizing push and SMS messaging to guests with these promotions becomes a powerful way to increase revenue, whether they’re tailored to individuals or groups.

Below are some great ways you can delight guests with special offers that drive revenue.

In-Room Dining

If your property has a high-volume IRD business, you need to seamlessly connect and track the full dining loop-from order placed, to order delivered-and everything in between. Guests need to access menus where they can immediately place (or schedule) their orders. Those orders need to route directly to the kitchen. You should know precisely how long the transaction took, and the bill should land automatically on your guest folio.

Humans are visual creatures, so feature high-quality photos of your menu items; this will increase engagement and check-size (in some cases, up to 30%). Automated up-selling also guarantees your guests get a consistent experience, and you don’t miss opportunities (think: would you like some fries with that shake). You cannot replace human interaction, but let your staff focus on what matters – timely and friendly delivery.

The best approach to manage in-room dining this way is by implementing in-room tablets in your guest rooms. In addition to dining menus, tablets ensure your guests have up-to-the-minute information about hotel amenities and offerings. Guests can quickly request hotel services, communicate directly with staff, or book a spa appointment from the comfort of their room.

Retail

Do you have beautiful artwork throughout your hotel for purchase? Or, perhaps guests can take home some of the amenities they enjoyed during their stay, like spa and hair care products, or a luxurious robe and slippers set. Without technology, it can be difficult to highlight these offerings, but with the use of in-room tablets or a custom mobile app, guests can easily browse items and make selections. Integrated technology allows those exclusive offers guests love to occur seamlessly. For example, guests who dine in a certain restaurant filled with art may receive an invitation to purchase their own piece. Guests who visit the spa receive an opportunity to purchase spa products at a discount. Adding the purchase to a guests’ folio means shopping occurs with one-click. And instead of waiting a few days for delivery, a beautifully presented package can be brought in person by staff, creating an exceptional guest experience.

Reviews and Loyalty

Although providing personalized opportunities and an exceptional guest stay is paramount, generating reviews and brand loyalty should be the result. Once a guest leaves your property, it can be difficult to reach them for comments. And yet, consumers are counting on those reviews more often than not when choosing their next hotel.

Make it easy for happy guests to leave happy reviews, as soon as possible. Guests can receive a simple prompt through a hotel app, which continues to engage them and grow loyalty, and allows you to capture valuable information about their experience. The right technology empowers you to engage with guests throughout their stay so if something goes wrong, you’re able to listen and resolve the concerns, rather than wait for a nasty review to go viral. All of those actions increase the guest experience and, ultimately, loyalty.

Using retail psychology and technology in tandem to send out exclusive offers and promotions creates new opportunities for you to simultaneously drive incremental revenue and delight your guests. Find out how the INTELITY platform can help you achieve these goals by scheduling a demo today!

September 4, 2019 by INTELITY

How Do I Connect With Connected Guests?

What to do when your guests are more engaged with their phones than your staff

Today’s guests are more connected than ever; they use their mobile devices to research, book, and even get to their destination. The modern guest also relies heavily on the internet, social review networks, and apps throughout their travels. In recent years, the travel industry has shifted to focus on better serving the connection needs of digital-first travelers.

Airlines were quick to adopt technology and ride-share businesses like Uber and Lyft implemented technology that is designed to streamline and simplify. While these airlines and car services once required staff interaction to function, consumers are now using online and app solutions to search, book, pay for, and review a trip. From the almost fully-automated check-in process at the airport to the seamless rideshare exchange, staff involvement acts as a complement to streamline customer experience-until guests reach their hotel.

Consumers who are empowered in other sectors of the travel industry often find themselves waiting in line at a hotel to check-in and receive room keys. At many properties, most service requests still require a visit or call to the front desk, including spa or dining reservations and room service, which often results in the guest being placed on hold or having to wait for confirmation. Yet studies show that 66% of guests have a better experience when they can use self-service technology to receive information and complete tasks, and an impressive 70% prefer to use technology to get what they want faster.

In today’s competitive market, creating a frictionless experience is one of the keys to client satisfaction and loyalty. Here are four ways you can use automation to better serve your connected guests.

Mobile Apps

Having your own branded app empowers your guests to control their experience before, during, and after their stay. Mobile check-in and mobile key features can be incorporated into your app, giving guests the ability to bypass the front desk and head straight to their room. Apps can also create revenue-generating and up-selling opportunities like room upgrades, the addition of dessert to an in-room dining check, and much more.

In-Room Tablets

Interactive in-room tablets can replace printed compendiums, alarm clocks, and other “clutter,” which offers more cost savings. What once took a phone call or a visit to the front desk is now at your guests’ fingertips, including ordering room service, requesting additional items from housekeeping, booking reservations at onsite restaurants, spas and more.

In-Room Casting

This TV-package alternative reduces the need to scroll through endless commercials found on real-time TV and local news stations (which often are irrelevant to your guests) and places the guests in charge of their entertainment by providing access to their favorite streaming service. With Netflix, Hulu, YouTube and more, endless entertainment is in the hands of your guests. At the same time, pay-per-view and satellite subscription expenses can be eliminated.

Guest Messaging

Real-time messaging is an effective way for guests to provide feedback and communicate seamlessly with your staff both on and off-property. Even escalated concerns are quickly addressed, reducing guest frustration and potentially negative reviews after a stay.

As the prevalence of technology increases in the industry, hoteliers are right to consider ways to stay ahead of the competition. Creating a seamless experience, from check-in to check-out, is the best way to exceed the expectation, elevate the guest experience, and provide the service the connected traveler craves.

To learn more about how to better serve the connected traveler and stay up-to-date on the latest industry news, sign up for our bi-weekly newsletter or schedule a demo with our team.

August 20, 2019 by INTELITY

Is Your Hotel Ready for a Guest Experience Upgrade?

4 Questions to Ask When Choosing a Guest Experience Platform for Your Property

The MIT Sloan Management Review said it best, “Doing business digitally isn’t an ‘add technology and stir’ proposition.” When choosing a hospitality technology platform to streamline your operations and bridge the connection between your guests and staff, it’s important to keep your end goal in mind.

You’ll need to consider where you want to be in several years and select the right tech that will help you future-proof your hotel. Selecting piecemeal one-point solutions at random or because they are the newest thing on the market can negatively impact the overall performance of your tech and become a burden for your IT staff to manage. Choosing and implementing solutions that integrate seamlessly with your existing tech is an essential part of the process.

To help you navigate through the sea of solutions out there, here are some questions to help you through the process:

Does it improve your guest experience and increase guest loyalty?

Your biggest goal, whether you are discussing back-of-house or guest-facing technology, should always be to improve the guest experience. The better the experience, the more likely guests will become loyal to your brand. Customer loyalty equates to an increase in revenue, both due to repeat guests and from guests sharing their positive experiences with their friends and social networks. According to a recent study performed by Brand Keys, a 7 percent increase in loyalty can boost lifetime profits per customer by as much as 85 percent, and a 3 percent increase in loyalty can lead to a 10 percent cost reduction.

Does it help you easily communicate with your guests?

Leverage solutions that streamline your guests’ experience with your property and make it easy for them to contact and communicate with your staff before, during, and after their stay. According to Travelport, 51 percent of travelers expect to communicate via text or messenger. Mobile and in-room technology give guests an easy way to make requests, place orders, make reservations or access information about your property, all without picking up a phone. It’s an elevated level of convenience and an opportunity for staff to manage requests effectively, delivering a better experience overall.

Can you access data that you can actually use?

Use data to make your staff more efficient and provide better guest service. Using the data generated by your tech platforms, you and your staff can make smarter business decisions, improve overall efficiency, and better manage your workflow and schedules. Use your data to anticipate guest needs, personalize experiences and exceed expectations!

Does it create a complete digital experience?

Your guests are booking online, using rideshares like Uber & Lyft, and getting through the airport with digital boarding passes. You need to give them the same experience when they get to your property. Give them access to check themselves in remotely, open their door using their mobile key, control their in-room environment, and easily stream content from their own Netflix account, all through one end-to-end platform. Not only will your guests consider yours a sophisticated property, but creating this kind of “tech ambiance” will appeal to digital natives and build more brand loyalty.

The right tech platform helps hoteliers to provide consistent, excellent service, which in turn creates brand loyalty amongst your guests. When satisfied customers become loyal and repeat visitors, it can drive increased revenue for your property. Bottom line: Delight your customers, and they will return!

With over 120 integrations across PMS, POS, room controls, locks and content providers, there is no other platform more built for seamless integration and implementation. To find out how to upgrade your guest experience today, Schedule a demo, sign up for our newsletter, or email us at demos@intelity.com.

May 8, 2019 by INTELITY

4 Ways INTELITY Staff Better Engages Your Employees

In an age when travelers expect instant service and immediate access to information, hoteliers must embrace technology that streamlines staff management and automates daily workflows so they can provide the best possible experience for their guests.

Staff management and service optimization tools provide solutions to common pain points. This type of technology seamlessly connects staff and guests, streamlines operational workflows, gives management teams the ability to monitor and track task status in real time, schedules and tracks preventative maintenance, and provides a dashboard of data-rich analytics that can guide and advise better business decisions. Giving employees the ability to streamline day-to-day operations and optimize their efficiency means they’ll be able to spend less time on administrative tasks and more time providing guests with elevated service.

INTELITY has created a robust staff management solution, INTELITY Staff, that can help you better engage your staff, streamline your operations, and increase your efficiencies across property. Using technology that engages your staff, streamlines their daily workflow, and integrates seamlessly into the other software systems has endless benefits. You’ll experience lower turnover, increased staff satisfaction, and improved guest service.

Here are some of the unique benefits INTELITY Staff offers hoteliers:

Guest-to-Staff and Staff-to-Staff Communication

INTELITY’s staff-facing tools allow employees to communicate better not only amongst themselves but also with guests. When it’s easier for staff and guests to converse, there is a better understanding of what guests want and less risk of human error in fulfilling requests.

INTELITY’s staff management platform also includes built-in escalation notifications to help with service recovery and enables properties to gather real-time feedback on guest satisfaction. The platform even monitors all in-room tablets from one centralized hub, performing automated software installations and upgrades and restarting them remotely, so devices are always up-to-date without disrupting your guests’ stay.

Cross-Department Workflow Management

The INTELITY Staff ticketing solution means you’ll never have to worry about a lost service request, work order, or in-room dining request. Because INTELITY Staff features a central location where management and staff can manage, track, and dispatch task-based work, and because both desktop and mobile versions sync their data, operations teams across property have access to real-time updates and notifications.

Properties can manage work orders, service recovery, preventative maintenance, service requests, and dining orders through INTELITY Staff’s comprehensive ticketing solution, which also integrates with other leading hospitality ticketing systems.

Generating In-Room Dining Revenue

Staff can use INTELITY’s food and beverage solutions to better manage in-room dining orders, reduce the risk of human error that comes with manual order-taking, and create additional revenue generating opportunities by utilizing built-in upselling and cross-selling features. Staff can also route and track orders while providing guests with status updates, as well as track order fulfillment times and sales revenue.

Digital Content Management (CMS)

Hotels control all their own content through INTELITY Staff’s content management solution, a welcome upgrade from reviewing printing proofs and paying associated printing costs. It makes for simple control of your content and quick, easy updates. The software also lets you control services, permissions, user roles, and your image and video library.

Overall, significant data is available on usage, dining revenue, marketing, performance, and other efficiencies. This information is gathered and monitored in a customizable dashboard and helps a property deliver an exceptional guest experience and make better business decisions.

Engage Your Employees with INTELITY Staff

Implementing and establishing a successful digital culture begins with giving your employees the tools they need to succeed by training them on the technologies implemented at your property. Ensuring your employees are digitally literate and able to use the tools provided to them sets your staff and your property up for success.

To learn more about how INTELITY Staff can help engage your employees or to experience the platform for yourself, schedule a demo with a member of our team today!

April 4, 2019 by INTELITY

Crafting a Smart Guest Experience with Hospitality Technology

It’s no secret that expectations surrounding the digital guest experience have changed. With more than 96 percent of modern hotel guests carrying smart devices, the obvious next step is ensuring that you provide your guests with a smart experience.

What Does a Smart Guest Experience Look Like?

A smart guest experience is one that anticipates and meets your guests’ needs by providing what they want when they want it. While this is partly achieved through excellent customer service, it also requires making the right technologies available—those that improve your guests’ experience and streamline your service delivery.

A “smart hotel” provides robust Wi-Fi, offers a mobile guest app that allows remote check-in and -out, mobile key, direct messaging, and the ability to control a guestroom’s environment and entertainment. Smart hotels also incorporate in-room tablets to increase guest engagement and back office solutions to track guest activity, send personalized offers, and connect staff more directly to guests.

How do You Create a Smart Guest Experience?

A smart guest experience should be crafted around a robust mobile strategy that extends beyond a mobile guest app. Your mobile strategy should include everything from a mobile version of your website to a strong social media presence, direct digital messaging, and in-app chat. These channels should all be available on a single, easy-to-use platform where travelers can choose how they want to communicate and are able to move seamlessly between secure digital solutions, so they feel comfortable sharing and accessing personal data.

Having a comprehensive mobile strategy is only a starting point. In order to create a truly smart guest experience, you will need to take your digital strategy up a notch. This means leveraging network-connected technologies such as data analytics and business intelligence, customer relationship management programs, AI, targeted guest marketing, and the Internet of Things (IoT).

Because these advanced technologies don’t work without a robust technology infrastructure, it’s critical to have that in order first. When creating a smart guest experience, you need to make sure all the software and technologies utilized at your property integrate seamlessly. Only then can you create the ultimate smart guest experience that improves your guests’ stays without feeling intrusive.

Implementing a Smart Guest Experience

It’s not enough to only have smart technologies in place. Your employees must be well-trained on how to best use those technologies to create a superior guest experience and streamline their daily tasks. Once your employees have been trained on how to effectively use the technology and software implemented at your property, you’ll be able to personalize, maximize, and monetize your guest experience.

Interested in learning more about how you can use technology to provide a smart guest experience at your property? Contact us today to learn more about the INTELITY platform and how it can help you increase guest engagement and streamline your daily operations.

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