Innovating Your Guest Experience with In-Room Technologies

Karina Salisbury Hello, everyone. Welcome. My name is Karina Salisbury. I’m the Director of Channel Partnerships here at Book4Time. Thank you so much for joining our webinar. This is our Book4Time Partner Integration series. We’re going to learn from one of our incredible technology partners today who they are, how their solution connects to Book4Time and in turn help you. Today I’d like to welcome Ben Teplitsky from INTELITY. We’re going to discuss some concrete examples of how you can innovate the guest experience through the use of in room mobile devices and essentially drive revenue. And so with that, I will hand it over to Ben to dive into the presentation. Ben Teplitsky Great. Thanks Karina. Thanks Sal. Yeah. So today we’re just gonna learn a little bit about kind of digital bookings and mobility across guest engagement within the hotel space. And you know, just kind of go over some some industry trends and standards that we’re seeing not only just in, you know, kind of hospitality guest experience. The world, but also how that carries over into to spa bookings and engagements and ways to to really enhance how you’re leveraging your spa amenities with your guests, really focusing on mobility, you know, not just in room, but also a little bit of mobile app engagement and how we do that as well and just kind of looking at how look for time and utility work together with their integration. And the platforms combine for a very seamless integration. And for both guest and staff so. I’ll give a little. Bit of overview on INTELITY. I’m sure you know plenty about Book4Time as well. We can certainly kind of dig into some specifics of how we’re working together, but really just kind of talking about what we’re seeing out there with trends, especially how that’s evolved over the last couple of years. And then go into some specific use cases and how we’re doing that. And of course as mentioned, we leave some time for some Q&A on the back end as well to kind of have an interactive back and forth. Karina Salisbury Yeah, sorry, Ben. I meant to mention that. So for anyone who has got any burning questions, don’t hesitate to raise your hand or to add the questions into the chat feature. We’ll be able to respond as we go. Ben Teplitsky Great. So. Yeah. So a little bit about an INTELITY. We are a, you know, hospitality focused platform. Very mobile first. Just really we’re we really touch all guest services with our platform, our ecosystem kind of sits on 3 pillars in a way where it’s really the guest side of things, the staff side and then the Connect piece which is really our ability to integrate with other technologies that are in your ecosystem and really what what we do. With partnerships like Book4Time and other technologies, is we’re not necessarily here to replace what you’re utilizing on property, but really augment it or enhance it. So we’re providing new conduit between the staff and the guests, the guests and staff and of course the guests and the. Cities and then being able to do that with innovative technology and dashboards and back ends so you can track that really get an idea of who’s doing what, how they’re engaging with your amenities and doing that all through kind of mobile first solutions. So what you’ll hear about a little bit here is not only just a mobile app, so a downloadable branded mobile app for. The hotel property, which encompasses quite a few different things, namely of course with spa services and booking. And some of those same features also with in room tablets. So you’re able to engage with the guests not only before prior to their stay, but as they’re checking in and during their stay in a number of ways with mobile app as well as in room, tablets and other features such as mobile web that I’ll go into. So. Really looking at mobility as an overall and kind of the evolution of that, you know we’ve seen quite of an uptick in the amount of app downloads, the amount of usage when it comes to mobility within a hospitality environment for a number of different reasons, of course. Kind of always the the cliche lately with contactless and just, you know, anything that’s leveraging digital tools and and and you know helping with some some staffing issues as as having you know mobile check in and mobile key with a mobile app all the way to be able to almost kind of have digital signage as part of your digital compendium. In your room with in-room, tablets and these tablets aren’t just general tablets that you’re typically used to. These are provisioned tablets and the mobile apps are branded and provisioned to the guests, so once they check in and once they’re part of your hotel. The type of content they see and the type of things they can do within these tablets and on these mobile apps is really contextual to their stay. And we do that through the integrations with partners such as Book4Time, which I’ll go into further as well. As far as industry trends, we’ve really seen almost a double amount of app downloads and an increase in engagement with in room tablets. I think as we all know, you know the traveler’s journey, the guest journey is ever evolving. But as more and more guests and travelers are constantly using online booking and mobile apps for rideshares and airlines, by the time they get to your property that it’s not just a nicety to have mobile apps and technology, it’s almost an expectation. At this point, especially in some luxury properties, and you know there’s always been. Kind of the push back a little bit. Well, you know, it’s all about personal engagement and having enough staff to do that. Well, what we’re finding is not only is there an expectation of technology, but it’s also allowing some of the staff members to free up and have a little more time with guests being able to leverage some of these digital tools on property. So that they can actually spend more time with guests and be a little bit more hospitable while leveraging innovative solutions such as mobile app in room bookings, so on and so forth. So we’re seeing. You know, in the last couple of years of. Course, we’ve seen a huge. Uptick in mobile app downloads almost like I said, doubling a lot of that is based on the type of. Mobile utilities that you put within? Things that guests want to use like mobile check in mobile, key SPA bookings, food and beverage ordering. Digital compendium things that just are more of an expectation on property and then of course we’ve seen a huge uptick in engagement with. With certain advertisements. Of amenities and bookings, which I’ll show you a little bit more later as well. Of course, both INTELITY and Book4Time always. Want to help with your status, how you’re perceived in the industry and and these type of technology tools have have been recognized for quite some time as part of like of our Forbes Five Star rating and just in room technology providers and both INTELITY and Book4Time have been part of that and happy to carry that on to the 2022. Well, couple of things just right off the top that we’ll kind of go through is just some of the way we leverage guest engagement. Yes, you’ll get you know this 98% guest engagement that we’re seeing with tools such as mobility and home, a lot of this is based on in room, tablets. The difference there is obviously with the mobile app the guest still has to download the mobile app. There’s a lot of different ways that we see in order to do that out there that are kind of some industry trends of getting folks to download mobile apps. But we’re seeing a night across the board about a 98% engagement in in room tablets that the guests of all ages and demographics are picking up those tablets. They’re looking at them using them. And then that of course, can carry over into some of the intangibles such as guest engagement revenue, how it drives revenue at dining and SPA. Skills and like I mentioned, mobile key and some of the FTE hours and just overall engagement tools. So a lot of a lot of things, a lot of different case studies out there that we can share after this as well. But just to give you an idea, there’s certainly an industry trend of how, how, how folks and hoteliers are leveraging these platforms. So I’ll start off not to get too technical, but just a little bit of how it works, especially with Book4Time. Just so you can kind of get an. Understanding before I go through some of the use cases. But essentially, you know, INTELITY is a cloud based platform that really kind of sits in between all of your different technologies such as Book4Time. So what we’re doing is we’re doing a push and pull of data. So we’ll have a certified integrations 2 way integrations with your PMS, with your POS, with your spa services such as Book4Time. Maybe you know POS or food and beverage. Your lock provider on site as well and what we’re doing is we’re pulling in data and pushing it out at the same time. So when a guest goes to a tablet or a mobile app, they’re seeing contextual information based on their reservation based on any digital compendium, real time updates that your marketing team or your SPA team can. Can update there through our platform, so everything that they’re doing is contextual to their stay, and then they’re able to send that information back through our platform over to like a Book4Time platform. So if a guest picks up a tablet. And sees a digital booking menu of your spa services. They’re able to click on that book it. And because Book4Time and INTELITY both have the data of that guest, they’re able to do a seamless booking right there without having to speak to anyone or without having to go to the front desk. And that’s a great way to not only make it an easier independent tool for them, but it also. Leverages, you know, kind of that engagement that you’re not allowed able to do without these digital tools. So a little bit technical here, but just kind of as an overview you see here and tell the you know, we sit here in the middle of of you know your PMS, any ticketing servers, if there’s entertainment on property, POS, golf obviously booked for time would be your recreational bookings, your spa services. We’re also looking at the mobile key and blue. Bluetooth lock vendors as well, and then even being able to do smart room controls such as controlling the temperature, the drapes, the blinds, lighting, all that is is is basically where we’re we’re pushing and pulling data back and forth so that it really is part of your ecosystem and not just something that they’re pulling up on a website. So yeah, just kind of real quick to kind of go through a few different ways that we engage through this platform. First and foremost, mobile apps, these are branded mobile apps for your property. So you’re able to fully brand them with your own fonts, colors, they you know, when the guest goes to the App Store, they’re actually looking for your particular property name. It’s not a generic. Yeah. And it’s really a Skype. The limit on what you want to put within these apps, these menu options, the same type of things that you’re you’re you would be setting up for mobile apps is the same type of thing you’d be doing for an in room tablet. So if you have digital compendium property information, you know pool hours or spa hours, all of that is baked into both mobile app. Tablet, any sort of optional food and beverage orders in room dining orders you’d like to do is all is all an option if you don’t have in in-house restaurants, you can always point them to local restaurants so and so forth and especially other amenities like spa. So being able to have a full digital booking menu of spa services and book them right there within the app. As well. We’ll pause there. And what we’re seeing is probably the main features. Of this of. Mobility within a property, mobile app or tablet. Is really being able to. Not necessarily. Just skip the line at check in, but just have a mobile check in. Have a little more of a digital experience as you’re coming on property having the option to be able to full contact the solution and then you know allowing the guests to see the amenities right there and in their own smartphones in their own tablets. So being able to like I said, order food. They can even stream their own content to their in room TV’s as well. And of course, book appointments, dining appointment, spa appointments, and then the other big piece is service requests. So being able to ask for extra towels. Maybe you know? A light bulb is out or air conditioning is not working. So with dashboards and tools which is Book4Time and and INTELITY that not only are there guest features of allowing them to ask for certain things or request certain items, find information out. But on the back end, we’re able to see that on a back end dashboard, seeing that a particular guest in. A certain room. Needs this or needs that you’re actually able to track those as work orders, just like if we’re making a spa booking the same kind of thing that Book4Time has on their. Dashboard as well. So these are. Some of the main mobile apps and key features that we’re seeing out there. Very similar to the in room tablets, but of course we’re not doing any mobile check in or mobile key with the tablets as those. Are already in room. So let’s talk. A little bit about the in room tablets, we’re seeing a ton of uptick in revenue and spa bookings and amenities with these. So. So these tablets are what we consider provision by that it’s tied to the PMS. So we know which. Test what name is there and how long the stay is. So once they check in it immediately provisions the tablet to their name. It can welcome them and these home screens on these tablets can have a number of different pieces of content. You know, of course, some welcoming information. They can have informative. Updates such as you know we’re cleaning the windows or or if you’re part of a wedding group or a corporate group that can. Have a schedule. Of events, but it always has these menus of different amenities throughout the property and it’s all very real time and customizable for you. And when you really want to leverage your spa manage, that’s where you can have that be on the home screen or a main tab or something to click through. Because when these devices, when these tablets sit on these charging cradles, they’re not tethered, they just sit on the charging cradles and the guests can pick it up and utilize them whenever they want. But when they sit there on their charging cradles, they go through what we call a Daydream mode, which is essentially just a piece of digital signage that can just carousel through different content and. Or not, you’re. You’re advertising a restaurant or a spa booking, and it really can entice the guest to click here for a facial or or a, you know, a stone, a cold stone massage, hot stone massage, or whatever you is something you’re featuring that month or especially Valentine’s, so on and so forth. So it really is a great way to engage the guests specifically, not just with the general digital Compendium. Karina Salisbury Ben, sorry, we do have a question here. So can you walk us through kind of the process of kind of the back end? So Hamza is asking is this an app available in the App Store or some other marketplace, is it connected with the POS to book a treatment and in? Is it in a particular time zone? Does it get an online confirmation and is the payment? How does the payment work? So if you could maybe walk us through that, that would. Ben Teplitsky Absolutely. So here’s just a couple of examples of some apps out there that not only INTELITY has produced, but also some partnerships, but for time. But here’s the patina Maldives. So so. This is a branded mobile app that we did for them. So as you see, it’s very customizable. You’ll see that they can control all these different menu options. There, whether or not it’s kind of information about the property or certain kind of things that. They can do. You’ll see dining options here where they can have all their different dining options full in room dining menus, and then just to kind of give you an example here, like in their spa, you not only can you just book amenities, but also they can go as far as. I was actually purchasing spa amenities as well, a retail item, so it can be even a a digital storefront. And to your question, absolutely. So this is a a branded mobile app in iOS and Android. Here’s another one as well. We you see that each one of these has a little bit different look and feel based on on the branding that probably would like to do. And if you don’t, you know you have service requests if you’d like to, you can have if you do not have a spa. Obviously there’s other things in here that people decide elect to to put us first and foremost but very branded. And and and specific to your property. This property here actually it only uses icons so and kind of some kitschy different things for feed me and different requests so it is definitely your own app and branded for you. And then you know from an integration standpoint, as I was mentioning, all these different tools and utilities that are built in here have a certifying integration on the back end. So whether or not you’re using an opera or an M4 or a Maestro or Stay-in-Touch or Agilysys. That’s where we’re able to see guest information within the app and you can even go as far as sending out a notification to your guests when they’re due in for a stay where they can just do a single Click to download the app and it immediately pulls up their reservation and allows them to do mobile key. So the integrations are very rich and feature sets, so they’re based on the different technologies you have on the property. And typically these type of projects you know will take about 75 to 90 days to roll out because we’re doing integrations because we’re setting up the different branding tools here and having the and having each app look and feel different as well. And then on the back end, you’re able to see which guests have clicked on what and different orders, so on and so forth. So I will come back over here real quick and just show. Karina Salisbury And so the app will be on the App Store under the pro. Your name. Ben Teplitsky Correct. Yep. Karina Salisbury And so and so you’re saying in the e-mail confirmation you could add the link in there so the guests can download before they get there. Ben Teplitsky Yep, a couple different ways to do that. So on some of the PMS that we are, it’s a single click and it goes straight to the reservation with a single click. You can add other users as well on the reservation, so. They can have the mobile app as well. And then further to that, if if not, they can always log in to the mobile app so that that they can, once they put in their name or their e-mail or their phone number, then it actually with with this type of integration that you’re seeing, it’s sending information to the PMS and back to intelligence. So that that mobile app and those tablets are contextual to the guests. That’s logging in as well. Hopefully that answer your question and then just a couple of other use cases here, obviously a few different form factors for tablets and mobile app. Another you know combined partner that we work with is Equinox Hotels and Hudson Yards and they have a very custom UI for their tablet, but they’re even using their tablets as a phone as well for voice over IP telephone in addition to really leveraging. Food and beverage and their spa, and they do quite a bit of different spa, different features there at Equinox that we’re able to feature in their in room, tablets as well. Yeah. So I think that’s kind of the overview there. I think being able to really you know see how you’re leveraging different amenities. It really is kind of up to you guys on how you do it. It is a partnership and by that I mean as much as we can provide these tools for your team from a SPA standpoint or from a management or hotel management standpoint. You also are, you know, we tasked you guys with setting up your own menus and and just like Book4Time would do, is making sure that your, your, your spa menus are updated and and you know it’s contextual or sorry not content but it’s it’s it’s a real time update. So if you had a new spa feature or something that you’re doing for a particular day, it is all real time. Cloud hosted. So it’s something you can go in on our back end in combination with Book4Time and be able to do real time updates for the guests and be able to communicate back and forth with that guest on any sort of spa services as well. And you can do that via the mobile app or. In room tablet. So a lot of different features here to work with, and I certainly can kind of go into some more details or we can go through some more specifics as needed. Karina Salisbury Great. That’s all. It’s a. Lot of information, it’s quite a it’s really easy to use and seamless. Application there I love it. So do we. Have any additional questions? For Ben or for Sal or myself on the book. For time site. So what are your thoughts in terms of looking at the industry like when you were a manager, would this have been something that you would have liked to have made use of? Sal Capizzi Most definitely. Karina Salisbury Or had you? Maybe you did? Sal Capizzi No, I unfortunately did not use INTELITY, but most definitely I feel like the app, the app and digital concierge. Industry has really blown up in the past few years. Before my time as or after my time as a spy director. I think that knowing your guests you know pre arrival is something that we’re seeing that’s so important and being implemented. By some of the most. Prestigious brands and getting that kind of on demand. Feel for what your guests are needing during their stay at your property before arrival. And even you. Post Ben, I’m not sure if INTELITY has this capability, but collecting reviews or just feedback in any way, shape or form, is that something that can be developed? Is that something that you foresee you know coming into the intelligence app, the post service? You know, you know these hotel managers or amenity managers can get a sense for, you know, what’s what kind of things to kind of implement. In the future. Ben Teplitsky Yeah, absolutely. It’s something we see quite a bit as just getting service for feedback and it’s not only just getting a star rating, but it really is real time and there’s some service recovery there as well. So you can set up this, the platform, the system to really to trigger a feedback based on the what the guests do. So once they check in, once they get in room. Go ahead and send them a service feedback request. Once they’re checking out or they have checked out, you can send it to the mobile app. Once they’ve booked a spa service or ordered a burger or anything like that, you can. You can trigger that. Of course you don’t want to overwhelm them with too many, but it really is customizable for the property. And it’s great to get feedback and responses, and four or five star ratings, but also sometimes if maybe something happened there on property like the food was cold or whatever, it may be 1-2 or three stars can actually trigger a notification to management or spa management or or housekeeping and that’s able to do, you’re able to do some service, recover your real time rather than waiting till the guest. Checks out and does a review afterwards, so definitely something we see quite a bit of. Sal Capizzi Yeah, that’s excellent. Ben Teplitsky Yeah, it’s it really is kind of a a combination of the intangibles of just the extra engagement and then also kind of the solution set right where you’re figuring out a few problems by just having the contact list, streamlining your staff efficiencies, we’re seeing a huge need for that. With some low staff out there right now, so being able to have tools like this that help with check-in help with book. Things. And then the other. The other piece is there’s some revenue driving in there and there’s really is some ROI that we see and that’s always in the top of mind. But I mean we have some properties that you know we’ll actually recoup the cost by just doing advertisements with breweries and wineries in the area. And in addition to their spa services or something. Properties so that they can actually get some revenue generated because they have these engagement platforms. So there’s a lot of different ways to solve drive revenue and of course engage. Sal Capizzi Of course. And I think engagement like this, you know, it it we’re like I said, we’re seeing some of the world’s most prestigious brands implement things like this only because reduced staffing levels and a lot of people are still wearing a lot of different hats, even though we’re seeing the light at the end of the pandemic tunnel. Just allowing people to book on their own time, go through a menu on their own time these types of things are becoming more and more valuable only because you know packed call centers at a resort just aren’t either up to staff or back where they were in, you know, 2019. So from from an ordering, from a booking standpoint. This seems to be. A very popular route, Ben, I do wanna ask you. I know you had showcased one of the more one of the more modern in room table. Is there a specific device that a property would need to put in room that is strictly licensed to INTELITY, or if a property has a tablet of their own, maybe 250 of them already could? They use those. Ben Teplitsky Great questions. So for our platform, it is a part of the service. So it’s a provisioned tablet that we provide and don’t look at it as much. You know within the team as going out and purchasing tablets, really the service kind of comes with that piece of hardware and here’s why, because the tablet has a specific operating system on it that makes it an actual we’ll mobility app, right? So it’s not just a web browser that you’re downloading from the Google Play Store, it’s actually an embedded app and the tablet becomes kind of part of the in room solution. So yes, we we provide the tablets, no, you can’t go out and get your own tablet. You certainly could and then download your mobile app. But the it’s not, it doesn’t integrate, it doesn’t tie to the PMS. Like that. So it would be very. Manual same thing with the mobile apps. Yes, you can have mobile web links all day long and a mobile mobile app, but we really try and do actual, you know, custom embedded web menu or sorry mobile menu so that it’s really contextual to the experience. So great question there, but really this kind of comes as like a service and a package. So you can choose to do. Just like with Book4Time has different options. You can choose to do mobile app and or tablets and we provide that hardware for you. And of course all the different licensing and integrations all kind of comes with that. As well, got it. And so the big lift on your guys’s end? Is really just. The you know the kind of content piece, just making sure it looks and feels, you know, pulling content from your website, brand, branding, colors, schemes and just overall menu options and content. You know, we really do encourage actual doing actual digital menus rather than just. You know, pasting of a digital PDF because then they can really. The guests can really interact with it. So there’s a lot of cool things that. We recommend that we see out there based on similar type of properties and different type of features and I think it’s important to note here that we’re seeing these type of platforms installed across a variety of different properties, so resorts destinations, you know, 4550 rooms up to 3000 rooms in Vegas. So it you know we we have a huge engagement uptick in casino hotels where we, you know, there’s a lot of mobile key mobile check in a lot of repeat guests and of course resort destinations one, even if it’s luxury. Even if you don’t necessarily have televisions all over your in rooms, and even if you’re promoting Wellness, the guest still does expect to have some of those tools and some of that information digitally come to them. And that’s what we’re seeing quite a bit of increase here over the last couple of years and seeing more even this summer. Karina Salisbury Well, that’s some great information. I don’t. I don’t believe we have any questions here. But then you will be at high tech in the next few weeks as we’ll Book4Time. So if any of our attendees will be there then by all means come by our booth. Do you know your booth number? Ben Teplitsky Yeah, it’s 1129 I believe. Karina Salisbury 1129 and we’re at 2125. Sal Capizzi We are at 2125, alright. Karina Salisbury I should know that. Sounds great. Yes. Yes. So by all means come by our booth at HITEC and we’ll definitely see you then. And if anyone is interested in a one-on-one demo, please reach out to Book4Time or to INTELITY and we’d be happy. Ben Teplitsky I think I’m oops. Karina Salisbury To set you up. So on that note, Ben, thank you so much for the information today. We’re very excited to be a partner of INTELITY and. We’ll see what the future brings, so I. Will see you in person at HITEC. Ben Teplitsky See you guys in a couple of weeks. Thanks again for having. Me and look. Forward to working with you. Thanks, that’s all. Karina Salisbury Sounds great. Thank you so much. Thanks everyone. Bye bye.