Revamping hotel front office with technology: Moving towards excellence

Technology is changing our lives in many unimaginable ways and almost all businesses are dependent on it in some way or the other. Hotel Industry also has been incorporating technology in various ways into their daily operations to save money and to deliver top-notch customer service by streamlining their services.

The word technology isn’t new to hotels however its use has certainly increased after the pandemic. In the following points, we are taking look at technologies that are bringing an evolution in customer service.

Cloud systems on Tablets and Mobile phones

Tablets and mobile phones are not new but their use has certainly increased post-pandemic. Even before the pandemic, they were being used extensively by hotels that tried to put their best foot forward in customer service.

Tablets and mobile phones are being widely used for registration activities and also to provide in-room assistance to guests. Being a cherry on the cake was the integration of cloud-based PMS system which made operations flexible. A front office employee could now process reservations, payments, record preferences, check guests in and out anywhere. Interaction between guest and employee which was restricted to either side of the desk earlier got more personalised as the staff could do their job with mobility. Interdepartmental communication which has been a challenge for many years could also be run very smoothly with the adoption of this technology.

Mobile Apps

As a gesture to provide the utmost level of comfort hotels have been providing guests with smart controls through dedicated mobile apps on arrival. The app allows them to unlock their rooms, adjust room temperature, operate curtains and other in-room controls, ordering food & drinks, making restaurant and spa reservations, etc. just with a click.

Artificial Intelligence

With the continuous advancement of AI, there has been a rapid increase in its adoption by hotels to make their processes smoother and faster in turn ensuring seamless customer service. Additionally, it reduces the workload of their employees which eventually provides them more time to interact with the guests.

1. Voice assistants have become an integral part of our lives and of hotels as well. For a few years now voice assistants have been used to enhance the customer service experience starting from the pre-arrival phase till their departure.

2. Chatbots - Becoming comfortable with AI offering services just like humans do most hotels have adopted chatbots making an exceptional service experience possible. We can look at the case of Hilton hotels worldwide whose AI-powered concierge Connie is transforming the guest experience and taking it to new heights. A two feet Connie with the feature of bipedal support is performing just like the human concierge and has been a hit since its launch.

3. Knowing your customer with Big Data To know your customer better and deliver personalised service experience has always been the main motive for hotels. Thanks to the big data element and its information classification and management system, hotels have been able to know and understand customer behaviour much better than before. The abundant data is used by AI to address individual needs and provide customer service.

4. Interactive and Virtual Guest Experience With AI breaking through the best that it can soon hotels will be able to deliver some unreal experiences exceeding guest expectations. From offering interactive room windows allowing you to change the view of your room and control everything possible in the room to giving a 360-degree tour while booking rooms, offering virtual restaurant tables and so on. VR is another desirable feature that is going to be very popular in a few years to come.

Social Media

The importance of social media is finally being understood by hotels and looking at the results it is producing for the hotel it is definitely an extremely important technology for the industry. In today’s era, it is difficult to prove that your hotel is legitimate unless you are present on at least a few social media channels. Social media marketing has made the hotels save huge costs with the highest marketing impact. Hotels are making optimum use of the most popular social media platforms to reach new customers, engage with the existing ones, fetching more feedbacks, and diligently promoting their property and its various business segments.

More and more, hotels have come to realise that customer service needs to continuously evolve and to excel in this aspect they must keep pace with technology.

Thus, it can be concluded by saying that technology has been and will always be innovating far beyond imagination, providing breakthrough customer service experiences in the years to come and hence will become a need than a want for hotel businesses.

About the author:

Rashmeet Kapoor is an Assistant Professor at the Vedatya Institute. Besides this, she has worked with one of the most renowned hoteliers across the country such as The Leela palaces and the Taj Hotels and Resorts.

 

 

 

 

 

Note: The views expressed in this article are solely author’s own and do not reflect/represent those of Shiksha