Engaging with today’s hotel guests is going to take a lot more than a handshake or a smile.

We are reading every day now that labour shortages and unsustainable labour costs are beginning to cripple the hospitality's recovery

So, it just makes a lot of sense, to leverage off the key benefits as provided by effective contactless digital Guest Experience technology, to empower guests to self-serve DIY style, using their own smartphone. 

For what amounts to a fraction of your payroll expenses, an effective guest experience platform, such as REVA Anywhere, will go a long way towards significantly reducing your staff costs, and in meeting guest increasing expectations (of a digital hotel experience) with a leaner team.  There are further reasons to embrace this technology, from revenue and operational perspectives too.

Guests now expect a self-service digital experience of a hotel or resort property

In any case, an increasing proportion of guests actually want to be provided, or reassured with self-service digital tools (ordering, contactless payment and engagement, digital compendium etc), conducted via their favourite travel accessory in hand, their own smartphone. 

Therefore, to meet guests increased expectations of a digital guest experience, hoteliers need to recognise that establishing a well-honed and effective digital guest experience offering is crucial for their property’s survival, not just a “nice to have” facility anymore.

The “Letting Go” process

The pace of change towards digital has been difficult to accept for many hoteliers, and quite understandably too, as traditional hospitality immediately conjures images of great personal service being delivered human to human.  For many hoteliers, providing traditional hospitality is part of their blood.

But, what was previously considered a niche offering for millennials, smartphone digital ordering and engagement is hotel and resort environments, can now be intuitively carried out, almost ubiquitously, thanks to that 10 year seismic shift in technology uptake brought about by the pandemic.  These recently learned digital skills and habits have turned into expectations for hotels to provide a digital experience, not just for restaurants and room service, but for all that the property has to offer. 

And those hoteliers who approach a re-imagination of their hotel non-room based operations the right way, where the technology is configured to be an enabler and a connector between the guests and the hotel team’s personal customer service, by thus creating moments where the hotel service team can deliver service that will “delight” guests, there will be real opportunity to thrive, not just survive.

And it’s very clear that this process of “letting go” of the former form of hospitality, based exclusively on the delivery of personal-service, is now well underway.

Areas of labour cost savings

Labour, as aforementioned, is the major cost saving and, justifies alone establishing a comprehensive digital guest experience platform on your property. 

Fewer attendant service staff will be required as the orders are made effectively via the guest or visitor’s phone.  With an effective instant chat messaging platform, with an AI-driven hotel knowledge-base in place, there’s less drain the front desk’s time in answering guests regular queries so fewer front desk staff may be required.. 

And less admin time will be required if the platform is integrated to the hotel POS in larger properties so that orders flow directly through to the kitchen or bar.

Another area for immediate cost savings is your property’s new digital compendium, as there’s no further need for those paper-based hotel compendiums in the rooms, and this will save your operations expense across paper, ink, and labour costs too.  Your guests will prefer the freedom to consult this from anywhere, pre or during their stay, and this alone will also help to drive maximum guest engagement with the platform, which leads them to view all your offerings, driving further success.

Of course, there are significant revenue uplifts and operational efficiencies also to be enjoyed by establishing versatile guest experience platform, such as the award-winning REVA Anywhere platform. 

So with spiralling labour costs, and a lack of available labour, hotel operations can achieve more with leaner teams and it’s truly a win for the guest and for the hotel alike.