Technology has reshaped the hospitality business and opened new avenues for hotels of all sizes. The advancements don’t end at in-house computer systems and digital room keys. New upgrades to hotel technology make for a better guest experience and have fringe benefits that cut costs and increase profitability. The American Hotel and Lodging Association forecasts that in the next year, 80% of hotel markets will exceed 2019 revenue by an average of 14%, so the time to upgrade is now. Here are four tech upgrades to take advantage of when updating a hotel or hospitality business.
1. Mobile Marketing Solutions
A modern hotel should always leverage the most powerful marketing and guest experience tool in their arsenal: their guests’ phones. Smartphones can literally put all kinds of useful tools in your guests’ pockets.
Step one of incorporating new tech into any hotel should be a hotel mobile marketing system. It gives your hotel a presence on mobile phones. Guests can use an app to browse rooms, make reservations, and check-in for their stay in a contactless fashion. Many travelers are looking for ways to streamline their travel experience so that they can keep everything from room keys to reservations on one device. As a bonus, using mobile marketing saves time and effort for your staff. Mobile notifications can answer guests’ most frequent questions, and apps for guests free up staff time by making simple reservations automatically.
2. Smart Thermostats and HVAC Technology
Behind-the-scenes tech is the second most important part of upgrading your guests’ experience. Smart thermostats are a mainstay in many modern homes, but they have even more benefits for the hotel industry.
Heating or cooling vacant rooms wastes energy and cuts profit margins. To make matters more complicated, some guests are frequently in their rooms, while some only use their rooms for a few hours of sleep every night. How can you tell the difference and avoid wasting energy? Smart heating and cooling technology uses sensors to determine if anyone is in the room.
This data can also be used to tailor the guest experience. For example, you can recommend room service to guests who are frequently in their rooms and push discounted restaurant reservations to guests who are out and about.
3. Competitive and Modern Loyalty Programs
Repeat customers and brand loyalty are the cornerstones of long-term hotel profitability. Once you attract a new customer and provide a winning experience, you must keep those guests returning for the same quality experience year after year. For this reason, loyalty programs are a mainstay of hotel marketing, but a modern program should go above and beyond for maximum engagement and ROI.
That means leveraging data and customizing the guest experience. Planning a trip is a fun hobby for a small handful of people and a headache for many others. A loyalty program can make planning easy by recommending what the guest has already enjoyed.
Ironically, it is one-way technology can give a more personal touch to your hotel’s guest interactions. Even the most attentive staff member or hotel owner can’t remember every reservation, order, and preference of every guest’s stay. An advanced loyalty program can securely store this data and remind guests of their personalized experience to encourage them to book again.
4. Reputation and Review Monitoring Software
Online reviews are critical to a hotel’s reputation and brand perception. It pays to keep on top of what guests say on public forums. That said, going through every review site manually is taxing and time-consuming. Tech platforms can bunch reviews together to give an easy, complete picture of your hotel’s online reputation.
Contrary to what you may assume, responding to some online reviews kindly and thoughtfully can improve your hotel’s reputation. A study from Cornell’s SC Johnson College of Business found that a hotel responding to around 40% of its online reviews resulted in increased overall revenue. In particular, guests appreciated constructive responses to critical reviews. These responses show that your hotel cares about the guest experience.
Take advantage of new technology to give your hotel an edge season after season. Mobile marketing makes for a seamless guest experience, while data from smart thermostats, loyalty programs, and review software can guide high-level business decisions for your hotel.
