Self-Service and Touchless Tech in the Post-COVID Hospitality Industry

Until now, the industry’s main focus was to create a seamless experience for guests in their facility, customize services and features to serve, and foresee any wish and desire of their customers.

Since the Virus brought awareness to the potential invisible risks associated with physical touchpoints, providing a hands-free experience has become essential for both travelers and Hospitality Providers.

Nowadays, with the coming of COVID-19, the focus has shifted, and the customer is looking for a contactless experience.

Criton’s survey revealed that 80% of potential hotel guests would be willing to download a Hotel App to facilitate a contactless experience at check-in and check-out and get all information about the hotel.

73% would use an app that allows opening the door to their room, 47% would be more likely to order room service if an app was to propose that service, and 48% would be more likely to use the hotel’s restaurant services if they could order food via an app.

Today, travelers expect higher standards of hygiene and social distancing.

It would be safe to predict that while this pandemic will eventually subside, the hospitality industry will probably not go back to its “old ways,” therefore, adopting and adapting to the changes is a wise step to take towards the new public expectations.

Fortunately, a variety of self-service technologies can be used by hotels to promote social distancing, enhance hygiene, and provide travelers with a convenient and hyper-personalized guest experience.

Tech solutions, such as keyless self-check-in, temperature controls, and virtual concierge services, were considered by hotels long before this crisis but were far from being universally implemented.

There is no reason why a guest shouldn’t be able, while on their way to your facility, to use their phone to complete their registration, check-in, receive keyless access to their room as well as a pass to the elevators, booking a facial, and picking from the room service menu a delicious snack to wait for them in their room at arrival.

The Widespread Demand for Self-Service

Traditional hotel approaches emphasize person-to-person contact at every point in the guest journey; luxury hotels even promote with pride their “high-touch” model of guest service.

All of this will have to change.

Hotels and other hospitality businesses must operate under new sanitization guidelines, physical distancing, and contact tracing protocols.

To help streamline these new processes and maintain customer service, they are turning to new technologies.

While it contradicts the notion of hospitality, modern hotel technologies use automation that also augments and personalizes the guest experience while reducing physical touchpoints during a stay, helping keep guests and staff safe.

But the introduction of new technologies and automation is multiplying the potential breaching points by hackers to your system; therefore, be cautious and responsible in your choices.

Booking

Although Booking has been a contactless activity for a while, you can still reduce contact at the property by making the prepayment of the reservation mandatory. The additional advantage is that it also minimizes the risk of ChargeBacks.

Pre Check-In

It would include Room Assignment, where you can assign the best possible room to each guest while rotating the occupancy of rooms to minimize contagion risks.

With this automation, you guarantee guests have their room ready at arrival and don’t need to wait in common areas.

Contactless payments

Accenture listed on its banking blog “a strong push toward a cashless society” as the №1 potential long-term impact that the pandemic may have on global processing of payments.

MasterCard found that consumers perceive contactless payments as “the cleaner way to pay.”

Contactless payments are payment methods that don’t require your card’s physical swiping in a machine or handing it to another person.

Many forward-thinking hotels are moving towards various contactless payment methods, such as mobile digital wallets and “tap-to-pay” systems.

While data security might be a concern of this technology, the privacy issues are even more ambiguous.

Businesses that won’t be set up for accepting payments from digital wallets like Apple Pay and Google Pay may experience restricted growth in the post-pandemic world. Peer-to-peer contactless payments, also between different types of wallets, are expected to become a standard.

Self-check-in

A Self-check-in “touchless” solution has never been more relevant than it is now; it contributes to guests and staff safety during the pandemic and improves efficiency and personalization through data automation.

A mobile self-check-in app integrated with the hotel property management system (PMS) will provide guests with an efficient and personalized check-in process while reducing time at the front desk.

If that same Self-check-in app is integrated with online payment and keyless entry solutions, it even allows guests to bypass the front desk entirely.

In the Criton Servey, it comes out that 62% confirmed they would prefer to check-in and out through a hotel app while 30% said they would prefer to check-in and out through a webpage, the remaining 8% answered they would prefer to check-in and out at a public kiosk.

Check-in kiosks

The traditional check-in process seems outdated in a post-COVID world.

Having guests lining up at the front desk, engaging in unnecessary conversation, and then physically exchanging identification documentation puts both the guests and staff at risk.

However, utilizing mobile and self-service technology allows guests to avoid personal contact entirely by checking-in from their mobile phone or through a smart-kiosk.

By using their mobile phone for checking-in, guests may be proposed with additional personalized and hygienic mobile facilities such as mobile check-out, keyless room entry, joining the loyalty program, and mobile room upgrades.

Strategically placing check-in kiosks can also break up long lines and promote social distancing.

There are also available AI-enabled facial recognition and ID scanning. The new technology incorporates infrared temperature readers into customer-facing kiosks that allow business owners to screen for coronavirus without exposing their staff members.

Mobile Key

Keyless mobile access allows your mobile phone to be used as a room key. It reduces touchpoints, saves time and costs, and speed up the check-in and check-out process.

The Contact-free Keyless usually works seamlessly with the central PMS system.

An additional positive point to this feature is reducing the need to replace lost keys. The key is on the guest’s mobile device; no “physical” key needs to be issued, replaced, or returned.

As a hospitality provider, you need to provide a secure app to your guests. That app should include a smartphone authentication technology for verifying a mobile user’s identity via PIN or fingerprint; it should use AES 128-bit and SSL encryption.

Instant key cancellations or updates should also be available if the guest no longer has access to their room. The future electronic lock technology is improving the guest experience making hotel operations more efficient as well.

“Hyper-hygienic” environment

The hotel has interdependent systems that are now capable of communicating with each other in real-time.

It does so using one inclusive app integrated with the hotel’s PMS system, which seamlessly communicates between the front desk and the housekeeping team, improving internal communication and workflow.

Housekeepers can view each room’s live status of occupancy (due for check-in, occupied, do-not-disturb, checked-out), and front-desk agents can see which rooms have been inspected, cleaned, and are ready for guests in real-time.

Housekeepers can add notes and maintenance warnings to rooms as they work, to help keep track of special requests, such as maintenance issues or quarantining guests.

This well-oiled system irrevocably impacts the positive experience of your guests and the efficiency of your workflow.

Smart room tech

Thermostat controls, TV remotes, and light switches are touchpoints for guests that can be avoided using smart room technology.

Smart room functionality can be controlled by IoT (Internet of Things) technology via mobile app; all can be done using their smartphone or simply by voice command.

Smart room technology reduces physical contact with high-touch surfaces, making guests feel safer; it also offers an elevated convenience level that modern travelers are looking for.

Concierge Services

From ordering food to housekeeping, Concierge Mobile App helps hotels connect with guests through a single mobile application, ensuring social distancing in a post-COVID world.

The concierge app can intuitively cover Housekeeping requests, in-room services requests, food and beverage orders, travel bookings, all with Zero touchpoint communication.

The digital concierge system allows the guest to communicate directly with the hotel without human proximity.

It enables hotels to receive and respond to any question or request from guests. The topics could be anything from a demand for more towels, bathroom amenities, extra beds, ordering room service, or booking a spa treatment.

Guests ‘would access the bot using their mobile device and either scanning a QR code or putting the phone near a near field communication (NFC) tag.

Check-Out

Scheduled Checkout- Eliminate the need for an in-person check out by performing an automatic check out at a specified time. This solution is ideal for guests who have settled their charges or charges are routed to a PM or other guest or directly billed to a third party.

Self Check-Out- Eliminate the need for an in-person check-out and have the ability to do so from your mobile next to the pool, from your room, or from the same kiosk you used for check-in.

This solution is ideal for guests who do not have any additional charges on the day of check-out.

Post-Stay

Having your clients’ at reach through the downloaded inclusive app will allow you to stay in contact with your guests even after they leave your facility.

The Bigger Picture of Self-Service

It’s essential to recognize that self-service not only offers an experience founded inconvenience but lends itself to an improved workflow across service-providers.

When time-consuming operational tasks and processes are automated with technology and self-service solutions, staff are empowered to allocate their efforts and attention to guests in a more meaningful manner.

With this in mind, self-service shouldn’t be seen as a step towards the dehumanization of hospitality, but rather a way to make those human touchpoints more personalized and intentional. After all, AI-powered chatbots or self-service kiosks don’t engage the customer. Still, the hotel staff freed from the confines of front desk lines and operational hang-ups can engage with guests in a memorable and meaningful way.

The threat

Having your PMS inter-connected with your client’s mobile phone and transferring all the client-facing care to digital is increasing the potential breaching points in your organization’s systems.

Those breaches could affect your clients’ data security, as well as making your whole establishment vulnerable to hackers.

The expected trend is taking the industry inexorably in that direction. Therefore, taking the necessary steps ahead of time and partnering with a professional cybersecurity company specialized in this vertical will close any breach and prevent potential hacking hermetically.

Summary

Here are the top features to consider enabling to encourage a touchless hospitality experience for your guests:

• Mobile Check-in (with registration card completion)
• Mobile Digital Keys
• Mobile Payments
• Mobile ID (barcode ID, charge to room/member account)
• Mobile Spa Check-in
• Mobile Facility access (NFC/Bluetooth)
• Mobile Messaging
• Mobile Guest Requests
• Mobile Guest Issues (PM)
• Mobile Food & Beverage Ordering
• Mobile Check-out