DIVING INTO DIGITAL

As technology continues to take the hospitality industry by storm, we highlight the areas of an overnight stay venue which can become digitalised and the benefits this could present.

Technology is not only shaping the future of hospitality, but its ever-growing popularity across the board in a number of industries is making it difficult to ignore the trends, especially as a business owner, manager or operator.

Ultimately, you have one main aim at your overnight stay venue and that is to provide guests with seamless and unforgettable experiences. Due to the way of the world and with technology advancing at a faster pace than ever before, the expectations of your guests are changing and there is a growing demand for digitalisation during a hotel stay.

Managing a successful business requires numerous skills, which can often result in hotel managers overseeing multiple business areas and spreading themselves too thin. Oliver Cahill, Managing Director of Premier Software (now part of Journey Hospitality), thinks that perhaps the best way to combat this is to incorporate a business management system into your venue that helps automate areas of the services, enabling hotel managers and their teams to focus on the client experience.

“Two very good areas to bring into the digital space are your reports and marketing” suggested Oliver. Through digitising your reports into software, you can pull necessary data within a matter of seconds, helping to examine areas such as staff efficiency or capacities of profit.

Oliver revealed that through using a report that provides a breakdown of your income centres or which items have been sold in which area of the hotel, you can tailor your food, spa and leisure experiences accordingly. This type of report can then be scheduled to run automatically at the end of every day, week or month, sent straight to an email address of choice.

Imagine if this data could be used to tailor your own hotel offerings, such as spa treatments. Your next marketing campaign could then involve the promotion of new packages that incorporate a popular spa treatment, such as a couple’s massage, with a related treatment that may not always be selected on its own, increasing bookings and revenue.

“Best of all, through the digitisation of marketing, this can also be automated to be sent to clients at a time of your preference, who have historically booked one of the package elements before. You would know this thanks to your digital reporting.

“These are just two digital areas that can help manage parts of the hotel and increase revenue in an efficient manner.” Oliver explained.

Premier Software can offer two key pieces of technology to benefit hotels.

Core by Premier Software® is specifically designed for the spa, leisure and wellness industries, meaning it can manage the set up and booking of spa treatments, packages, classes in facilities, opening time bands, prices, membership options, automated marketing, reporting and plenty more.

Core works with onejourney®, their other key piece of technology, to pull through such package options for the spa, leisure and wellness areas of your hotel. This also links with other software from your hotel, such as your dining areas and hotel booking systems and presents them on your website in one easy booking experience.

Through bringing all areas of the hotel booking experience online, you provide prospective guests a chance to see what’s available in real-time and pricing, whilst at the same time giving them full control of their booking no matter where they are. This has the added bonus of freeing up the reception team from taking as many booking calls, enabling them to spend more time catering to the guest experience on-site.

Keeping an eye on hotel trends is crucial for maintaining client interest and remaining competitive. Oliver revealed that technology often leads the way with such trends, as they make the guest experience as easy and convenient as possible.

Oliver said: “One of the biggest hotel trends right now is a cloud-based Property Management System (PMS) that connects all areas of the hotel together.” This is designed to take hotel operations to an online-based system. The result is that this helps your team by managing business data in one, easy-to-manage cloud-based system.”

A vital area for tech solutions to replace are bookings by phone and paper. Oliver identified how digitising this process helps store bookings and client data in one easy-to-manage area, which is particularly useful should the need ever arise to take note of client preferences:

“Ultimately, digital bookings and client data provide a paperless solution to fulfil an ever-growing need for businesses to become more sustainable.” Oliver added.

Sebastien Sepierre, Managing Director of EMEA at Fourth, explained: “As we know, hospitality operators, and therefore hoteliers, have been heavily impacted by labour shortages, supply chain disruption and the rising cost of living in recent months. Recent data from CGA and Fourth’s Business Leaders’ Survey reveals that 96% of hospitality leaders have experienced higher costs in food and drink over the last 12 months, while 91% have also experienced higher front-of-house labour costs1.

“As a result of these challenges, hoteliers are struggling to maintain margins, while also ensuring a positive guest experience. When it comes to recruitment and retention, technology can play a vital role in helping hoteliers hire, onboard, and engage team members, while also cutting labour costs and driving efficiency.

“Solutions such as Fourth’s Workforce Management Software are vital supporting tools in helping businesses take control of their labour spend and streamline their scheduling processes, while also giving employees the flexibility to commit to shifts in real-time. This ultimately leads to a happier, more motivated team and ensures that staff continue to offer the highest levels of customer service, which in turn will encourage return visits and boost profits.”

Recognising that technology is becoming an increasingly essential tool for hoteliers, Sebastien explained how it helps to improve efficiency and boost productivity across a whole host of operations, from delivering a smooth checkin experience through to effectively managing kitchen stock and reducing waste.

Workforce management solutions have been especially important for hoteliers who are looking to address issues around work-life balance, which has become a much greater priority for staff following the pandemic.

Sebastien touched on how operating with a fully accessible workforce management and engagement app can support transforming team engagement, communication, and culture, while also enabling department managers to react to on-the-go scheduling changes and allow staff to see their schedule at any time, swap shifts with colleagues and apply for open shifts.

He says: “This gives team members far more control over their work patterns, which drives team satisfaction and ultimately benefits the guest experience.

“Another key consideration for businesses in 2023 and beyond is the increased importance of sustainability within operations. One way in which technology can help hotels improve their sustainability efforts and manage costs is through waste management, which ensures the safeguarding of both profits and the planet. Cloud-based technology, like Fourth’s Adaco tool, enables hoteliers to manage their inventory from one place and reduce overstocking to help keep waste down, which therefore results in higher profitability and increased sustainability.” Sebastien added.

Digital alternatives to workforce scheduling and planning can be hugely beneficial as opposed to using analogue, paper-based time and attendance methods, as hotel managers are able to effectively track, record and analyse employees’ attendance patterns all in one place.

Sebastien explained how cloud-based technology, such as Fourth’s eClock kiosk app, can be installed onto a lowcost tablet and deployed in minutes across various sites in any number of locations, which allows staff to work seamlessly across multiple venues and keep an accurate record of their time. Adopting tech like this, therefore enables businesses to prevent payroll errors, keep track of absenteeism and excessive lateness, limit overtime and increase productivity, which is a win for everyone!

In what is becoming an increasingly digital world, technology also holds the key to communication and it’s now possible to put the power directly in your employee’s pockets, with smartphones and devices acting as the perfect tool to engage with your team.

“Digital management platforms, such as Fourth Engage, help to create a strong culture of collaboration and encourage the sharing of insights, feedback and ideas that are essential to business development. Furthermore, having actively engaged employees leads to happier and more productive teams, which results in better customer service and a lower turnover of staff.” Said Sebastien.

We asked Sebastien what he believes is one piece of technology a hotel shouldn’t be without, to which he explained that, with labour shortages still largely affecting hotels and the wider hospitality industry, it’s essential that hoteliers invest in solutions that will help them to recruit and retain top talent, while also saving on labour costs and protecting their margins.

Stewart Moss, Managing Director at High Level Software, agrees that one of the main ways technology can benefit hotels is by helping to improve and enhance the guest experience. For the most part, this is achieved through tech that alleviates staff of some high-pressure, laborious or time-consuming tasks to allow them to focus on doing what they do best – delivering exceptional customer service.

Stewart explained how he thinks that the tech needs to work in the background, streamlining operations to ensure customers have great, stress-free stays.

“This begins even before a guest enters the hotel with an easy-to-use online booking system. A digital booking system on the hotel’s website means staff are not required to manually enter in bookings or take booking requests over the phone. What’s more, hoteliers can change availability and rates, push promotions and special offers to several channels in one move, or push different promotions to different channels. This saves valuable time and also avoids the risk of guests going through a booking process to find out at the point of purchase that the availability is no longer there.”

Direct booking is also an opportunity for hoteliers to drive revenue. Stewart sees it isn’t easy to attract people away from third-party booking platforms such as Booking. com and added: “Our research shows that only half of guests are aware of the commissions that are paid to them and 63% say knowledge of commissions would make them likely to book through the hotel’s own website.

“This isn’t the only way direct booking can boost revenue however; it also gives hoteliers more control over bookings, offers and rates, and the opportunity to upsell to guests at the booking stage. For example, prompting a dinner reservation in the hotel restaurant or a suggestion to have flowers, chocolates or champagne in the room on arrival. Capturing guests at this early stage of their journey when they are in ‘buying mode’ is a key upselling opportunity, and technology is essential to helping businesses deliver this without generating too much extra work for the hotel team.”

Given the current staffing crisis in hospitality, we know that staff are currently stretched, so offering guests the option to have a contactless check-in and check-out can give hoteliers the ability to provide a smoother, swifter guest journey.

“In our latest GO Technology report, around a third of consumers say they used automated check-in (32%) and check-out (30%) in 2022, and this feature is likely to become an integral part of the hotel experience in the years ahead. There is a clear demand, particularly for business travellers after an efficient, no-fuss, stay, and it is a development that hoteliers looking to future-proof their businesses should look at now – with nearly half (46%) of consumers saying they would prefer to book a hotel which will offer online check-in and check-out.” Stewart concluded.

Technology doesn’t mean that customer experience is limited to online and through devices, check-ins and online comments. All of these experiences need to be part of an integrated, dynamic system so that guests’ visits and feedback are at the forefront of the marketing strategy, encouraging others to return to your venue time and time again. It’s about working with technology, not against it.

1 CGA by NielsenIQ and Fourth, Business Leaders’ Survey 2023