Contactless Hospitality is Trending

By Mrunal Desai | 10-7-21: The COVID-19 pandemic brought hotels face to face with insurmountable problems such as increased health and safety risks, skyrocketing costs, operations issues, and staffing nightmares. The hospitality industry is now at a crossroads in which it has to embrace modern technology such as a Virtual Front Desk or face dire consequences. As a result, the adoption of new-generation technologies has accelerated, and contactless solutions have become the new standard. To meet new guest expectations, hotels must ensure a safe and contamination-free experience. The post-pandemic world has fueled the latest viral trend of contactless technologies.

In this article, we’ll go over the ins and outs of contactless hospitality and examine some of the most well-known examples of digitized hospitality services. To learn more, keep reading!

What Does It Mean to Have a Contactless Guest Experience?
Contactless technology in hospitality is becoming increasingly important due to the global epidemic, but this isn’t the only reason for its popularity; it is also critical for the industry’s future. Hotels face massive mounting problems from rising costs, hiring and retaining staff, changing customer expectations, operations issues, housekeeping, and maintenance issues. If that was not enough, hotels also face changing technology, evolving market trends, losing customers, lack of data, growth in competition, and local hospitality hosts.

The hospitality industry was already under attack from tech-savvy competition such as Airbnb and Vrbo. Research from the International Journal of Hospitality Management reveals that Airbnb’s listings/offers do not merely supplement the hotel market but rather show substitute characteristics in their long-term effects on hotel sales’ patterns. The results provide empirical evidence that Airbnb will disrupt the hotel business. The more Airbnb users are satisfied with their experience, the more likely that demand for hotel rooms will decrease. Therefore, hotel owners need to be aware of the technology trends, level of service, and price offered by sharing platforms in their market. Evolving technologies such as contactless solutions and Airbnb can no longer be ignored and should be considered when developing revenue management strategies.

Advantages of a contactless guest experience
Contactless solutions are becoming massively popular in the hospitality industry among guests and managers. So, what does a contactless experience mean for businesses and customers, and how can it help hotels improve services and operations?

Let’s take a look at how the hotel sector is changing as a result of new technologies:

Safety
Travelers throughout the world may enjoy their travels with less pandemic-related fear thanks to contactless technology. Health and safety concerns are reduced when interactions are handled through a kiosk or app that provides a contactless experience. Most importantly, greater safety and security should not come at the expense of quality service. Staff and employees also benefit from the enhanced safety measures and operational efficiencies.

Guest experience
Guests who find communicating with hotel staff to be cumbersome and difficult benefit from contactless technologies. Many guests, understandably, find miscommunications caused by linguistic and cultural barriers to be a source of anxiety. Customers can enjoy a stress-free experience thanks to contactless solutions that remove the tension of a traditional front desk.

Automated workflow
Contactless technology solutions are not only better in terms of health and safety, but they also remove human mistakes while processing paperwork, credit card information, and registrations. These technologies offer a 360° approach that includes check-in, check-out, walk-ins, payments, housekeeping, maintenance, and reporting. They streamline and automate routine processes that would otherwise require more time, staff, and in the long run, higher costs.

Analytical integration
Analytics and insights are also available to businesses that use contactless digital solutions. From reservations to testimonials, contactless technologies collect client-related data at every stage of the customer’s stay to improve the guest experience.

Services tailored to your needs
Hoteliers can adapt to changing customer expectations utilizing contactless technologies that use analytical data. Personalization of services is a growing must-have feature in a post-pandemic world that can help elevate the guest experience to a whole new level.

An advantage in the marketplace
The digitization of the hospitality industry is here, and the businesses that are first to adopt contactless technologies will gain a significant competitive advantage over their competitors.

According to a 2020 Criton survey, the majority of clients would prefer a digitized experience to traditional hotel services. More precisely, 62% of respondents stated they would prefer a digital check-in, 80% said they would be ready to perform all of their stay’s operations using an app, and 47% said they would order room services more eagerly if they could do so using contactless technology.

The demand for digital hospitality solutions is expected to rise as the number of post-pandemic travelers increases. Those hotels that are early adopters will undoubtedly gain a competitive advantage.

Virtual Front Desk: 24/7 at service
A virtual front desk or digital concierge service is growing in popularity because it allows hotels to engage with guests 24 hours a day, gather requests and orders, and provide exceptional service. Apart from that, a virtual front desk platform monitors trends, prioritizes guest preferences, and makes personalized recommendations. It will improve not only your hotel’s reputation and reviews but also lower costs. The solution can be delivered as an iOS/Android app or as a web-based application.

A virtual front desk will also report critical analytic data to provide helpful customer insights to create customized offers and promotions.

From check-in to check-out
During the guests’ stay, hotels can manage all operations processes from check-in to check out. Thanks to cutting-edge technology, customers can reserve accommodations via an application or a website and check-in before arrival. Hotels can also provide in-room service, with everything controlled via voice or a mobile application.

Automated Guest Services
The introduction of AI-based chatbots is another smart integration that is headed to the hospitality industry. AI chat allows communication between employees and customers and is becoming more and more powerful. These AI-driven chats can provide customers with immediate responses to commonly asked questions.

Hotels can use chatbots to deliver notifications to your customers before their arrival or during their stay, providing helpful information about the facilities and activities available. It can also advise guests about special offers. AI-based chatbots can transmit orders to the staff and provide guests with updates on their requests.

Self-service is good for business
Making self-service available to guests is becoming commonplace in other industries and can highly benefit hotels. Adding self-service technologies to hotels is simple and easy using platforms like the aavgo Virtual Front Desk. The aavgo 360° platform identifies a guest’s entire hotel journey and manages the operations side of the experience.

Guests usually visit a hotel’s traditional front desk to contact staff when they check-in and out, requiring unnecessary steps, long lines, and headaches. These bottlenecks include additional information, guest changes, guest requests, which causes delays in the process—these problems can be solved using self-service kiosks. Similar kiosks can be seen at airports, allowing travelers to check in for their next trip without having to wait in long lines.

Access to a hotel room keys
Using a kiosk, a guest no longer has to wait in line to get a room key by simply using the virtual front desk or self-service kiosk. Additionally, electronic hotel keys are becoming more commonplace and are a relatively new concept. Keyless hotel room access technology eliminates the need for any keys. Guests may now unlock their rooms using smartphone apps. Although electronic keys are an excellent concept, key cards are still the industry standard and can be provided easily with a virtual front desk.

Contactless payments
Contactless payments are a must in the post-pandemic era and are quickly becoming a must-have technology. Electronic payments are redefining the industry and a staple of what constitutes exceptional service.

Allowing your guests to make digital payments from various devices and various payment options can increase productivity and profits. Guests can make payments using a self-service kiosk, online, or on an app with the help of cloud-based technology. Guests can use a kiosk, download a mobile app or visit an online payment that allows them to pay for rooms and other services online.

Hotels will never be the same
The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly changed the hotel industry forever, forcing hotels to adapt or face disastrous consequences. The sector must reconsider outdated business models and adopt new technologies to stay relevant in a completely different world. Hotels also face mounting pressure from increased health and safety risks, skyrocketing costs, operations issues, and staffing nightmares. Contactless technology is the solution for hotels in the post-pandemic era, and the businesses that adopt it will undoubtedly have the upper hand.
For more information about the aavgo Virtual Front Desk, please contact our experts by phone: 1-888-932-2486 or via email: info@aavgo.com.

(Note: Mrunal Desai is the Chief Executive Officer, CEO, of aavgo. Ratan Hodar is the Chief Technology Officer, CTO, of aavgo. Desai and Hodar have years of experience in the Technology and Hospitality sectors.)

Additional Sources
https://hospitalityinsights.ehl.edu/airbnb-impact-hotel-trends
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0278431917305844?via%3Dihub=