The mobile journey is changing how visitors manage their travel itineraries. Travelers in the modern day have moved away from the conventional, legacy models and shown a clear preference for the comfort and ease of the mobile experience.
A mobile guest journey is now seen as the experience itself rather than something extra or optional. To meet visitor demand, hoteliers are investing in mobile technologies.
As Hospitality Technology’s 2021 Lodging Technology Study: Reimagining Hospitality shows, hotels are introducing or preparing to implement contactless features to satisfy guests’ increasing demand for contactless app guest experiences.
Data from Exploding Topics, a search data analysis company, also demonstrates how contactless check-in interest has skyrocketed since the pandemic began in 2020.
The 4 steps of a contactless app guest experience
Through a mobile guest app that is integrated with the hotel’s property management system, the mobile guest journey enhances the conventional service model by providing a more individualized and seamless contactless app guest experience with more opportunities for connection and creating a truly memorable stay. Understanding each stage of the mobile guest journey will help us move forward.
Pre-stay
Hotels may create more individualized relationships with their visitors before they even step foot on the property by employing a mobile guest app. Hoteliers can communicate with their customers by sending them personalized messages, reminders, push notifications, and chat messages through the app.
● Book directly through the app. Customers who already use the hotel’s guest app on their smartphones can be encouraged to continue doing so, which will lead to more direct reservations and more earnings for the establishment.
● Keep visitors informed to ensure a smooth arrival. The app can be utilized to distribute critical pre-arrival information like the hotel’s safety procedures, pre-screenings, and other practical specifics that facilitate a smoother arrival.
● Sell supplemental services and enticing bundles. The app can be used to upsell other services and unique packages that can be added to the reservation, boosting the hotel’s revenue while improving the guest’s stay.
Arrival day; Check-in
Customers are empowered and can control their own on-property experience by being able to use their phones to manage their reservations, check-in, and unlock the hotel room door. Customers can also choose how much interaction they want to have with the hotel staff and other guests. The ease and convenience of check-in make it possible for each visitor to concentrate on other, more significant aspects of their trip. Customers may skip the lineups at the front desk and start enjoying the hotel’s grounds and their room right away using a native app that has check-in and keyless entry features built in.
● mobile check-in without making contact. As guests expect contact-free solutions, mobile check-in has become a “must-have.” Instead of stopping at the front desk, guests may now view their reservations on their phones and check in before they even get to the hotel.
● When the room has been cleaned, let the guest know. The room number becomes immediately available and associated with a reservation as soon as a room is designated as ready. The hotel app notifies the guest, allowing him or her to bypass the lobby and get straight to their room.
● Registration of visitors and special requests. Guests are asked to confirm their personal information and pre-authorize payments if the hotel requests them throughout the mobile check-in process. The smartphone app can also be used to make special requests like late checkout, food and beverage orders, and requests for additional facilities.
● No need to manage plastic key cards with a mobile key. The moment the check-in is finished, the mobile key becomes accessible in the app. By pressing their phone on the electronic door lock, visitors can open the door. The mobile key is simple to wirelessly distribute to additional party guests.
Departure day
No longer are guests required to check out of their rooms and stop at the front desk to return the keys and pay. Instead, the guest gets reminded by the app when it is time to check out, and they can check out and pay using the app.
● Examining the room charges. The guest can check their folio and all of the charges via the app before checking out.
● Mobile Checkout & Payment. The guest can utilize the app to complete the payment of the accommodation and other expenses after reviewing the folio. The mobile key is turned off after check-out, and the PMS records the room as “unclean.”
● Arrival Services. The visitor can make arrangements for transportation to the airport or request bell service through the app.
● Email was sent with a receipt. The inconvenience of the guest forget to inquire about his invoice at the front desk is avoided when the invoice is sent directly to the guest’s email.
Post-stay
The contactless app guest experience continues after they leave your resort since, in the modern world, a hotel’s success may be made or broken by its internet reviews and feedback. Hoteliers can prolong their guest-wooing efforts beyond the guest’s stay with targeted post-stay messages, surveys, and pertinent offers that encourage loyalty and further direct reservations if the appropriate technology is in place.
● Contact the visitor after they depart. To ensure that a guest’s hotel stay is top of mind for future bookings, hotels can boost post-stay engagement with their customers by using a mobile guest app to distribute guest surveys and pertinent offers.
● Direct bookings and promotions. Customers can easily book their next stay with the app, and hoteliers can use it to advertise special offers.
● Modern guests place a premium on the mobile experience, thus every hotel’s strategy should be built around an integrated, mobile-optimized solution. Mobile technology can give hotels a sought-after, contemporary facelift in all areas of the guest experience, from pre-arrival and on-property through post-stay.
At the end of the day, we’re all just people connecting with other people, regardless of how big or little your hotel business is. Every interaction with a guest provides an opportunity to build a relationship with them and turn their stay from merely a place to stay into an adventure. You can make sure that visitors continue to reinvest in your hotel by utilizing mobile technology at every stage of the guest experience and taking a comprehensive, individualized approach.
