How Hotel Apps help hoteliers alleviate staff challenges
Travel is back in full swing. However, the hospitality industry is facing staff shortages to meet the tourist influx and the forecasted to return to increased growth and revenue over the next five years.
While more guests may be visiting your hotel establishment, this also increases pressure on fewer employees to give your guests a great customer experience. In a recent survey of AHLA members, 97 per cent said their hotels are understaffed, and staff shortages are said to be costing the hospitality industry £22bn in lost revenue.
So how can technology - from QR codes and digital menus to time-saving online ordering and payments — play a pivotal role in helping employees serve more guests, enhance their working environment, and rediscover their love for our industry?
Most hoteliers are familiar with how tech can elevate the customer experience; guests are also accustomed to digital experiences and using technology to self-serve and manage their stay.
Therefore, adopting hotel guest app technology may be the solution your hotel or hotel chain needs.
Guests can pre-order, order multiple rounds and pay via the hotel app.
What is a hotel app?
A hotel app or hotel guest app is a digital solution for guests that provides all the hotel amenities and services at their fingertips. Either as a downloadable app or web-based app, it enables guests to easily access anything they might need during their stay whether it’s ordering drinks and meals online, placing a request for towels, making a spa reservation, or looking up information about the local area.
Not only does this help elevate the guest experience and make for a more memorable stay, but it also helps hoteliers reduce resources and streamline operations by automating mundane tasks and enabling the guest to self-serve.
How can Hotel Guest Apps empower staff and improve output?
Staff can do what they’re best at
It's likely that your employees joined your sector to be hospitable and contribute their talents in customer service. They possess the empathy, adaptability, and compassion necessary to provide exceptional customer service, which enables staff to connect with guests.
Since these skills are difficult to teach and deliver successfully, hoteliers need to foster an environment where their natural flair can flourish rather than having employees spend their days staring at a computer screen or struggling with tedious manual processes.
Guests can self-serve
No one wants to turn guests away because they haven’t got the resources to properly serve them. There’s nothing more frustrating than closing off tables or reducing your operating hours due to staff limitations. Hotel apps put the control at your guest’s fingertips - they can self-serve and manage their experience by ordering what they want, when they want, all from the comfort of their own device – so your staff just focus on delivering their order.
Guests can even open a tab, add multiple items as and when required and pay in one single transaction at the end – again this can all be facilitated with less demands on staff as your waiting staff are not needed to regularly attend to your guests to take orders or present them with checks after each round.
Staff can work on the go
Hotel guest apps are built on the cloud, allowing personnel to modify information and use the app remotely and flexibly from anywhere in the hotel or off-site.
By investing in the newest technologies to create a supportive and fulfilling workplace, you not only increase productivity but also provide employees more options and better tools to execute their tasks, proving that you are a progressive company.
Mundane processes can be automated
Allow technology to take care of mundane processes and tasks - online orders can go straight through to the kitchen (if integrated with the POS) and the team can get started on them right away.
Additionally, guests can continue adding to their order as and when they like, when they’re ready. And at the end of the meal, they can review their bill and pay the final balance. No need for waiters to keep going back and forth, asking if the guests want to order more, they can just focus on delivering their order and giving the guest a top class, speedy service.
Staff are empowered and supported
Making sure your team is taught and at ease with using the technology will guarantee that they not only get the most out of the technology but also feel empowered and motivated.
Make sure your provider offers sufficient tools and assistance for questions and problems so they may be resolved effectively and swiftly. Do they have an online support portal with knowledge-based articles, training tutorials and FAQs?
Employees that are engaged in and obtain new training to increase their personal confidence and skill set will feel more involved and part of the process.
“With staff pressures mounting and rising costs, this might be an opportune moment for hoteliers to evaluate their processes and implement digitised, automated tools that can help boost productivity and free up employee’s time to deliver more connection and human touch which is still at the very heart of a memorable guest experience.” - Kate Fuller, Senior Marketing Manager at IRIS.
How does this benefit both the hotel’s workforce and the guests?
Implementing a hotel guest app or digital menu delivers numerous benefits, including:
Labour savings: Along with simpler order processing and bigger average checks, labour savings are listed as the top benefits of online ordering by 80% of restaurant operators.
User convenience: Hotel guest apps allow customers to place a meal order and make a payment from the convenience of their own device, at a time that suits them.
Fewer errors and more accuracy: When placing an order, customers enter their own information, which not only increases data accuracy but also gives the hotelier access to any additional preferences and requirements (such as dietary restrictions or allergies, for example).
More sales: More guests can be served with contactless ordering which leads to more orders and higher revenue generation. With online ordering, there’s less demand on staff - personnel can concentrate on delivering orders more quickly which increases table turnaround times and profit.
Better tips: Service personnel can concentrate more on the needs and preferences of the guests. This allows customers to study their bills quietly and handle tipping without feeling uncomfortable with a waiter watching them, which can result in larger tips.
Versatility: Hotel guest apps provide versatility: pick-up, delivery to table, room service, and menu browsing options can all be available to customers.
By allowing your visitors to control every aspect of their stay, a hotel app like the IRIS® Hotel platform helps to improve hotel guest experience and brand loyalty. You can contact us or schedule a solution demonstration to learn more.
