Aloft London Excel
“The 49% increase in order volumes and revenue underscores the growing familiarity of our guests with digital ordering, as well as the simplicity and speed with which orders can be placed.”
Hotel Overview
Aloft London Excel is a bold hotel featuring loft-inspired design in the hip East End with an indoor pool, bar, restaurant, and fitness centre. Located a stone’s throw away from Excel (the international exhibition and convention centre) and Canary Wharf, the hotel has an array of facilities on-site, with casual meals available to order online and delivered to their 252 bedrooms from their Dockside Restaurant.
“The streamlined interface, coupled with captivating visuals and effortless mobile ordering, ensures our guests have a more efficient and enjoyable service.
The marked increase in revenue underscores the growing familiarity of our guests with digital ordering, as well as the simplicity and speed with which orders can be placed.
Digital ordering significantly enhances our service, offering a convenient option for guests who prefer to dine in their room after a long day at an event. It also bolsters our competitive edge against local food outlets.
Moreover, the app allows us to effectively manage and regulate the order flow, maximising the performance of our restaurant. The app operates seamlessly and is user-friendly both for customers and on the backend.”
Hotel Requirements
With the hotel based next to Excel and attracting a high volume of overseas guests attending events, they needed an easy-to-use digital app with clear and concise hotel information, a digital menu and a seamless means of online ordering.
This is to appeal to international and digital-savvy guests who are familiar with mobile ordering and who wish to enjoy the speed and convenience of digital dining.
They needed a way to manage high volumes of orders during busy periods to prevent order throttling in the kitchen, maximise revenue generation and improve guest service.
Solutions Installed
F&B Online Ordering (for in-room dining)
Benefits
In Room Dine Revenue Increased by 53% YoY
Mobile dining has helped the hotel boost incremental in-room F&B revenue by 53% year on year, with an increase in order volumes of 49%. Furthermore, the number of room orders per room sold rose by 38%.
With travellers synonymous with digital ordering and using their own devices to control their stay, more and more guests are using the app for a quicker and more convenient means of ordering their meals and elevating their stay.
Average guest check has also increased highlighting how guests are spending more per transaction online.
Order Control with Time Slots
The hotel experiences busy periods where they can receive multiple orders at the same time - for example, when guests leave the Excel at the end of a show and return to the hotel early evening.
With IRIS’ time slots feature, the hotel can regulate the pace of orders and set the maximum number of orders allowed at any one time, as well as the length of each time slot. The hotel can monitor order volumes to ensure the kitchen has capacity, guests are satisfied, and staff are never overwhelmed.
The hotel can monitor the situation and change available slots or delivery times if necessary to ensure guest expectations are set at all times.
Reduced Head Count
The hotel has streamlined its resources, eliminating the need for dedicated staff solely taking room service orders. Previously, they needed staff to cover the phones, take orders and prep the trays. Now, they no longer need to cover this shift. The restaurant/bar team prepare the orders, and the runner delivers the food.
It also helps improve guest relations. During busy periods, calls would often get transferred or diverted to the front desk if the restaurant was busy, and they would have to leave a message. This often resulted in delays or mistakes with orders.
Now, their operations are more efficient (multiple orders can be processed at any one time), and they have saved resources and enhanced the guest experience.
Seamless Credit Card Payments
Guests can pay straight away by credit card online with the Stripe link. This is especially convenient for corporate guests who don’t have an alcohol allowance on their company account and prefer to pay for alcoholic beverages on their personal credit card as opposed to charging them to the room.
It’s also convenient for local residents who use the hotel’s facilities over the weekend when they place an order - they can pay online and pick their order up from the restaurant.
Appealing Imagery & Clear Allergen Information
The hotel recently uploaded professional photos to enhance its digital menu and make its dishes look more enticing. Not only does it boost the appeal and look more professional, but it also helps set guest expectations as to what the dish looks like.
Calorie and allergen information is clearly displayed so guests can make informed and safe choices based on their dietary or allergen requirements or preferences.
Improved Accuracy
With guests self-serving and placing the orders themselves, order accuracy has improved – there are zero mistakes now with orders, which leads to less wastage and a boost in guest satisfaction.
Direct Integration
With the integration with Micros POS, orders are sent direct to the kitchen to be processed straightaway. This improves order accuracy and reduces customer wait times.
More Sustainable
As the hotel is Green Key Certified, the digital menu and online guest directory present an eco-friendly solution in guest rooms and help the hotel meet the high standard environmental requirements. The QR codes enable the hotel to be paperless in their rooms, again saving money and resources.
Save on Printing Costs
The app and menus are easy to amend - for example, when they need to change the hotel information or edit a menu item, all edits can be done online and in a few clicks.
It saves the hotel approximately £1000-£1500 in printing costs each year as there’s no need for costly reprints when there’s a menu change or when they need to replace damaged menus or hotel directories.
Enhanced Guest Information
On the branded app, guests have direct access to an array of hotel and local area information at their fingertips, wherever they are in the property (or nearby). The digital directory presents a comprehensive, up-to-date overview of the hotel facilities and all the food and drink options available.
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