Vacation time is upon us as 2018 comes to a close. On the occasion of the last post before the break, I wanted to speak one more time about the importance of face to face communication even with the continuous advance of technology. Some brands are hesitant to bring technology into guest communication, fearing it will corrode the very essence of hospitality: making guests well welcome, cared for, and at home. Excellence in hospitality must balance human interaction with innovation at all times. Generally speaking, the client base today is saturated with technology and is already used to having even the most personal conversations via text. Educating your staff on the proper application of text in conversation with guests is the secret to maintaining this proper balance. Often you will find that some guests prefer communicating solely through technological means, which frees your staff up for meaningful face to face interactions for those who most appreciate them. Just as important are the interactions with guests who are using the technology. Each room service order, text, or guest request is an opportunity to make a lasting impression on your visitors. Surprise and delight them by using the same tech to personalize …
Text-based communication in hospitality is significantly on the rise. We’ve talked many times about how to use it to enhance rather than replace the personal touch so vital to the essence of hospitality. But one of the ways that is most important is the accuracy it can bring to F&B orders. Anyone who’s worked in F&B knows that accuracy is normal even under typical circumstance. People care a lot about their food. But when it comes to handling food allergies, mistakes can be a matter of life and death. Digital menus allow for easy sorting so guests have the ability to find every food in your kitchen that suits their specific needs. Additionally, using text for communicating in F&B ensures better accuracy for a higher level of understanding and overall safety. See our solutions for more information on how hotels are implementing this technology.
We have been talking a lot about the various enhancements Apple TV can bring to the guest experience over the last few months. One of the major hurdles we dealt with to bring this solution to an enterprise scale was data security. More specifically, what happens when a guest logs into their own accounts on a hotel room device, then checks out of the room? That’s how we ended up meeting our friends at Jamf. Jamf offers multiple solutions across industries for data security. The Jamf Nation User Conference held this week highlighted the ways they support various industries including health care, hospitality, and retail. If you’d like to find out more about their 2018 Conference, check out their YouTube channel. Utilizing the technology from Jamf, Monscierge has been able to provide access to our range of guest technology via Apple TV while keeping guest data secure. For more information, this article by Bradley Chambers at 9to5Mac is a step by step look at this as it is currently in action at some Red Lion Hotels properties.
Over the last nine years, we have worked to connect hotels and guests using various means of technology. When I first started this job seven years ago, we were building software for lobby screens and just starting to branch into mobile apps. I remember conversations with the marketing team that felt like delving into the future while we tried to navigate new territory and guess what would come next. More recently we’ve delved into the realm of smart TV. Our hotel clients are finding that guests more and more want access to their own entertainment while they travel. This means that guests can utilize the same means of relaxation away as they do at home, with the same personalized features and the same recommendations that companies like Netflix and Amazon bring to them daily. Those words – personalization and recommendation – go right back to day one at Monscierge. That is where we started and it’s where we are still working today. New screens are involved, new means of delivery, more features and better access, but the core remains the same. We are making it easy to bring personalized recommendations to guests on the devices they are already using via …
We’ve talked often about hotels using technology to enhance the guest experience through personalization. I wanted to highlight a few restaurant apps who are using their apps to delight guests with custom offers, drive sales with tailored menu items, and remove pain points with increased efficiency and precision. Can you talk about restaurant apps without mentioning Dominos? The pizza chain has been on the forefront of innovation in marketing and technology since their “we’re sorry for making bad pizza” campaign in 2009. They also came up with ordering via Tweet and emoji. Unlimited pizza customization aside, one of the best features of their app is the “Dominos Tracker”, which allows customers to know exactly what their pizza is up to every moment from being ordered to being placed in their hands. Nobody likes to wait, but it’s easier when you know where your pizza is. The Starbucks app took awhile to work its way into a permanent spot on my phone. They had a few security issues in the beginning but quickly caught up to the technology by being one of the first to offer phone payments and location-based services. My favorite feature of their app is that it remembers …