An overview of technology for hospitality.
Everyone is “going local” these days. I’ve discussed before the tourism benefits of local recommendations and experiences for guests, but I want to look deeper into the benefits of delving into the culture immediately surrounding you. I live in the country, which often means that I need to travel a few miles for shopping or dining. But after meeting a group of local “kids” who were more invested in the area, I spent a few weeks browsing everything within two miles of me. I found local honey, produced half a mile away. I found a breakfast joint so wonderful that they are standing room only every minute they are open. And strangely, when I needed to buy puppy food, I discovered a fascinating world inside a feed store, complete with a gentleman who regaled my children with tales of the German Shepherds he raises. Making these discoveries so close to home was fun for my family and made us feel even closer to our tight-knit community. What do you have in or immediately around your hotel that brings the hyper-local experience to your guests? Food: From beehives on the rooftop to property-grown herbs, more and more hotels are jumping on …
Many in the hospitality industry are competing to have the newest and the most in terms of guest-facing technology. With technology available today, guests can check in with their phone, have the power turn on in their room when they walk in the door (and turn back off when they leave), tether their phone to the TV, watch a movie via blue-ray/movies on demand/internet/cell phone, control air and water temperature via complicated systems, and check out by sending a text. But what do guests actually want? When it comes to staying away from home, guests’ needs are still basic. They want cleanliness. They want comfort. Most guests aren’t spending the majority of their stay in their hotel room, so what about connecting with guests who are out and about? Guest technology is a fast-growing market and is changing guest experience in a permanent way. Being one step ahead of your competitor is crucial in today’s market, but innovation must never come at the expense of the guest experience. The key is to embrace innovation in a way that enhances the emotional connection for guests, rather than taking away from it. For hoteliers, this should involve using technology in a way …
The latest Monscierge GEM Report highlights timeless trends and interesting takeaways from last year, and what we expect to see in 2013. Our Guest Experience Management reports are a compilation of information we gather from our own user analytics along with talking to industry professionals and experts. You can view the entire report here and join the conversation on Twitter using #GuestExperience.
We’ve all seen (and coveted) the fantastic customer service stories that have crawled their way around the Internet until they become famous. What makes the difference between great customer service and viral customer service? Taking seven of the most popular stories, I’d like to pick apart the individual pieces and see what commonalities they share. (These are in no particular order, please add your own favorites to the comment section.) Super Happy Kids: Many, if not most, of the greatest stories involve kids. Take the recent story from Lego. Seven year old Luka Apps had taken his new toy on a shopping trip and lost it in the store. After writing to Lego describing what had happened, he received a replacement along with a letter saying, “…I told Sensie Wu that losing your Jay minifigure was purely an accident and that you would never let it happen again.” When the kid would have been satisfied with an answer of “no”, or happy with a replacement, he was instead delighted with a customer service rep who took time out of his day to buy into the entire story. Buying into the Bigger Story: Along the same lines as the Lego story, …
We all know how the hospitality industry feels about the OTAs at this point, but are they really working out well for guests? After hearing a few complaints from friends who booked through OTAs, I put together this list. TOP 15 REASONS HOTEL GUESTS SHOULD BOOK DIRECT Difficulties over payment: Some guests have reported payment difficulties in dealing with an OTA. Shortly put, any guest frustration is better handled by the hotel itself, and when payments are made to a third party, the hotel’s hands are tied on fixing the problem. Expectations not met: Aggregation sites tend to have a fill-in-the-blank presentation, but for a particularly unique property, guests may come away with a false idea of what to expect. For instance, guests at one B&B have had consistent disappointments, thinking they had reserved a hotel with 24 hour room service. Hotel staff prefers direct bookers: Direct bookers are more likely to enjoy a few extras, such as room upgrades or tailored goodies in their rooms, due to the added interest taken when a relationship is established before the stay. Map troubles: Some hotels have found that maps and directions to their hotel are incorrect, leading to many guests wandering …