Marcus Richards
The move towards automation within the hospitality industry was a key trend of 2022 and is projected to proliferate yet further in 2023 and beyond! If you’re not yet on board with the range of automation tools and platforms available, then now is the time to consider changing that!
Below we explore just how automation tools can have a beneficial impact on many aspects of your hospitality business, from maximizing room rates to anticipating guest needs and the extent to which they’re already being used by your competition!
More Opportunities to Engage with Guests
New automation solutions are already helping hoteliers to better engage with their guests, even before they arrive to check in! For example, a guest app for hospitality can be deployed to communicate with visitors at key points of the guest journey, which is a great way to build a relationship with your guests, tailor their stay according to their preferences, and enables you to offer bespoke, targeted offers, discounts, and upgrades. The effect of this type of automation is driving the introduction of additional revenue streams, and the hospitality venues using them are seeing an increase in brand loyalty and recognition and higher incidences of return bookings.
In the near future, these automation solutions will become even more intuitive, allowing staff to anticipate guests’ needs ahead of time, adding the wow factors, and upgrading the guest experience exponentially.
Streamlining Processes
Automation is increasingly being used to streamline processes and systems within the hospitality industry, helping to add consistency, save staff time, and boost your hotel’s professional aspect. By relieving the burden of some of the time-consuming, repetitive tasks from your front desk staff, you free them up to get on with more important jobs – and avoid burnout. This not only results in happier guests but is likely to give you a more satisfied workforce, and with staff retention rates within hospitality lower than in any other industry, this is a huge advantage. A high turnover rate of staff adds additional expense with the need to frequently undertake the recruitment and training process.
Streamlining and automating processes using the next generation of smart digital tools also negates the risk of human error, meaning you’ll be much less likely to have disgruntled guests complaining as they’ve been allocated the wrong room or their room service order was incorrect.
Optimize Your Pricing
Last year saw the rise of automation tools for the hospitality industry designed to maximize room pricing potential based on a variety of factors. This type of software can analyze current trends and patterns as well as historical big data to determine when room prices can be increased to boost profitability – and when reducing rates could be a good option to keep the reservations coming in thick and fast.
This sort of software is expected to become used as standard within the industry in the future, with the opportunities it offers to automatically send extended stay promotions and other discounts to guests and potential guests at key times of the year, consistently increasing revenue.
Offer Online, Remote Check-Ins
If you don’t already offer online check-ins, this is definitely a trend to endorse, as guests now often expect to have this option available to them as standard. Online, remote check-ins allow your guests to check in without needing to visit the front desk upon arrival and turn your visitors’ smartphones into their room keys for added convenience.
As well as reducing the line at the front desk and relieving the pressure on staff, guests love the fact that they can head straight to their rooms to start relaxing immediately – and your front desk will appreciate there is no longer the need to deal with the hassle of lost keys!
Boosting Sustainability
A sustainable approach is better for the planet and your bottom line, and with the majority of your guests now likely to be climate-aware, if your eco credentials aren’t up to par, you may find your booking levels suffering as a result.
Fortunately, automation tools can help with this, too! Intuitive sensors and smart tech can be deployed in rooms to work together to turn down or off the heating, lights, and air-con if the system detects that the space is unoccupied. This will be sure to impress your guests, and you can expect significant cost savings as a result, too!
Automation: The Future
Automation tools are here to stay and are already being used in the hospitality industry to boost the guest experience, increase revenue, build brand loyalty, optimize staffing levels, and maximize room occupancy rates.
And the future beyond the next few years? Expect to see robots being used to provide many of the everyday maintenance and cleaning tasks within hotels and other hospitality venues, while increasingly intuitive guest apps will react to guests’ every need – often even before they’ve expressed them.
If you’re not already riding the wave of automation, then catching the current now is highly recommended to help your business enjoy a profitable, productive 2023!
