Thanks in part to mobile technology, the interactions between hotel staff and guests are rapidly changing, placing less emphasis on staid hotel processes and greater importance on serving the specific needs of individual customers.
Many new features being built into mobile hotel apps — bells and whistles like mobile check-in and keyless entry — are intended to not just wow guests, but also free up staff for more meaningful interactions with customers. So instead of mobile removing the need for staff entirely, the prevailing trends are actually changing the nature of guest-staff relations.
“With a hotel, the higher the interaction with the staff, the higher the satisfaction,” said Robert Cole, founder and CEO of RockCheetah, Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin. “Some hoteliers think people want to come in and don’t want to engage with the staff. They probably do want to engage with the staff — they just don’t want to engage in activities that benefit the hotel versus the guest, like checking in.”
For Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, it’s not just about streamlining check-in or pulling guest data; the company is also training staff to use social media and mobile platforms as a means of real-time communication and problem-solving for guests on-site.
“Mobile and social media allow us to have a 24/7 dialogue with our customers,” said Julie Atkinson, senior vice president of global digital for Starwood. “Absolutely, mobile and social networks have made it easier for us to course-correct when there’s an issue, or do the little things that help enhance your stay. Since staff have technology available at all times, we stream in the background a bunch of those requests to our associates at the properties to fulfill them in real time.”
Atkinson said the efforts are already paying off. “Our share of occupancy via our most loyal members is at peak levels, and that’s one of the ways we measure satisfaction on properties,” she said. “Our reviews engine is also incredibly successful and wildly popular with our members, so I think all of those things combined contribute to a higher loyalty for Starwood.”
Another big part of the equation is making sure necessary guest data and preferences are available to staff when needed. Scandic Hotels, Stockholm, is one company working to harness guest information, in this case through a new Sales Force Marketing Cloud system the company is implementing, to support multichannel communication with guests.
“It allows us to become more relevant and introduce new services,” said Johan Michelson, vice president of brand and marketing for Scandic. “This is still an area under development, but our ambition is to provide a seamless experience where customers easily can switch between digital and personal services.”
On the other hand, some wonder when the industry’s current obsession with collecting guest data crosses the line. For Atlanta-based independent consultant Michael Schubach, referencing a guest’s Facebook or Twitter activity might be a little too comfortable for some travelers’ tastes.
“There are always the unintended consequences of the social media aspects, like the people whose homes are robbed more frequently when they tweet that they’re at a hotel,” Schubach said. “For every force and action there’s an equal and opposite force and reaction.”
Contributed by Brendan Manley
Editor’s note: For more about the latest in mobile technology, check out the July/August issue of HOTELS.