As digital technology advances unabated, hotels have evolved to suit the needs of their customers. In this strategy, hotel guest apps are crucial. In this article, we'll share answers for the most common questions hoteliers ask before they start their digital transformation. We're sure they will be helpful.
What is a guest app?
A hotel guest app is a mobile app for hotels and chains of any size to get a big boost in hotel service sales, online reputation and guest satisfaction.
Among others, they provide guests with features such as hotel information and real time communication between staff and customers. Additionally, they enhance upselling and room service orders via smartphone by digitizing their catalog, and they provide mobile room keys among other services.
Traditionally, hotels have based their services on analog methods. Everything was booked and consumed through paper -menus, forms, phone lists- and reception. However, with the emergence of smartphones, there's a growing trend -accelerated by COVID - to offer the entire range of services digitally.
Those apps are run by human beings, by the hotel staff. They allow, on the one hand, that the receptionists act as ambassadors for the hotel. Technology handles the mechanical tasks.
On the other hand, it shortens the customer journey for a guest. Revenue generally increases. This is the result of making the guest's life as simple and pleasurable as possible.
By developing a strategy that maximizes hotel services, tourists will be able to find all their services at their fingertips. All menus, all products, all amenities, restaurants, bars, spa options...
Welcome to the world of hotel guest apps.
What are the most compelling advantages of hotel guest apps for both staff and customers?
There are a lot of benefits to having a hotel guest app:
- Front desk employees become ambassadors
- Fluid communication channel between guests and staff
- Centralized management system
- Guest services’ upselling
- Making better real-time decisions
- Sustainability
- All the information at your fingertips
- Mobile keys
As you can see, hotel guest apps offer a wide range of features. We recommend you to click in this link if you are interested in learning more about guest apps.
What kind of apps do hotels use?
The number of features available with a guest app is virtually unlimited, especially today when people have such a high level of digital literacy.
However, there is one common factor among hotels that take advantage of these types of apps for their digital guests:
👉 Upselling features
👉 Surveys
👉 Insights
Thousands of hotels are looking for hotel apps that include a concierge feature. This is a chat that allows the hotel to provide a world-class guest experience, attentive to details and customized for every desk. A chat that allows a hotel’s staff to add bookings to guest profiles, accept or reject requests, or create room service orders without closing the chat window.
When it comes to upselling, and as mentioned above, the higher the accessibility, the greater the consumption.
And last, but not least: one major feature sought by the most successful guest apps is real-time surveys. A hotelier needs to know their guests' satisfaction levels at any given time if they want to offer the best guest experience possible. By using this feature, they can receive quantitative and qualitative feedback for as many services as they want to improve their processes and response times. These surveys are crucial if you want to increase your hotel´s online reputation.
Here, you can find the example of how AMR Collection is making the most of the surveys’ feature to improve their guest experience.
Why should a hotel guest app be a good hotel staff app too?
It is important to note that receptionist duties can sometimes be mechanical in nature. Such duties do not enhance the guest experience. Employees repeat the same processes and the same phrases all the time.
As a result of guest apps that also function as hotel staff apps, receptionists can focus on PR instead. Being friendly, pleasant, and communicative will ensure guests' first and last impressions are memorable.
This will eliminate the need for guests to approach the reception to ask questions. With WhatsApp-style communication channels, guests can ask for recommendations in a fast, human, and digital manner.
Thanks to the guest apps, many of the procedures the hotel staff performed on various channels have now been centralized, allowing the entire service to be digitized. This also leads to an increase in sales and revenue for the hotel. This is a natural result.
Additionally, hotel staff apps can be used to promote and upsell products with banners and push notifications too.
Briefly summarizing. The analog era is over. The hotel guest app will benefit your customers. As well as your staff. Above all, it will help you, the hotelier, achieve new heights in guest experience. Stay ahead of the curve.
