Tech Talk

Recent posts

Three Mistakes Hotels Are Making with Wi-Fi
Posted: 09/18/2023

Wi-Fi is now like the foundation for your hotel: if it’s not solid, it can jeopardize everything.
Your HSIA network has to deliver the performance and experience your guests demand; Wi-Fi has evolved from being an amenity to a necessity and key driver of guest satisfaction.
In the converged world, all your systems for business operations depend on a solid and secure Wi-Fi network. Without it, nothing else works properly—your staff and systems will struggle, and you will waste precious time, money, and resources trying to recover.
Here are three things you may be doing that put you and your Wi-Fi network at risk, and what you should do instead.

Read More +

Definitely Doug 9/15/23: Experience Matters!
Posted: 09/15/2023

Hotels are usually the first thing a traveler books within a destination. And hotels usually know that destination better than anyone else (or any website) a guest might consult. But are hotels connecting the dots?

Read More +

Definitely Doug 8/25/23: Check It Off the List!
Posted: 08/25/2023

This week I will cover software that goes under various descriptions, including quality assurance, audit, and checklist management. It includes anything that involves a standard list of things that someone needs to perform or verify. In hospitality, this is still an emerging field, but is growing very rapidly.

Between 2020-2022, traveler adoptions fluctuated drastically due to the lockdowns, the impact of the variants, and the vaccination schedule. As the pandemic is behind us and people start to travel in 2023, one question is on every practitioner’s mind: What are the traveler’s current expectations and preferences in the post-pandemic world?

Read More +

Definitely Doug 8/11/23: Charge Me Up!
Posted: 08/11/2023

Few things make travelers more anxious than a mobile phone with a low battery. For years, hotels have tried to play catch-up with evolving mobile device charging standards, and many seem to have given up. Guests can sometimes find desktop or bedside USB ports (dated but still relevant charging standard), but most hotels offer only an electrical outlet, and too many times it is in the most difficult-to-reach location possible. Others have made expensive decisions to install USB ports on bedside tables or work desks, only to find them out of date when the standards changed – or broken by frequent use.

Read More +

comment on this article

Touchless Hotel Experience: Adapting to the “New Normal” of Guest Expectations

07/07/2020 Tagged as: Guests Experience, Hoteliers, Mobile, New Normal, Payment, ResortSuite, Touchless

by Frank Pitsikalis

As we examine and develop new strategies for the changes that we can expect to see in the hospitality industry post-crisis, we are also starting to envision the world beyond the pandemic and to the new normal of radically shifted travel consumer expectations and preferences. The probability of guest technology expectations worldwide significantly changing becomes high as guests prefer a more touchless and fully mobile-enabled hospitality experience post-COVID-19. The future of hospitality has always been Mobile–but COVID-19 will accelerate this trend from a nice-to-have to a must-have for hoteliers.

Guests will arrive with a new desire for a touchless hotel experience.

Guests will prefer to check-in on their mobile device, receive a digital key on their mobile device and proceed directly to their room. They will want to check-in for their spa treatments or fitness classes on their phone and complete any intake questions on their own device—with brand new questions added now, “would you like your therapist to wear a mask”. They will want to self-serve all of their experiences in the hotel by curating their own wellness itinerary themselves–self-exploring on their own mobile device and booking spa treatments, classes and activities, dining reservations and golf tee times directly. They will use their mobile device as mobile ID to present and access their privileges and facilities as a guest or member. Touchless mobile payments will be the preferred method of payment instead of “chip-and-pin” transactions on perceived “dirty” pin-pads. Guests will avoid the crowds at the bar and order from their pool chair, table or room service via their own device. Check-out will forever change as guests review their room folios on their device, bypass the front desk and settle from mobile.

So, although guests will have a pent-up desire to receive human touch again in the safe, clean and controlled environment of a spa, they will also increasingly desire a “high tech, high touch” aspect to their hospitality experience where they can control it. Hotel marketing may change forever as brands focus on their cleaning processes, sanitized environments and a touchless experience enabled by mobile technology that a guest already has in their own (washed) hands.

As the hospitality industry begins to reopen, enhancing the digital guest experience becomes more significant today as guests seek a more touchless and seamless guest experience using their own (self-cleaned) mobile devices. Here are the top features to consider in delivering a mobile app-enabled touchless hospitality experience for your guests:

Mobile Check-in (with registration card completion)
Mobile Digital Keys
Mobile Payments
Mobile ID (barcode ID, charge to room/member account)
Mobile Spa Check-in (intake forms)
Mobile Facility access (NFC/Bluetooth)
Mobile Messaging
Mobile Guest Requests
Mobile Guest Issues (PM)
Mobile F&B Ordering
Mobile Check-out

Guests will be returning with preferences and expectations we have never seen before; thus, it is imperative that we adapt quickly and ensure that guests and staff feel comfortable in the “new normal”.

About The Author

Frank Pitsikalis
Founder and CEO
ResortSuite Inc.

Frank Pitsikalis is the founder & CEO of ResortSuite – a global hospitality software solution for luxury spas, clubs and resorts. He is also the Chairman of the ISPA Foundation Board and an established speaker/presenter at numerous prominent industry events within the hospitality, technology, resort, club, golf and spa sectors on how technology can help streamline operations, drive revenue and enhance the guest experience.

Comments

Blog post currently doesn't have any comments.

Leave comment

Name:

E-mail:

Your URL:

Comments:

Enter security code: