Log in
Why should you reconcile technology and your staff?
With the hospitality industry heavily relying on new technologies on a daily basis, it is important for hoteliers to make good use of them. Understanding how these new technologies work is essential, but it is also important to know how to balance their use with your staff. Indeed, many technologies are used to improve the efficiency of your staff in order to provide a memorable customer experience, but they do to replace your employees. It is through this balance that you will be able to offer an excellent experience to your guests while ensuring a constant quality of service.
Putting people at the heart of the experience
Although some generations, such as Millennials, are technology-savvy, only your staff can provide a warm and friendly welcome. In the hotel industry, customer relations are based on customer satisfaction, so it is crucial to exceed their expectations in order to build this relationship. Your guests visit your hotel to have a memorable experience, which is why each of their requests must be listened to carefully and responded to appropriately. Whether it’s by decorating the room with balloons for a birthday party, or accommodating a late arrival due to last minute unforeseen circumstances, your employees should be equipped with the emotional intelligence to respond to requests and ensure the satisfaction of your visitors.
In addition, human reflexes are essential in the hotel industry, as the unexpected can happen at any time and force you to react quickly. Although technologies often have automatic processes that can be triggered, each situation is unique and your employees will know how to adapt their response appropriately, which is very difficult for technology to do.
Hotel technologies, an advantageous solution
Technology is an excellent tool to improve your staff’s efficiency as well as to compensate for certain shortcomings. For your staff, technology can significantly simplify their daily tasks, freeing up some of their workload. The automation of repetitive tasks will allow your employees to dedicate more time on satisfying your guests and offering a unique stay. For example, the confirmation of arrival information is a repetitive task with no added value. This can be done very well by kiosks and thus offer a faster and easier check-in for all.
Also, technologies can be of considerable help during a labor shortage, without compromising your guests’ experience and satisfaction.
The importance of a balance between technology and people
Despite the advantages of each, it is only together that technology and your staff will benefit you. Your property can benefit from this duo at many stages of the guest journey and across many departments.
For example, technology can display the activities a guest has booked, but only your staff can properly analyze this data and develop personalization strategies accordingly. As a result, using technology alone would not be useful, and your staff would have a hard time collecting the information manually without a PMS, for example. Your housekeeping staff can also benefit from this winning combination; using a housekeeping app makes it easier to assign rooms, allowing your staff to dedicate more time and attention to each room. However, the human aspect is essential, as some tasks are unique to each room and stay.
In conclusion, technology should not replace your employees, but rather help them deliver a unique and memorable guest experience. Technology therefore acts as a productivity and efficiency lever for your hotel. There are many ways to improve the experience of your customers, whether it is by using your PMS, by adding a personalized touch, or by having check-in kiosks: all these solutions will benefit you.
