Tag: technologies

Why your property needs a channel manager?

channel-manager-hotel
Posted on by Karine Thibeault
channel-manager-hotel
Why your property needs a channel manager?

What is a channel manager?

Integrated within your hotel software (Property Management Software), your reservation management software ensures your different online reservation platforms are connected. It also ensures that your rates, your availability in terms of accommodation, your packages and even your property’s information are synchronized, regardless of the OTAs (Online Tourism Agencies) used to make the reservation.

Accurate and simplified management

By connecting a channel manager to your PMS, your front desk staff will not have to deal with overbooking and the resulting guest dissatisfaction. Moreover, they will not have to make any changes in case of unavailability since the system will have automatically updated the capacity and availability of your hotel. With your reservation management software, you make sure your customers are satisfied and their pre-stay experience is enjoyable. 
To avoid any errors related to the management of your property’s availability, it is preferable to use new and efficient technologies. You should set up the initial quantities available for each offer and service and let the system update these figures in real time. By automating the administrative tasks related to reservation management, you allow your staff to be readily available for your guests. This ensures your customers have a successful and enjoyable stay experience.

Immediate synchronization of information between your softwares

In addition to the immediate synchronization of your property’s availability, several other relevant information are transferred to your hotel PMS to ease your operations. For example, booking and customer information will be directly forwarded from the OTA to your PMS hotel. Since data is essential, you can be sure that no matter which reservation platform you use, your PMS will collect your customers’ data. Moreover, this data can be used to personalize your property’s guest experience by offering them special in-room options on special occasions. It can also be used to adjust your marketing communications by offering special promotions to guests who have stayed in your hotel more than three times, for example.

A diverse source of revenue

The channel management software is the solution you need to be present on OTAs for your customers without adding complexity to your operations. The channel manager allows you to increase your revenue from various sources by being present on several external reservation platforms such as Expedia, Hotel.com, Booking.com, Airbnb. You gain visibility with travelers and potentially increase your number of online reservations.

By integrating a channel manager to your PMS, you increase your property’s visibility while allowing it to be compared to its competitors. It is therefore essential to showcase your best rooms, facilities and services on all your online booking platforms. You may also use authentic content created by your guests to promote your establishment.

New experiences that simplify reception work

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Posted on by Sarah Trépanier
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Check-in at the welcome kiosks

Self-serve kiosks are excellent devices that reduce the amount of repetitive tasks for the front desk team. Indeed, a check-in is often the same: identifying your guest, validating its stay, confirming the terms and conditions of the property, accepting the pre-authorization and delivering the room key. These repetitive tasks can be replaced by kiosks, allowing your guests to check-in or out independently. 

Also, welcome kiosks make the reception more welcoming for people who need a special service, since there will be no waiting line. Thus, reception staff will be more available and will be able to engage with the guests to meet their needs and therefore increase guest satisfaction.

Furthermore, kiosks are a good way to streamline busy periods and shorten the arrival and departure process, since guests will be able to check-in or out in just a few clicks.

Automation of repetitive tasks by using a property management software

The automation of tasks is often done by using a property management software or through the ecosystem offered by other softwares. There are several types of automations: automatic room assignment, generation of reports, automatic entry of online bookings, online deposits and confirmation of personal information before check-in. All of these automations help save significant time for employees and allow them to avoid repetitive tasks.

Use of integrated payment

Integrated payment is a part of automation that significantly shortens the payment process. Indeed, the amount to be paid is sent directly from the property management software to the payment terminal. The type of card as well as the payment validation return to the PMS once made on the payment terminal. Therefore, your staff won’t have to enter manually the information in the terminal, preventing them from making data entry mistakes.

As a result, these avoided mistakes make it easier to close the cash register and give the opportunity to your front desk team to focus on your guests by answering their questions and offering them a high quality customer service.

Online reservation

Online reservations help reduce phone calls, which can happen when receptionists are busy with guests on site. In order to provide a memorable guest experience, online booking connected to your property management software allows travelers to check the property’s availability in real time. Moreover, the online reservation allows a buying experience that is just as good, since they are able to directly see rooms and everything they need to proceed with the reservation.

The property’s front desk is a crucial service, it’s the guarantor of guests’ first impressions, whether in person if the reservation was made by phone or online when making a reservation on the property’s online platforms. Therefore, simplifying the reception’s work by automating and using new technologies help the property offer new experiences to its guests. It also guarantees a better customer service, since staff will be more available. It could definitely represent an improvement for the property and a way to highlight the work of people behind the front desk, as well as their desire to serve guests in a more courteous and efficient way.

Integrated payment in your PMS: a gift for your employees

paiement-integre-pms
Posted on by Claudine Vio
paiement-integre-pm
Integrated payment in your PMS: a gift for your employees

Efficiency

Integrated payment into your property management software simplifies your front desk team’s daily tasks. Indeed, automating all your guests’ debit and credit card operations will help you avoid transaction and entry errors. Also, it will make it easier to close your cash registers and credit card batches. Hence, your employees will be able to work faster, to be more efficient on a day-to-day basis, and offer outstanding service to your guests.

Rapidity

De plus, l’intégration des paiements permet de faciliter les dépôts et les pré-autorisations de vos clients puisque les opérations se font dirMoreover, the integration of payments simplify the task of taking deposits and pre-authorizations, since operations are done in a few clicks directly from the software and without having to manipulate the payment terminal. The pre-authorization process or payment made upon arrival will be faster and will accelerate the check-in process, increasing your guests’ satisfaction.

Safety

When taking a payment or a pre-authorization during your customer’s stay for which the guest entered his PIN, it guarantees you a secure final payment without asking for your guest to come back to the reception. Therefore, the PIN code confirms that your guest stayed at your property and allows you to avoid any possible protest.

Virtualization

Integrated payment can also be virtualized, meaning that the payment terminal is virtual and not physical. This option allows departments that don’t have physical terminals to take payments at any time, since the payment will be taken directly from the software. This software communicates with the virtual terminal, which sends the validation when the payment is accepted.

Connectivity between your property management software and your payment terminals is a real advantage in terms of productivity and safety. Indeed, it allows your staff to gain in efficiency, since their tasks are automated. This tool allows you to gain safety, since payments are made without handling terminals nor cards by your staff, but rather by PIN validation. This connectivity will facilitate the process of compliance with PCI DSS regulations. Part of the compliance is ensured by your PMS provider and your payment provider.

New technologies at customer experience’s service

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Posted on by Catherine Daoust
nouvelles-technologies-experience-client

Nowaday, guests’ consumption habits have evolved, they are looking for more emotions, interactions and sharing. Thereby, a positive customer experience isn’t only compose of basic services such as comfort or cleanliness but by all the contact and interaction points between your establishment and your customers, throughout its customer journey. As for example, the ease of booking, the staff availability, the welcome’s quality, the speed of check-in, the bedding’s quality and the degree of personalization offered are part of the customer experience. 

But what is the goal of a unique customer experience? To offer an innovative experience that makes life easier for your customers and increases their satisfaction. In addition, this memorable experience could be a real advantage for you and a true loyalty sign. Since a traveler would be willing to pay 5 times more than the initial price in order to have a better customers experience, it becomes essential to understand what your customer are going through and to adapt all of your strategies and actions. The typical customer journey should be as simple and smooth as possible if you want to have satisfied and loyal customers.

1- Personalized marketing

Current travelers’ expectations have evolved, each of them is unique and has different expectations from the others. Creating interactions with them will help you to identify their preferences and to create more personalized contents. Talking in a more personalized way with your customers will make them feel unique and not just one among many others. Moreover, personalized marketing favors a more personal discussion with your guests and allows to gather a multitude of information. The personalized marketing’s goal is to create interest among your customers and to maintain a strong relationship with them. Thereby, 3 out of 5 customers say that personalized experiences based on their purchases and preferences would increase their loyalty towards a property.

2- Online check-in

Considered to be a very popular technology, online check-in allows travelers to use a mobile device or a laptop to complete their check-in process before arriving at the hotel. It also enable them to validate their personal information and their payment guarantee remotely. All they have to do is to go to the property’s check-in kiosk in order to collect their room key, or to follow a special “express check-in” line in the event that the establishment wouldn’t have any check-in kiosks. The two main advantages of having this technology is to make customers fully autonomous and to reduce the waiting time at the reception. Thus, your employees will have more time to discuss more personally with your customers and help them if necessary.

3- Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence is made of several techniques that allow machines to imitate a real form of intelligence. Within properties, tools have been developed thanks to artificial intelligence and voice recognition. For example, chatbots which are available H24 and help to improve the customer experience by quickly answer to users’ questions. This technology can answer in less than one minute when there are no employees available. We can also take the example of smart rooms, which allow guests to control some aspects of their own room through voice recognition such as light, television or air conditioning. Moreover, artificial intelligence is used for data analysis such as customer reviews and surveys. As a hotelier, using this technology is very helpful for taking the best decision and optimizing your performance and income.

4- Virtual reality

Virtual reality allows you to immerse an individual in a fully artificial world created digitally, by using headset, a mobile application, a video game or even a virtual reality simulator. It is an excellent idea for a property because it offers the possibility of living a unique virtual experience before making a reservation such as a visit of their future travel destination, their room, the establishment’s infrastructure and activities available.

5- Augmented reality

Reflecting a virtual interface in 2D or 3D, augmented reality works via a terminal that screens the real world while adding virtual objects, animations and sounds. It allows the user to view it thanks to a mobile device. As an example, your guests will be able to point your restaurant or spa and see the online reviews of your previous guests or they will also be able to take a tour of your establishment and learn more about the activities offered.

6- Robots

The purpose of using robots isn’t to replace the daily work of your employees. Representing another form of innovative technology, robots are able to perform some daily tasks, giving more availability for your employees to interact more personally with your guests and also to optimize your establishment’s performance. In addition, some robots with advanced features can occupy the role of a concierge, a porter, a receptionist or even a housekeeper.

As a hotelier, using new technologies is a great way to revolutionize your customer experience. The hospitality industry is highly competitive and constantly evolving, the main goal is to offer a unique, personalized and enriching experience that will satisfy your guests and retain them. Moreover, a satisfied customer will not hesitate to leave a positive online review, to subscribe to your newsletter, to follow you on social media, to use the word of mouth in order  to spread a good message about your establishment but more importantly to comeback and stay at your place!

6 essential technologies for a modern hotel

technologies-hotel-moderne
Posted on by Karine Thibeault
technologies-hotel-moderne

Hotel PMS

Believe it or not, some hotel managers still use paper and pencils to register their client’s check in and check out. The hotel PMS is an essential tool for hotel management, recurrent task automation and data collection. Some PMS are more modern than others. A hotel PMS equipped with advanced features will allow you to manage your hotel more efficiently. One of these advanced features is yield management, with which you can fluctuate and adjust your rates in order for your pricing to remain competitive at all times while maximizing profits. You can also generate reports using advanced features, which is a major advantage for any modern hotel. With these reports you will be able to analyze and compare past data with present data, thus helping you in making more informed decisions. Some hotel PMS’ can even use Cloud technology, meaning you can manage your hotel through your PMS from any device connected to the internet, whether it be a laptop, a tablet or a smartphone. The data collected by your hotel PMS is precious and can help you to personalize your client’s stay and thus increase their overall satisfaction before, during and after their stay. Modern PMS’s can be connected to other technologies via API’s, more commonly known as integrations. The next technologies we will discuss are technologies which can be connected to your hotel PMS in order for you to centralize your operations as much as possible.

Self-service kiosks

We are only starting to hear about self-service kiosks in the hospitality industry. They are a cutting-edge technology and have only recently been made available for hotels. Your clients can check-in using the kiosks, independent on whether they have made a booking or not. When comes the moment to check-out, your clients can simply use the kiosk to pay any outstanding balance and confirm their departure. Your clients, particularly your business travellers, will appreciate this technology as it allows them to speed up the check-in and check-out process. These kiosks are obviously connected to your hotel PMS so that data can flow between these two technologies at all times. With this modern hotel front desk, your staff can focus on increasing your guests’ satisfaction with little courtesies or simply by being available to meet any of their demands, rather than having to take care of check-in and check-out.

Booking engine

An efficient booking engine is essential for any modern hotel. Online booking is ubiquitous nowadays, and many clients now book using their smartphone. This is why it is extremely important for your booking engine (and your website) to be responsive. If your booking engine is connected to a distribution channel, your room inventory will be automatically updated within your hotel PMS when direct bookings will be made on your website. This way you will avoid overbooking, or having to manually register online booking in your hotel PMS.

Point of sale software (POS)

If you hotel has sources of income other than your rooms, it is essential for your to have a POS. This software will take care of sales, billing, restaurant orders, activities, meals, and the hotel boutique. This POS software will of course be connected to your hotel PMS in order for you to register and bill any extras or activities directly to your client’s room. This way, your client will no longer need to carry their wallet everywhere during their stay. At the same time, your client will be under the impression that they are spending less than they think, which can only tempt them into spending even more at your hotel.

Housekeeping management software

A housekeeping management software or app is another essential technology for a modern hotel. Your hotel’s housekeeping department can be hard to manage. Your staff must know which rooms are ready to be cleaned and which kind of housekeeping they are expected to deliver. To avoid useless trips between the front desk and the rooms, or the scribbly rooms lists it is important for you to invest in a housekeeping management software connected to your hotel PMS. This software will improve communication between the different departments in your hotel and boosts your staff’s efficiency, while providing you with an overall view of the housekeeping activities within your hotel. Information on room status will also be made available in real time between the front desk and your housekeeping staff, making life much easier for both departments.

Reputation management software

Any modern hotel needs to have a reputation management software. This kind of tool allows you to manage any advice your customers leave you, whether it be on TripAdvisor or other websites, so that you can reply to them using a single platform. You can thus control your hotel’s reputation and gather your client’s impressions, for example by using a satisfaction survey.

In order for you to be one of the cutting-edge modern hotels in term of technology, make sure you possess the six major technologies mentioned above.