As technology continues to permeate many aspects of our lives, touchscreens are becoming an increasingly familiar interface in the hospitality sector - with good reason.
Touchscreen technology is re-imagining the guest experience. Smartphones and other mobile devices have reinforced society's comfort with interactive technology and the hotel industry is responding. Whether touch tables, video walls, phone apps or tablets, the latest tech is enhancing guests' experience with capacitive touch.
In this article, we’ll discuss the top four ways hotels can use interactive technology to exceed guest expectations and stand out from the crowd.
Virtual Concierge / Check In
One of the key benefits of interactivity is letting the user be in command of their own experience, and a virtual concierge is a great example of this. With a virtual concierge, guests can make changes to their room reservations, make spa and restaurant bookings, request transfers and even check in or out of their rooms.
This frees up front desk staff to take care of more advanced requests and, critically, keeps waiting times for guests shorter. According to hotelmanagement.net, more than 68% of hotel guests find it unacceptable to wait in line at reception for longer than five minutes, so that's important.
The intention isn't to fully replace the expert human interaction offered by staff, but to enhance the top-notch experience they give. It also gives guests something they appreciate, and that's a choice. Want to speak to someone? You certainly can. Need to check out in a hurry? You can do that too.
Photo Credit: Elo Touch Solutions
Interactive Walls
An interactive wall is a great example of interactivity in hotels and they can showcase whatever you want them to. Commonly, these walls house interactive maps that highlight points of interest and attractions in your hotel's locality, for example, the best places to eat and drink. It’s also a great way to display a curated list of local events or to promote services within your hotel.
Another popular option is a brand showcase, giving visitors an engaging way to find information on not just the hotel they're in, but others in your brand. They can also take the form of digital art that changes periodically too.
Photo: Large Interactive Map by Quintessence
Interactive Dining
Your hotel restaurant’s dining doesn’t have to be a static experience. At the "go big" end of the scale, interactive dining tables allow guests to order their own food, in their own time, putting the experience in their hands. They're brilliant for housing boredom-busting kids' games too.
And let's not forget room service. Guests are accustomed to ordering food deliveries straight from their phone or tablet to their door, why not offer this familiar experience in your hotel too? Offering your very own internal room-service delivery is the ultimate in ease and efficiency, while also freeing up your phones.
Photo Credit: iCafe, Abu Dhabi
Smart Room Keys
Today, more and more hotels are offering guests room access via a hotel-branded app on their smartphone. This has numerous benefits, including print cost savings, a reduction/elimination of environmentally harmful plastic keycards and reducing the hassle of managing lost or de-magnetised keycards.
Interactive Touch Screens for Hospitality Example: Corinthia, London
It's not all about guests, what about staff and corporate clients? Hotel giant Corinthia used its interactive in multiple different ways to cover all bases.
When we produced their interactive, the main focus was creating a sales-enablement tool that showcased their offerings to corporate clients at events. In addition to this, new staff used the interactive to train in hotel services and it also served as an information portal in their foyer. A prime example of flexibility and great ROI!
Conclusion
Interactive touch screens for hospitality provide a fast and intuitive interface for all users and simplify guest interactions. That simplicity means users don’t have to be a tech-whizz too, they just touch the display to make clearly-defined selections, with staff on hand to support and enhance where needed. There’s tremendous flexibility built in to all of these interactive solutions too.
Simply put, with today’s travellers embracing a “digital-first” approach, hotels can gain a competitive advantage by implementing the right trendy technologies to exceed guest expectations.
Thanks for reading. If you have any specific challenges you’d like to discuss, or even if you’d just like to pick our brains, contact us by calling 0204 537 8844, messaging us on Linkedin on or by emailing marketing@quintessenceltd.co.uk