Positive Impact of Automation in Hospitality Industry

In this blog, we will cover everything about hotel automation, the advantages of hotel automation in the hospitality industry, and what hotel operations can be automated.

Overview of Automation in Hospitality Industry

Every industry uses automation, from performing online transactions to checking in at a hotel or self-service at a supermarket.

Automation in the hospitality industry involves using technology to automate manual and time-consuming tasks without the involvement of human staff. 

Hoteliers want to enhance the customer experience and using technologies in such a case can be a goldmine for them.

Most hoteliers consider automation as using fancy robots or high-tech devices to enhance customer experience. However, it’s more about simplifying time-consuming hotel processes. 

This way, they can better focus on tasks requiring human touch and eliminate the manual tasks that your staff previously did. With such automation, you can quickly satisfy your customers and handle service requests.

Relying on advanced technologies such as AI/ML makes hotel operations more agile and fluid, saving time, money, effort, etc. All this leads to increasing operational efficiency of hotels and reducing the need for manual staff. 

Thanks to automation for converting disconnected processes into simplified processes. Hotels are choosing technology to automate mundane tasks and help guests check-in/out at their convenience.

Let’s take an example of a hotel (HENN-NA) that uses multilingual robots to serve guests and carry luggage to guest rooms. Bedroom doors will open using facial recognition technology.

When guests hung their clothes, wardrobes were cleaned automatically. In addition, a robot named Chri San can give you weather updates and control room temperature. Employing such robots reduces labor costs and makes customers pay less for the services.

Advantages of Automation in Hospitality Industry

Here are some benefits of leveraging technology in hospitality operations-

1. Personalizes guest experiences

Imagine a case where the hoteliers have already tracked your preferences in their PMS; you would feel so special. Isn’t it?

Storing such things in a centralized dashboard helps hoteliers provide personalized experiences to customers. Such things create a lasting impression in the customer’s mind and encourage them to book a stay at your hotel. 

Implementing automation in hotels enhances the overall guest experience because guests can have everything on their plates and access those services comfortably. They can change the room and control the room temperature using a tablet or smartphone.

With automation, you can delight your guests as they no longer need to stand up in long queues. They can do quick check-in at the hotel through contactless front desk devices.

Moreover, introducing virtual assistants such as Alexa and Siri makes it easy for customers to book services with few clicks and communicate with hotel staff instead of calling multiple numbers to avail of hotel services.

2. Streamlines your hotel operations

Hotel automation can streamline hotel operations, and hotel staff knows what’s expected. Using technology in hotel operations, hotel staff can save their hours; for instance, housekeeping staff need not have to figure out which rooms to clean next. 

Moreover, employees can keep track of completed and pending tasks. Thus, they will always remain updated about what’s required from them, and they can effectively utilize their time. 

This way, you can decrease human errors by automating hotel operations such as management of prices on OTAs, giving back responses to customers, etc. 

Doing so can provide a better experience for your in-house guests. 

3. Smoothens your guest communication

Using technology in hospitality operations maximizes your guest satisfaction. Adopting traditional sources of communication proves to be inefficient in many cases.

Imagine a scenario wherein there is no one to answer guest queries, which results in requests passing to another department. Thus, messages get lost in transmission. Even if the front desk personnel pick up the call, answering repetitive questions becomes time-consuming.

The best way here is to employ our AI-driven chatbot for your hotel business, which will perform mundane tasks on your behalf and promptly answer guest queries.

It helps you streamline your hotel operations, such as sending booking and payment reminders, engaging with your guests, providing consistent support to your guests, etc. 

4. Increase your hotel revenue

Putting automated tools in place, such as revenue management software, makes your job 2x easier as such technology automatically sets the prices for hotel rooms by predicting consumer behaviour.

By noting guest preferences, you can better target your guests, do more upsells, and earn more money. 

With advanced technologies in place, it becomes easier for you to adjust your room prices accordingly and tap into your guests' needs.

Such a revenue management system drives more revenue for your hotel business by deciding the best price for your inventory.

Furthermore, RMS uses smart algorithms to make dynamic pricing decisions by automating data collection and analysis. It considers various factors, such as demand and supply, to set the optimal rate for your room. 

Thus, you can automatically manage your prices and get more room revenue.

What Hotel Operations Can be Automated?

Of course, you cannot automate everything in managing your hotel, but a few tasks can be automated. 

Research studies from Statista say that 24% of hoteliers are tempted to use technology in hotel operations to improve guest experience.

Managing Hotel Inventory

Automating hotel operations makes it easier for you to manage hotel inventory across various OTAs and distribution channels. If you are listed on multiple OTAs, manually updating hotel inventories would take more time, thus resulting in human errors.

In such a case, you can automate your hotel operations through a channel manager, which updates your hotel inventory in real time across all channels.

Hotel Task Management

The hotel staff performs daily operations, from making reservations to messaging or collecting guests' information. All this becomes cumbersome for them. Having an automation system in place such as a property management system (PMS) improves your hotel’s efficiency.

With our AI-powered PMS, you can manage all your properties in one place.

It automates various time-consuming operations such as housekeeping activities, business reports, managing reservations, simplifying the check-in process, etc. This leads to 50%-time savings for both guests and hoteliers.

Contactless check-in

The COVID-19 pandemic hit many industries, and hospitality was not an exception. 

As social distancing became a norm, hoteliers had to adopt contactless check-in technology. With contactless check-in, guests can easily do digital check-in and skip the line at the front desk. 

Thus, it reduces the need for face-to-face interactions, and hoteliers can provide a frictionless experience to guests. Also, hoteliers can access guest information a few clicks before guests arrive and provide personalized guest experiences.

As per Oracle's hospitality report, around 71% of guests prefer to stay in hotels that offer self-service technology, such as contactless check-in/check-out. 

So, it’s imperative for you to streamline the guest's check-in process without needing to stand in a line. Thus, you can reduce your staff's workload and make your hotel staff happier.

Guest Messaging

Answering repetitive questions from your customers has become a daunting task for your front desk staff. So, why not try automated chatbots to answer your guest queries within seconds? By doing so, hoteliers can focus on other essential tasks that require human support.

In addition, hoteliers can leverage automated messaging systems to get in touch with guests. 

They can perform various tasks on your behalf, such as sending reservation reminders to guests, making reservations, cutting-off reminders, etc.

Upselling

You can strengthen your sales department by focusing on upselling through automation and technologies. 

In the case of traditional selling, hoteliers need to train their hotel staff to ask customers to go for upgrades such as the highest room category and add-ons that lead to an increase in hotel revenue.

Now, you can improve your bottom line and increase your ancillary revenue through upselling software.

5 Implementing Tips of Hotel Automation

Here are a few tips you need to keep in mind to ensure the successful implementation of automation in hotels-

1. Have a clear goal in mind

Here, it would help if you had specific goals for implementing automation in your hotel operations.

For example – You can implement automation in hotels to accomplish 3 goals – enhancing your guest experience, improving hotel efficiency, or reducing costs.

Also, consider the long-term benefits it will provide you, such as increasing revenue, saving your costs, and providing a competitive advantage in the market.

Once you get an answer to your questions, you need to assess whether choosing such a type of technology is financially viable for you or not.

2. Enhance your guest experience

Of course, you are implementing automation in your hotel to enhance your guest experience. Will automation provide convenient stays for guests or make their lives comfortable?

Make sure to keep in mind who your target audience is and what their needs/preferences are.

Some guests prefer to interact with hotel staff and require a human touch at every stage, especially when most of your guests fall into the older audience category. In contrast, others intend to use self-service kiosks for check-in and check-outs.

3. Upskill your hotel staff

Invest some time in training your hotel staff when implementing automation. If you have not invested time in your hotel staff, they won’t be able to help guests struggling to use new automation technologies.

4. Communication with guests

Make sure to communicate with your guests in advance because implementing such technologies in your hotel will become successful when you communicate that you are automating hotel operations and enhancing the guest experience.

So, if you haven’t done this, share such information with your guests and inform them how to use technologies.

5. Focus on improving yourself

Such automation technologies are dynamic and evolving. You need to keep adapting to existing technologies because technologies making big waves in the industry might not be relevant tomorrow.

So, as a hotelier, keep an eye on new technologies and replace those systems that are becoming obsolete.

Earlier, guests used to check in using OCR scanners confined to mobile devices, but now there are more advancements in this space.

Today, guests can check in using kiosk-like devices with OCR scanners and scan their IDs without human intervention.

Automation isn’t the end; it’s just the beginning.

Implementing advanced technologies, such as hotel management software, in your hospitality operations can upscale your hotel business and enhance guest satisfaction. To make your property stand out, it's essential to automate your hotel operations with a comprehensive hotel management software system, offering a seamless and digitized experience to your guests.

Remember, automation is not about replacing people; it’s about improving their lives and enabling better decision-making for the future.

By adopting these technologies, your employees can perform their tasks more efficiently, and your guests will enjoy higher quality services. It’s truly a win-win situation.