Time for hotels to escape the past and catch up to the guest experience of the future
A leading hospitality expert remarked “Hospitality is supposed to bring joy, but it brings frustration and can feel like frustration, not happiness, is hardwired into hospitality systems”. Harsh words but not entirely wrong. Unsurprisingly, some travelers lower their expectations so as to lessen the impact of disappointment should that happen and that’s a real shame.
How often have guests encountered situations that take the joy out of rising expectations when the hotel experiences go south - like having to wait in a long queue to check-in? Most people dislike waiting in line. Research from Cornell’s School of Hotel Administration examined how long a wait was required to decrease guest satisfaction by 50 points (on a scale of 100). For Americans, it took a mere 5 minutes – the shortest time among the countries studied. For guests from France, Germany, Italy, Spain and UK it averaged between 15 – 17 minutes with the Japanese been the most tolerant at 30 minutes.
Unfortunately, many good things in life require waiting in line and checking into a hotel when going on vacation is one occasion.
Then there is the need to fill-in the registration form. This can have a disastrous impact on the guest journey, especially if it takes place at the worst time; on arrival after a tiring journey and after the ‘wait’ in line at the reception.
Many are the times I’ve wondered, when receiving a totally blank registration form, as to why I am filling in information I had provided at the time I made the booking. Been told “Don’t worry about entering this or that… just sign here and I’ll fill in the rest”, by the receptionist, is small consolation and certainly no value addition. Things get worse, when given a ball pen that requires vigorous scribbling on a piece of paper, before the ink reluctantly starts to flow.
I get it that when not booking directly; the hotel does not have access to the information already provided. Why not then send an email to the customer to fill out the information that the hotel requires? This first direct communication is also an opportunity to upsell or book additional services. Such an approach allows the guest the option of filling their details at a time suitable to them and not when they arrive at the hotel and discover there are several people in front of them who are twiddling their thumbs whilst also waiting to check-in.
But why is most hotel check-ins still so outdated? The problem with hotel check-in at present isn’t really due to technological limitations. It’s just the way things work in most hotels. Exactly!
By tradition, the hotel check-in has been perceived as an important touch-point – servicewise, although in reality it is a purely transactional task. Unfortunately, only the ‘best’ from the ‘rest’ succeed in combining speed and efficiency into the mix when getting guests to their rooms’ quickly. As for guests checking-in at the ‘rest’, there’s no choice in the matter …but wait.
Choice is the new name of the game. Give the guest the choice of either a high-touch service experience or the convenience of skipping the desk and side-stepping that frustrating hurdle of standing in line.
Time for hotels to keep pace with the changes taking place and to stay relevant in a ever changing world where both technology and customers are advancing.
Shafeek Wahab – Editor, Hospitality Sri Lanka, Consultant, Trainer, Ex- Hotelier
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