Barman or Receptionist...why not both?
Nowadays there are several methods of checking into a hotel after having made an advance room booking. The most familiar practice upon entering the hotel is to stop at the reception desk as if you have been summoned to appear before an authority who determines entry. You announce yourself, fill in a registration card, make a pre-payment by credit card or by cash, collect your room card or key with the hotel’s WiFi code, get informed where and what time breakfast is served and be directed on how to get to your room.
With the advent of technology the above procedure has been somewhat disrupted. I say somewhat, because the front desk hasn’t completely vanished as yet. Tech companies have for many years been trying to automate the guest arrival experience. First, front desk kiosks were placed in lobbies of some hotel brands. Now, the smart phone check-in, enabling you to by-pass the front desk and go straight to your hotel room is supposedly the ultimate solution.
A decade and a half ago, visiting Britain to attend the World Tourism Market, I walked into my hotel after a near 10 hour-long plane ride, to discover the lobby cluttered with tired tourists and perplexed business travelers. The queue lines for check-in were long and to cut a long story short, despite the efficiency of competent staff, it took me nearly 25 minutes to shuffle upto the front desk. In my mind, had this hotel installed a few self-check in kiosks it would have covered most bases. Some guests including myself could have had the option of checking ourselves in, sooner than later; the queue lines would have been shorter - moving faster for those who preferred to interact with hotel staff.
Some hotels have dispensed with stationary furniture altogether. They've turned the task of checking in guests over to roving "hosts" equipped with portable computers. And a few new-wave properties don't even have people. Marriott, for example, enables you check in up to a couple of days before your arrival, avoiding the front desk thus paving the way to go directly to your room. Your smartphone is the room key, and you can just tap on an icon to request the shaving kit you forgot to pack.
Earlier, first impressions were made by a reservations agent during a phone call to make the hotel room booking. Thereafter, with more people moving to booking online, the front desk hotel staff created the first impressions as well as the first human contact with hotel guests Hospitality-focused marketing organisation Skift puts it very succinctly, when it says, technology can take care of many transactional things, but it can’t be a proxy to human experience. If anything is disappearing, it’s the formality of the hotel front desk – especially ones with high counters which can act as barriers and make people uncomfortable.
Imagine that all hotels adopt technology to replace the traditional front desk where you simply went direct to your room on arrival. With the sameness of the check-in, where’s the differentiator? Hotels looking at eliminating the front desk reception experience are on the path to becoming a commodity. Moxy by Marriott uses the bar to double-up as a check-in area. Whilst taking care of your check-in, the barman can make your welcome or preferred drink. Now that’s a ‘differentiator’ – where a transactional area has been transformed into an engagement zone.
Shafeek Wahab – Editor, Hospitality Sri Lanka, Consultant, Trainer, Ex- hotelier |
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