Industries across all sectors are increasingly incorporating smart technology into business operations, allowing them to improve their products or services, while bolstering efficiency and reducing manpower. The hospitality industry is no exception. Hoteliers and property management companies, no matter how small, will find that implementing smart tech, especially with a lean team, is a fast track to scalability and success.
Here are 5 smart features that will help you usher your boutique hotel into the new era of hospitality:
- A Channel Manager
First and foremost, independent hotel management companies need to reach guests, which they can do by promoting their listings on as many relevant channels as possible.
Utilizing a channel manager for boutique hotels and aparthotels will take the manual work out of publishing, editing and maintaining listings on multiple platforms. With a central location from which property management companies can make all the adjustments they need, they’ll save valuable time that would otherwise be spent logging into individual channels and making necessary changes. With less manual effort needed to market your accommodations, you can save on hiring and utilize your manpower and resources elsewhere.
- A Digital Concierge
Replacing a traditional frontdesk with a modern, digital concierge will not only save you in salary costs, it will also help you impress your guests and provide them with top-notch service.
By delegating your boutique hotel reservation management to a digital platform you can facilitate seamless guest check-in sans human interaction (ideal as we navigate this pandemic), provide guests with instant access to relevant information, photos and videos, promote your extra offerings and upsell external services.
- Keyless Entry
Next up is the process of handing over the property keys, something that more and more property management companies are outsourcing to smart technology. Keyless entry systems give guests the independence they’re increasingly craving when traveling, allowing them a hassle-free, contactless means of accessing their accommodations.
For guests, this means no more waiting in lines and routing their schedules around specific check-in times. For hospitality brands, this means less staff, no lost keys and lots of satisfied customers. Take a look at the partners in our Marketplace that offer such solutions.
- A Housekeeping & Maintenance Management Platform
While most boutique hoteliers aren’t yet equipped with a team of housekeeping robots to ensure rooms are in tip-top shape before guests arrive, there are ways of keeping staff count low while still providing thoroughly clean accommodations.
Smart housekeeping and maintenance management platforms, or general task management systems, can efficiently and effectively organize staff schedules, automate task assignments and generate comprehensive reports, eliminating the need for much overhead or supervision.
- A Revenue Management System
Any professional short-term property manager knows that a key strategy for optimizing revenue is shifting prices according to demand. Rather than wasting human resources by constantly watching the booking calendar and manually adjusting prices, assign your revenue management to a smart system that follows your pre-set rules to maximize occupancy and profit.
Alternatively, you can implement a dynamic pricing solution that utilizes real-time market data to find the optimal price for each of your units on any given day.
- Automated Guest Communication
One of the most time-consuming tasks for employees in the hospitality space is communicating with guests before, during and after their stay. Reduce your staff dependency by welcoming an automated communication tool onto your team, capable of sending customized messages to guests according to pre-assigned triggers.
The Human Touch – Where It Counts
The human touch remains a quintessential component of the hospitality industry and we may never be ready to remove it completely. But by assigning smart technology to the repetitive and time-consuming tasks outlined above, boutique hoteliers can maintain lean teams and focus their human efforts where they matter most, giving guests the perfect blend of efficiency and warmth.
Zahava has been writing for Guesty since March of 2017. She's enjoying learning all there is to know about short-term property management and relaying solutions to Guesty's readers, helping to make the demanding jobs of property managers just a little bit simpler.
