Smartphones are everywhere.
We need them to shop, read the news, wake up in the morning, and sometimes contact family members and friends. 😉
Smart devices are a growing platform whose popularity affects hospitality by assisting guests and travelers in communicating. From destination inspiration to booking confirmation, your guests use smartphones.
It is crucial to know how to use mobile technology to make your hotel, vacation rental, camp, or hostel more successful and competitive.
Smart Devices and Smart Guests
Global tourism is constantly adopting innovative solutions to make traveling even more flexible, accessible and comfortable.
Access to information of all sorts is easier than ever before. The internet and social media are deep caves full of accommodation ads and destination inspiration, guest reviews, and experience recommendations.
When it comes to finding accommodation, regardless if it is a business trip or a family vacation, most searches are done via a mobile device. Recognizing a mobile device’s essential role in every stage of travel planning – from fantasizing about it, precise planning and accommodation decisions to the experiences during vacation and after the stay.
All For One, One For All – Smartphone
With each digital interaction, hoteliers and vacation rentals potentially learn more about each guest, from general to accommodation preferences.
To take advantage of such information and improve the guest experience, the quality PMS system is a necessary partner.
With a fully optimized website and an intuitive booking engine, you will not only improve guest satisfaction but will save your own time and increase revenue.
Mobile technology is a requirement for hoteliers and vacation rentals for several reasons:
- Additional revenue
Access to additional services and amenities: Provide guests with access to additional services such as parking, breakfast, tickets for local events – via smartphone. Offering additional services and amenities via mobile will increase revenue while allowing guests easy access. Moreover, the accommodation, which includes mobile-oriented functionalities as part of the stay, has a higher level of guest satisfaction leading to a more significant number of direct reservations.
Booking process:
From relying on travel agents and third-party reservations, today, the time required for a reservation is reduced to a quick finger touch.
Since most travelers and potential guests use their smartphones to explore a destination and book accommodation, encourage guests to book directly via a mobile device. Optimize the number of steps to make a reservation and connect the booking engine with Facebook and Google Business profiles. Instructions on how to do the mentioned with Rentlio can be found here and here 🙂
Online travel agencies:
OTAs also recognize the importance of mobile booking.
Booking.com, for example, enables its users to set special mobile rates aimed at booking exclusively via mobile, explicitly targeting millennials who book more often using smartphones.
- Productivity
Smart devices increase the automation of repetitive actions and staff productivity.
This means that your smartphone will simplify operating procedures and reduce employment costs. At the same time, it will allow you to focus on improving service and guest relations.
Push notifications that will not fail in notifying you of changes in the reservation and price updates are the average hotelier and small renter’s daily tasks. With the help of Rentlio Mobile App, none of the above will require you to be physically present at your property. Track and manage, enter new bookings and access your calendar anytime, anywhere.
Believe us, or read the stories shared with us by our clients 🤝
QR codes are another way to use a smartphone and ensure a better service. Scanning the code, the user can be sent directly to the website to get more information.
QR codes can ease access to the accommodation unit. This method, in addition to meeting health and safety standards, avoids unnecessary tampering with the keys. The availability of QR codes next to the menu provides interested guests with more information about ingredients and food preparation. Additionally, codes can be used just as effectively to get feedback and reviews from guests. By including QR codes on business cards and brochures, users can save accommodation information on their smartphones.
The possibilities are truly endless.
- Payment
Smartphone payments will become one of the most significant events in the coming years.
Most banks offer their clients some form of mobile payment. Many support contactless payment in hotels and similar objects. The main intention is to provide users with more accessible payment methods while maintaining personal data securely.
Some of the better-known mobile applications are Apple Pay, Google Pay, Samsung Pay and PayPal mobile payment system. These applications are examples of digital wallets, and similar payment rules characterize each.
This payment method could eventually replace the use of “traditional” credit cards, as most guests are equipped with a mobile device.
The guest is always right.
The unique (and contactless) experience of connecting with guests provides countless possibilities.📱
The opportunity to continually personalize the service is necessary to provide your guests with the best possible stay.
With smartphones, guests can instantly feel at home.
Adjusting the room temperature, controlling the blinds – without leaving the bed and with a quick swipe of your finger. Mobile self-check-in, notification of accommodation readiness. Sharing content via social networks, reviews and recommendations, SMS messages, or push notifications can do it all.
You can send guests various notices, such as basic information or answers to frequently asked questions and gastronomic recommendations during their stay. Equally important, you can be at the disposal of the interested guest at the moment when he decides whether to book your accommodation.
That is why Rentlio has enabled Facebook Messenger’s implementation on the Rentlio Booking Engine, thereby significantly raising the guest experience during the booking process itself.
Some guests will be happy to accept mobile check-in solutions and mobile keys, while others will prefer personal contact at reception.
The challenge is to find the ideal balance between human interaction and contactless communication.
Ultimately, the guests should have a choice.
Standard (Mobile) Service
The potential advantage that using intelligent devices has posed is becoming the service standard.
From a technological perspective, mobile devices’ screens are getting better, and the processors are faster. Mobile applications are becoming more dynamic and interactive.
Smartphones are undoubtedly a vital service aspect during the year in which each reservation is essential.
It is crucial to adopt technological solutions actively. Not only does the rejection of the possibilities provided by smartphones harm the satisfaction of your guests, but it also hurts accessibility since, in general, a large number of users/guests use smartphones.
The use of a mobile device gives the guest increased autonomy over their own experience. At the same time, each hotelier or vacation rental has the freedom to discover a unique way to provide a mobile experience to guests. However, mobile technology will hardly replace the traditional service.
Instead, by redefining traditional services and combining them with digital touchpoints, you are providing your guests with a one-of-a-kind experience.
How do you use mobile technology to offer better service and increase your productivity? Feel free to share your experience with us in the comments below 😊
