How will services offered in most hotels, like in-room dining or laundry services, be required to change due to COVID-19? These services normally ask for a certain level of personal contact between guest and employee. However, the new aim is to lower these contact moments, while upholding the service level and deliver a ‘’personal touch’’. In this article, we give you some ideas on how to achieve this.
Innovative ideas
Some very interesting, new ideas made their entry into the hospitality market. But we should not neglect the cool tech innovations already out there to assist us with this new mission. To name a few; a digital menu with a room service request, a digital form for laundry service, voice automated hotel rooms to lower touchpoints and guest requests software that connects guests straight with the reception of the hotel. We will discuss these solutions more thoroughly.
Voice-automated hotel rooms
Several hotel chains in the world already took the ‘’futuristic’’ lead when it comes down to a fully automated hotel experience. From checking in to accessing your hotel room, till check out, no personal interactions with employees are required. Of course, it is a personal choice whether or not to stay in such hotels, but given the current pandemic, this might be a solution for more hotels. Housekeeping departments are currently creating checklists to clean all the touchpoints in hotel rooms, and believe us, there are a LOT. Voice-controlled rooms can be the solution for this; simply using your voice to give instructions for the lights to turn on, to set the AC to 20 degrees, to close the curtains or to turn on the TV/radio/alarm, and so on.
Digital menus and room service
Another way to decrease touchpoints and to limit personal contact is by providing a digital menu in hotel rooms. A tablet with the in-room dining options can be placed in hotel rooms, after which guests can immediately place their orders. The room service trolly can be placed in front of the door, from where the guests can bring the trolly in. This prevents staff from having to enter the hotel room and allows them to maintain a minimum distance. Of course, the employee can have a chat with the guests and wish them a pleasant experience, but from a respectable distance.
Digital Laundry service
The same method can work for laundry services. Guests can announce their laundry via a tablet, fill in their details and request the laundry bag to be picked up. An employee can then walk by the hotel room and later drop it off via the same method. This allows for a minimum contact interaction between staff and guests, while still upholding the quality standards of the hotel.
Miscellaneous guest requests
This same method could of course apply for various guest requests and interactions happening on a daily basis in buzzing hotel life. Take for example a repair order in a hotel room, the bedside lamp is broken, and the guest mentioned this via a CRM platform. Front Office checks with the guest during what time the guest will not be in the room, in order for the technician to come in and repair the lamp without having to enter the personal space of 1.5m of the guest. After his visit, he can even disinfect the touched surfaces or ask housekeeping to pay an (extra) visit.
