EB Hotel Miami Airport Leveraging GuestHub to Track Shuttle Service
Providing shuttle service between a hotel and the local airport is a costly guest service, but it is a necessary convenience that today’s travelers expect. Not only does the amenity create a positive first impression of the hotel, saving travelers considerable time and money in finding alternative transportation, but it helps eliminate friction along the guest journey. Leveraging its web-based guest services app, GuestHub, the EB Hotel Miami Airport is finding its airport shuttle service to be a deciding factor for guests considering whether to book again in the future. Via the app, the hotel is providing custom shuttle tracking and real-time location and estimated time of arrivals (ETAs) for each stop or pickup location, thereby eliminating traveler anxiety, and assuring guests that they will soon be en route to the hotel.
“After waiting for a long period of time for the shuttle, exhausted from the flight, the stress of going through customs and the baggage claim area, and not knowing whether they are at the right place, how long will they have to wait, or what the shuttle even looks like, guests begin to wonder if they made the right choice of hotel,” said Thomas Zarikian, owner of the EB Hotel Miami Airport. “This annoying moment turns the shuttle pickup service (meant to be a guest convenience) into a negative experience — a scenario that is highly counterproductive and unfavorable to hotels like mine that rely on positive customer reviews.
“Amidst this pandemic, I need a better and more efficient way to quickly keep our valued guests away from crowds,” he said. “More efficient shuttle service is key to keeping guests safe. Leveraging our GuestHub app with shuttle tracking, we are reducing traveler anxiety and increasing guest satisfaction and safety by improving shuttle wait times easily, economically, and efficiently. By installing the shuttle tracker on the driver’s smartphone, guests needing a ride to our hotel can click on a link and watch an icon move along its route on a map and get an ETA at the pickup location. It’s as easy as waiting for an Uber, Lyft, or package delivery from a simple website, with no app download required. This simple tool is adding value to the other guest services offered via the app, and it is helping our guests feel safe and happy to have booked with us.”
GuestHub was developed by EB Hotel Miami Airport parent company Eurobuilding Hotels Group to facilitate everything guests may need along their journey, from reservation to review™. It was designed to boost a hotel’s bottom line by taking better care of guests, and places guest-request task management and guest messaging at the core of operations, helping hoteliers achieve better reviews, make more money on their rooms, and streamline operations by reducing the workload on the staff.
Heightening Safety and Security
In addition to providing real-time location tracking, GuestHub’s shuttle tracker feature ensures guest safety. Via the app, guests are sent a photo, name, and phone number of the driver and the color, brand, and license plate of the vehicle. This not only tells users exactly where their ride is and when it will arrive, but GuestHub empowers guests to share their location with the hotel and driver while delivering an exceptional guest experience.
“Guests don’t realize just how expensive basic shuttle service really is,” Zarikian said. “There is wear-and-tear on the vehicle, routine maintenance, wages paid to drivers, and associated airport fees that need to be paid monthly. By automating the airport shuttle service through the GuestHub app, however, we are lowering costs of providing the service by not sending the van to the airport unnecessarily. It saves on trips, fuel, vehicle depreciation, airport fees, payroll, and pollution. More importantly, GuestHub makes shuttle tracking easy and affordable. It mimics popular ride sharing platforms, so no costly and complicated equipment needs to be installed in vans or cars. All that is needed is a driver and smartphone. Better yet, because GuestHub is web based, no app download is required on the guest side. Whether a hotel is providing transportation to and from the airport or a free ride to attractions, this amenity can make a big difference when wait time perception and anxiety are reduced by simply providing accurate ETAs.”
For more information on GuestHub, visit www.GuestHub.io.