Five Steps to Help Meet the Needs of Demanding Travelers
From road warriors to long-term guests to high-profile visitors, your hotel property no doubt has some demanding travelers with unique needs. Satisfying their needs and creating memorable guest experiences are paramount to driving loyalty. Evaluating your current technology situation and making targeted improvements is a major step hoteliers can take to satisfying these guests. Here are five steps to take customer service to the next level.
1. Improve your guest Wi-Fi
In a recently commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Motorola Solutions, 90 percent of business and recreational travelers surveyed wished hotels offered Wi-Fi as an amenity, making it the top priority of both business and recreational travelers. In addition, more than 90 percent of hotel guests surveyed indicated they wanted Wi-Fi in their hotel rooms, not just in common areas and 40 percent of business travelers said they would not stay at a hotel without Internet. There is a clear desire and need from guests to have Wi-Fi that works.
Depending on your current wiring, there are several options you have to upgrade your wireless environment. Check out each area of your hotel to see where the Wi-Fi signal is weak or nonexistent. Make sure you are making the most out of access points and wall ports through smart placement and network management. These improvements can ensure a seamless, optimized experience for your demanding guests.
2. Secure your guest Wi-Fi
Of course, having reliable high-speed Internet access for your guests means nothing if they don’t feel safe using your network. Hackers, rogue devices and other malicious intruders can seriously compromise the hotel’s data and that of your guests on the devices they use on your network. Securing your network can put your guests at ease and make your property feel like a safe place to get work done.
Take a look at how you are managing your network’s security management and perform rigorous testing to make sure there are no vulnerabilities hackers can exploit. A sophisticated management platform can run software to help protect your network on an ongoing basis and perform other maintenance. Remember: this isn’t a one-and-done situation. You need to frequently evaluate the safety of your network as new threats quickly evolve.
3. Improve staff communications
The most prestigious hotels pride themselves on quickly attending to guest needs with discretion. Make sure your team members are equipped with the right tools to get their jobs done right. Professional two-way radios that support push-to-talk and mobile computers with VoWLAN capabilities allow for seamless communication and provide a powerful tool in a hotel’s management and customer service initiative. Today, expanded two-way radio portfolios and mobile computers offer ideal solutions for a number of people with a diverse amount of needs, from the front desk, to event planners, to staff engineers.
A missed call, user error, a garbled message or dead battery can mean lowered productivity, wasted time and money, unsatisfied customers and lost business. Take inventory of your staff communications solution especially if you are still trying to replicate the recently shut-down Sprint iDEN Nextel National Network. Radios and VoWLAN are options to address your communication solutions needs as they are crucial to satisfying the needs of all guests, and especially the most demanding guests.
4. Better delegate worker tasks
A high-profile guest calls the front desk, informing staff that the sink appears to be clogged. He is stepping out to dinner now and wants the sink fixed by the time he returns. With your improved staff communications, you can reach the maintenance team manager quickly and relay the correct information. Using mobile workforce management software, that manager can quickly and discreetly reach the closest, most qualified individual to make that repair on his mobile device and send him the task. The worker knows it is a priority task and takes care of it quickly, marking it as complete on his device so the manager knows the work is done, and the issue is resolved hours before the guest returns.
Sounds like a dream? With the right software and device mix, it’s completely possible. Mobile workforce management software is a great way to make sure team members know what is on their task list and for managers to track their completion in real-time. Devices such as tablets, handheld computers and two-way radios make it easier to create and delegate these tasks on the go, and make sure even the most demanding guests get five-star service.
5. Give guests what they want, when they want it
Proximity marketing is opening a new realm of possibilities for hoteliers. The concept, in a nutshell, is providing guests with notifications and offers when they are on your property. For example, a long-term guest walks into a hotel after checking in on her mobile device. A personalized screen appears, welcoming the guest back and offering her a coupon for a cocktail at the bar that night as a welcome drink. These little touches can go a long way in securing guest loyalty, especially for all types of demanding travelers.
These five simple tips can help transform the experience for these demanding travelers. And the latest technology is the right partner to help you make this happen. For specific examples, check out Motorola Solutions’ hospitality solutions.
1. Improve your guest Wi-Fi
In a recently commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Motorola Solutions, 90 percent of business and recreational travelers surveyed wished hotels offered Wi-Fi as an amenity, making it the top priority of both business and recreational travelers. In addition, more than 90 percent of hotel guests surveyed indicated they wanted Wi-Fi in their hotel rooms, not just in common areas and 40 percent of business travelers said they would not stay at a hotel without Internet. There is a clear desire and need from guests to have Wi-Fi that works.
Depending on your current wiring, there are several options you have to upgrade your wireless environment. Check out each area of your hotel to see where the Wi-Fi signal is weak or nonexistent. Make sure you are making the most out of access points and wall ports through smart placement and network management. These improvements can ensure a seamless, optimized experience for your demanding guests.
2. Secure your guest Wi-Fi
Of course, having reliable high-speed Internet access for your guests means nothing if they don’t feel safe using your network. Hackers, rogue devices and other malicious intruders can seriously compromise the hotel’s data and that of your guests on the devices they use on your network. Securing your network can put your guests at ease and make your property feel like a safe place to get work done.
Take a look at how you are managing your network’s security management and perform rigorous testing to make sure there are no vulnerabilities hackers can exploit. A sophisticated management platform can run software to help protect your network on an ongoing basis and perform other maintenance. Remember: this isn’t a one-and-done situation. You need to frequently evaluate the safety of your network as new threats quickly evolve.
3. Improve staff communications
The most prestigious hotels pride themselves on quickly attending to guest needs with discretion. Make sure your team members are equipped with the right tools to get their jobs done right. Professional two-way radios that support push-to-talk and mobile computers with VoWLAN capabilities allow for seamless communication and provide a powerful tool in a hotel’s management and customer service initiative. Today, expanded two-way radio portfolios and mobile computers offer ideal solutions for a number of people with a diverse amount of needs, from the front desk, to event planners, to staff engineers.
A missed call, user error, a garbled message or dead battery can mean lowered productivity, wasted time and money, unsatisfied customers and lost business. Take inventory of your staff communications solution especially if you are still trying to replicate the recently shut-down Sprint iDEN Nextel National Network. Radios and VoWLAN are options to address your communication solutions needs as they are crucial to satisfying the needs of all guests, and especially the most demanding guests.
4. Better delegate worker tasks
A high-profile guest calls the front desk, informing staff that the sink appears to be clogged. He is stepping out to dinner now and wants the sink fixed by the time he returns. With your improved staff communications, you can reach the maintenance team manager quickly and relay the correct information. Using mobile workforce management software, that manager can quickly and discreetly reach the closest, most qualified individual to make that repair on his mobile device and send him the task. The worker knows it is a priority task and takes care of it quickly, marking it as complete on his device so the manager knows the work is done, and the issue is resolved hours before the guest returns.
Sounds like a dream? With the right software and device mix, it’s completely possible. Mobile workforce management software is a great way to make sure team members know what is on their task list and for managers to track their completion in real-time. Devices such as tablets, handheld computers and two-way radios make it easier to create and delegate these tasks on the go, and make sure even the most demanding guests get five-star service.
5. Give guests what they want, when they want it
Proximity marketing is opening a new realm of possibilities for hoteliers. The concept, in a nutshell, is providing guests with notifications and offers when they are on your property. For example, a long-term guest walks into a hotel after checking in on her mobile device. A personalized screen appears, welcoming the guest back and offering her a coupon for a cocktail at the bar that night as a welcome drink. These little touches can go a long way in securing guest loyalty, especially for all types of demanding travelers.
These five simple tips can help transform the experience for these demanding travelers. And the latest technology is the right partner to help you make this happen. For specific examples, check out Motorola Solutions’ hospitality solutions.