Frontline Communications Are Critical
Take a worldwide pandemic that has crippled the hospitality industry and add new, stricter-than-ever, mandatory cleaning protocols and what do you have? An epic communications challenge.
As a 100% franchised company, Choice Hotels Canada, like many hospitality companies, is heavily reliant on traditional communications methods. From hotel-level initiatives to new brand guidelines, we previously relied on email-first technology, which didn’t necessarily reach frontline staff.
A New Challenge
Due to COVID-19 health concerns, Choice Canada launched the Commitment to Clean initiative, enhancing our existing program with industry-leading protocols related to deep cleaning, disinfecting, hygiene, and social distancing best practices. The initiative touches all operations of a hotel, including frontline staff, who will ultimately be those following through on the Commitment to Clean promise.
An Employee-Facing App Solution
We quickly recognized the communications challenge in getting every frontline worker up to speed. The answer was an employee-facing app developed by Toronto-based Nudge Rewards that allows us to reach and engage with workers on the front desk, in maintenance, in housekeeping, or another frontline role. Employees are directly updated on important operational details, allowing GMs to continue focusing on other important tasks. With topic-based channels and team collaboration functionalities, Nudge also enables staff to share ideas, feedback, best practices − and yes, even frustrations with corporate headquarters.
A Commitment to Communications
Over the past three years, Choice Hotels Canada has reaped significant rewards for opening up the flow of communication to frontline hotel workers. Nearly 700 associates at franchisee locations across the country have enthusiastically adopted Nudge and rely on its two-way communication channels to stay connected to one another, access important or time-sensitive information, and share strategies for exceeding guest expectations.
A Tool for Building Customer Loyalty
A recent campaign conveying information about Choice Privileges, our award-winning rewards program, was extremely successful, leading to heightened awareness and a boost in enrollment numbers. Nudge became the hub for the employees championing the initiative, also known as the Choice Privileges Ambassadors, providing real-time communications and access to key information and resources for educating and motivating each property to reach program objectives.
Thanks to our innovative communications initiative, Choice Hotels Canada is confident in its ability to instill consumer confidence and empower the frontline workers who will play a vital customer-facing role as hotels begin to recover from this unprecedented crisis for the industry.
