How Reneson Hotels Increased Guest Scores, Reduced Room Comps
A Little Background on GuestEQ
GuestEQ was co-founded by Reneson COO Scott Curran, making it a platform built by hoteliers for hoteliers. While it now is available to and implemented in a variety of other brands and properties, the Reneson portfolio of hotels served as the original real-time test case with tweaks and updates often coming directly from staff feedback.
“Before GuestEQ, I was using several pieces of software to try and keep our hotels organized. My staff hated it. They were constantly switching from one program to the other and things were being missed,” says Curran. “Finally, one day, I had enough. I called a developer friend and we created a system that is not only super user friendly, but covers all areas of the hotel operations and has increased our guest service scores across all my hotels.”
GuestEQ launched in 2019 and has been deployed at Reneson properties for more than a year, driving significant improvements in both guest and staff communication. In 2020, after fully realizing the positive impact GuestEQ has on both guest experience and workflow efficiency, the team decided to share the product with a wider market. GuestEQ is finalizing integration with Oracle’s Opera property management system and with a leading revenue management system so guest and reservation data can be shared with other critical systems in the hotel technology stack.
Reneson, a hotel owner-operator, wanted to communicate better and more directly with guests in a contactless format, while at the same time becoming more efficient operationally, removing paper-based work orders and streamlining staff communication. Management found that most solutions that offered contactless guest communications did not effectively connect to back-of-house operations, resulting in inefficiencies, poor communication and ultimately unresolved guest requests, which led to lower guest scores and room comps. Also, amid the pandemic and then the ensuing labor shortage, Reneson needed a way to do more with fewer workers.
So, Reneson installed GuestEQ at each of its seven hotels because it was a solution that handled both guest and staff communications effectively. The guest-facing side provides the hotel with a text-based messaging system. While certain messages are automated to reduce staff workload and remove communication bottlenecks, guests can always use the service to reach out to on property staff and be connected with a hotel staff member. This was very important to the brand as it has built its reputation on providing excellent guest customer service.
“Customer service comes first, it drives revenue, it drives everything,” says Scott Curran, COO, Reneson. “I didn't want to lose our success with customer service through text messaging by replacing staff communication with an automated AI solution for all guest questions and requests.”
When guests communicate with staff members via text message, every reply they receive is followed by a dash and the staff members first name. This was very intentional as it provides the same level of familiarity that a guest would have if they spoke with a team member in person over the phone or in person.
Familiar Interface, Easy to Use
But no technology will be successful if staff members aren’t keen to use it. So, in July 2021 GuestEQ updated its look and feel to mimic common social media platforms that hotel staff members use daily. This means that staff can “like,” comment on posts, tag other employees using the @ symbol, use emojis and more. By creating a platform that felt familiar to staff, training times fell significantly.
“We asked ourselves, how can we get this product to a point where we can do a training in just 30 minutes,” Curran explained. “And that's what we were able to accomplish through the social media refresh. The first thing staff members say when they see it during the training session is: ‘This looks like [insert social media platform of your choice],’ and they’re immediately drawn to it and willing to use it.”
So, how does it work?
Consider this scenario: A guest sends a text requesting more towels. The staff member receiving the text will automatically receive a prompt from the GuestEQ system to create a housekeeping request. Once created, the housekeeping request is sent to the head housekeeper who can then assign the delivery of the towels to a staff member. Once the towels are delivered, the staff can press a button alerting the system and management that the task has been completed. But hotel staff members aren’t the only ones who are being alerted to this chain of action. The guest is also receiving text alerts notifying them that a request has been made and then notifying them when the request has been completed.
A Variety of Benefits
After implementing this technology, Reneson found it really benefitted the staff and the brand in some key ways. First, it reduced the workload for all staff members. Front desk staff didn’t have to spend time hunting down housekeepers to make sure towels were delivered. Housekeepers didn’t have to constantly communicate with front desk staff in between turning rooms and making deliveries. In fact, since implementation, the front desk phones ring 60 percent less often and queues at the front desk have been cut in half which allows staff to properly address guest needs. Plus, during a time of intense labor shortages, any type of technology that can make staff more productive or even able to do two jobs at once is incredibly helpful.
Second, it reduced complaints from guests that their requests weren’t completed. In fact, since implementing this technology comped rooms and discounts are down on average more than $1,600 per month at each Reneson Hotel property and guest scores have improved significantly, ranging from 15 to 30 points higher at each location.
Third, it creates staff accountability, which in turn leads to better workers.
“When it stops being a game of ‘I told them to do it’ and ‘No you did not’ and becomes a very real log of specific actions, it’s amazing how much more stuff gets done,” Curran adds. “In the morning manager’s report, there is a list of every work order created, who created it, when it was created, who it was passed along to, and how long it took to get it completed. It becomes very easy to find out who needs to be held accountable if something went awry.”
Fourth, Curran and other managers can now gauge hotel / portfolio performance via simple reports that take minutes to read, versus logging in and out of several unintegrated reporting systems over several hours.
A Networking Tool
As an added bonus, Reneson found that connecting staff members not just within a single property – but across all seven of its properties – has created a company-wide social network that has created some powerful collaboration. For example, when management posed the question: “What can we do to sell a few extra rooms this weekend?” to the entire staff, the best ideas came from individuals in maintenance and housekeeping.
But the collaboration aspect extends even further than that on the GuestEQ platform. Any GuestEQ user from any hotel property can connect with another GuestEQ user regardless of location, hotel brand, etc. Examples of some GuestEQ groups include: housekeepers, general managers, maintenance staff, and night auditors.
“This is something that I already saw happening on Facebook,” Curran noted. “I figured if staff members were using Facebook to network, why not make their lives a little easier and put that networking capability straight into our platform – we already have them all here.”