youtip Partners with Volara to Bring Digital Tipping to Guests via Google, Amazon Voice Assistants in Guestrooms

Today hotels with in-room voice assistants powered by Volara can enable their guests to leave a gratuity for hotel staff by simply scanning a QR code on Google’s Hotel Solution or uttering a voice command to Amazon’s Alexa. Through a new integration partnership between Volara, the voice hub for hotels, and youtip, a contactless, cashless and “appless” gratuity system for frontline hotel workers, guests now have a contactless way to reward good service without leaving cash or having to download an app. Not only does this solution enable operators to add more money to their employees’ paychecks, but it enhances the hotel’s contactless safety initiative. 

 “When I read about youtip launching a digital tipping solution, I saw an immediate advantage to featuring their QR code for digital tipping on our contactless guest engagement and touchless room controls solutions,” said Volara CEO Dave Berger. “We firmly believe that today’s frontline hotel workers — who are putting themselves at risk every day during this pandemic — should have every opportunity to safely receive a gratuity. With fewer people carrying cash, and even less service workers feeling comfortable receiving it, leveraging the in-room voice assistant to leave a tip is a no brainer.

“I have had the pleasure to work with youtip Co-founder and CEO Sarah Taveprungsenukul on other integrations in the past and knew that we could quickly bring this joint technology to market,” Berger said. “We believe this collaboration will make adding voice assistants to guestrooms even more valuable to operators, staff, and guests, as voice command is truly the safest way to communicate today.”

Volara provides platform agnostic voice-based conversation management software and a secure integrations hub that voice-enables existing hotel technologies. Its software turns the major natural language processing platforms into a business tool that drives more efficient customer service. In addition to facilitating digital tipping via the Google Hotel Solution, Volara is also enabling guests to ask the popular voice assistant to make calls, play music, watch shows, bring them toiletries, book services, turn on/off TVs, set alarms and more without ever lifting a finger. Guests also are accessing a range of entertainment, information, recommendations, and services just by speaking in their rooms.

Volara can also voice enable digital tipping via youtip on Amazon Alexa devices. Guests simply say things like: “Alexa, leave a tip for the housekeeper.” In addition to leaving a tip, guests will have the opportunity to quickly rate service and leave feedback for the hotel staff.

“We are thrilled that Volara stepped up to be the first integration partner for youtip,” Taveprungsenukul said. “The sky is the limit to youtip’s integration potential. By placing a QR code for digital tipping on Google Nest Hubs or enabling Amazon Alexa devices to initiate the tipping process on voice command, we are enabling operators to put more money in employees’ paychecks, and they can simultaneously benefit from our full transactional reporting and rating and review feature. It’s a win for everyone involved.”

youtip can integrate with other critical business solutions, such as the property-management systems, point-of-sale systems, accounting/payroll solutions, service optimization systems, and voice/text technologies for hotels. Technology companies in the hospitality space who feel their solution, when tied to youtip, will further help hoteliers to recognize and reward today’s unsung heroes are encouraged to contact youtip at [email protected].

youtip is PCI compliant and utilizes the built-in security of Apple’s Apple Pay and Google’s G Pay. The company charges a convenience fee on every transaction to the person leaving the tip. QR codes can be leveraged to process both pooled and individual gratuities.

“We are waiving system subscription fees through the end of 2021 to help the hospitality industry recover as quickly as possible,” Taveprungsenukul said, noting that charges may apply for design customizations and third-party integrations, such as PMS, payroll systems and branded mobile applications. “What we are most excited about through this technology launch is that youtip solves two key problems for the service industry: 1) Fewer people are carrying cash, and 2) increased demand for contactless services.”