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Ever since the pandemic of covid-19, staff shortages and costs have become a real problem for hotels. However, with new technologies, hotels are able to reduce staff and cost in the long term - providing them with solutions that have never been seen before.
Ever since the pandemic of covid-19, many staff were unemployed due to hotel’s maintenance to balance out high costs and low demand for travel. However, as the industry takes a comeback in 2023, a lot of hotels are looking for more staff whilst also simultaneously looking for ways to reduce costs – meaning that they are also looking for ways to keep as little staff. Therefore, hotels are now looking for ways to reduce cost and provide efficient service in the long term with or without having to put as much thought into hiring staff. This is where technologies come into play. Technologies can help and potentially replace certain services, reduce time, and make certain operations more efficient. In this article, we will give you a list of technologies we think that will help with costs and provide efficiently in the long run.
Cloud-based Property Management Systems
Property management systems (PMS) are software applications used in hotels and commercial property management systems. Property management systems organize and schedule data for hotels. For example it allows you to control the calendar, scan through check-in and check-out lists, customize reports for finance, operations, managements, etc. This makes it easier for hotels to manage data more efficiently. Moreover, PMS systems are made much more efficient to use nowadays with cloud. Cloud based property management systems work the same way as traditional PMS systems but instead of storing data on hardware servers, the cloud based PMS stores it on cloud storage instead. This makes it even more flexible for users to manage data as data can be accessed anywhere online with an internet connection meaning that staff won’t have to be at any particular location to enter data about costs, check-ins, financial reports, etc.
Online Check-In
Online check-ins are one of the most useful technologies in the hospitality industry in 2023. Online check-ins require very little staff to none at all. Typically, guests are able to do self check-ins by themselves at the check-in center. Though it might not feel normal for guests not to have staff welcome them at the front desk, it reduces long waits and frustration and also makes the process faster for everyone. Hence online check-ins are definitely one of the best technologies that should be used by hotels, especially during this comeback after covid.
Keyless Entry
Other than online check-ins, hotels can also switch to keyless entries with digital door locks. Keyless entry is a technology that allows guests to unlock rooms using a digitally encrypted key that is usually encrypted on mobile phones, tablets or etc. They are usually found on the hotel’s app that can be downloaded at the front desk on mobile phones. Keyless entry has many benefits because the system is much more secure, can give insight to a customer’s behavior and the technology itself can reduce front desk frictions. With the use of keyless entries, guests are able to go straight to their rooms right away without the need of staff. A staff or two at the front desk to give them a small guide is enough to get them going. Therefore, keyless entries are also one of the most useful technologies that can help reduce the cost of staff in the long term.
Chatbots
A chatbot is a software application that uses artificial intelligence (AI) and natural language processing (NLP) to understand and automate conversations to a live human agent. In hotels they are used to respond to customers’ texts, providing answers to guests. They are useful because they can assist online customers all day without the need of staff. Chatbots can be placed in websites where guests can ask FAQs or requests without the need of human interaction. They can essentially replace staff shortage and shift remaining staff’s focus to more important tasks. Hence chatbots are extremely useful, especially if you want to reduce the cost of staff.
Rate Manager
A hotel rate manager is a software that helps hoteliers get a clear view of and manage rates depending on the market at the time. The rate manager should assess and analyze the market depending on the time and factors that could affect the price. The prices will then reflect the customer demand and market to maximize the hotel’s revenue and profit. It is helpful because it is a technology that doesn’t require a lot of staff. There is no need for staff to manually analyze and assess data hence why it reduces staff cost and can increase profit in the long run.
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