Maybe a little counterintuitively, an Insider article from last week claimed that hotel guests will no longer prioritise housekeeping services as part of their hotel stay. This news came despite the cleanliness-related guest requirements which were arguably accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic. The trend emanates from the simple fact that numerous hotel workers are quitting the industry - without any intention to return in the future - as a result of this challenging period. Hotels now lack the needed staff capacity to provide housekeeping on a daily basis, and it is suggested that guests will be absolutely okay with that.
Intriguingly, our clients had already been exposed to the above challenges during the pandemic and partially to our surprise, some of our most loyal customers turned to the Portier Platform to deal with changes to housekeeping regulations and hotel staff numbers. For example, one of our partner hotels in Switzerland was instructed to reduce housekeeping services by the Swiss government last year. Consequently, they needed the guests to chip in, but how would you best communicate any such measures to guests?
"Hotel Technology"
This particular hotel utilised Portier Push Messaging and Portier Chat to increase communication frequency with guests. Using scheduled push messages, the hotel would remind each guest of the set housekeeping schedule of the day, and ask each guest to do their part by airing their room for at least 60 minutes per day and booking housekeeping only when necessary. For more direct communication, hotel staff leveraged Portier Chat and went through more urgent housekeeping needs of guests via a direct communication channel similar to WhatsApp. Guests need to get used to interacting with a digital concierge.
By utilising the specific hotel technology at hand, this particular partner was able to comply with governmental regulations, reduce housekeeping activities and utilise staff more efficiently. Indeed, changing times have shown that the Portier Platform has always been perfectly placed to deliver a contactless guest experience that goes beyond the capabilities of existing applications or, for example, QR-code driven engagement tools. As a by-product of COVID-caused changes, our partners managed to improve their guest engagement and with digital concierge empowered by Portier, our partners went beyond the basics to become the cornerstone of every hotel visit.
If you are keen to dig deeper and find out ways in which our partners apply the Portier Platform to this ever-changing travel environment, reach out to us via contact@goportier.com.