Your guests’ safety is your top priority. While the COVID-19 public health emergency is less of a concern than it was in 2020, health and sanitation concerns still linger. You want to protect your guests and enhance their stays, ensuring that they have the best possible stay at your hotel. That means taking precautions and measures to guarantee that your guests are protected and safe throughout their stay. You can set your hotel apart from the competition, simply by taking steps to ensure that your hotel is a safe, healthy, sanitary, and secure place to stay.
Hotel technology can help you protect your guests and employees while enhancing the guest experience and increasing operational efficiency. By reducing touch points, providing more virtual access, and upgrading guest communications, you can leverage technology to set your hotel apart as the preferred destination for holiday travel.
Improve health and security with contactless check-ins and Digital Key
The holidays are prime travel time. Unfortunately, they’re also prime time for airborne viruses and bacteria. With colder temperatures, people tend to stay indoors more, and with more people traveling, viruses and germs are more likely to be transferred between guests and staff members. How can you protect your guests at high-traffic times in the middle of flu season? Reduce touch points and chances of transmission by leveraging technology to offer mobile check-ins and contactless room entry. By doing this, you can significantly increase safety and protect your staff and guests against the flu, COVID-19, and other contagious diseases.
Plus, with Digital Keys for hotels, you can give your guests peace of mind with enhanced personal security. Eliminating plastic key cards and giving your guests access to their rooms via their smartphones eliminates a potential security risk. With mobile hotel access on their phones, guests no longer have to carry a physical key with them. As a result, the risk of losing their key is significantly diminished.
Reduce touch points with digital concierge services
In addition to contactless check-ins, hotels can also improve safety by reducing touch points throughout guests’ stays. Providing digital concierge services allows guests to access the information they’ll need to most enjoy their stay – without unnecessary trips to the front desk. For example, the OpenKey app empowers hotels to deliver notifications and key information directly to guests’ smartphones. With an app like this, your guests can also access the WiFi password for their room, see dining hours and menu options, make reservations at your hotel’s restaurant, and more. This kind of technology is not only convenient for guests, but it will also increase safety and sanitation by decreasing front desk traffic at the busiest time of the year.
Protect your guests’ information with digital security measures
Physical safety is not the only concern when it comes to holiday travel, though. The hospitality industry is a prime target for cyberattacks. Malware and ransomware attacks are common tactics that could compromise your system and expose your guests’ personal and financial information. Be sure that your systems are integrated, that you have a strong firewall in place, and that you stay on top of software and hardware updates. And, along with these measures, ensure that staff are trained to recognize phishing and smishing attacks, social engineering, and other common tactics used by cybercriminals to get past your security measures.
Prepare for emergencies by implementing SMS communications
Implementing an SMS guest communications solution enhances convenience for your guests when they need extra towels or when they’d like to order room service, but it can also act as an emergency prevention protocol. With mass text notification capabilities, you can ensure that all guests are informed in the case of an evacuation or for other emergency procedures. Furthermore, SMS services for room service and guest requests can also help your guests reach you faster if they need help or if they have a personal emergency.
Integrate this capability with your hotel’s emergency response plan, and ensure that all staff members are trained and updated on emergency procedures. If you have a solid strategy in place, with trained staff ready to assist, enhanced digital communication with your guests will streamline the process and ensure that all guests and employees are safe in almost any circumstances.
The holidays are a time of joy and togetherness, and they’re a critical time for the hospitality industry. Unfortunately, they’re also a time when more people are sick than usual, and crime rates are higher due to increased opportunity. You can give your guests the gift of safe and healthy travel with just a few upgrades or by using the technology you already have. By leveraging hotel technology, you can ensure that your guests are safe while also boosting their experience throughout their stay with you.
Want more info on how your hotel can benefit from Digital Key technology? Schedule a demo today.
