Tag Archives: Guest Satisfaction

by | October 25, 2011 · 5:27 am

Hospitality Industry Internet Issues: Hotel "Wi-Fi Networks" Are Facing "Exponentially" Higher Demand From Guest Usage Of iPads; Investment In More Bandwidth Necessary

“…Some hotel Internet service providers are proposing a solution that offers tiered Wi-Fi service. The lowest level, suitable for basic Internet requirements like checking e-mail, would be free, but other levels would be priced depending on bandwidth requirements…”

 “… iPads consume four times more Wi-Fi data per month than the average smartphone…”

Largely because of the broad use of iPads and other mobile tablets, which are heavy users of video streaming, the guest room Wi-Fi networks that most hotels thought they had brought up to standard just a few years ago are now often groaning under user demands.

“The iPad is the fastest-selling device in consumer electronics history, and because of it the demand placed on any public place Wi-Fi system has gone up exponentially in the last year and a half,” said David W. Garrison, the chief executive of iBAHN, a provider of systems for the hotel and meetings industries.

This means more hotel customers are unhappy with their Internet connections. Hotel owners, meanwhile, who are digging out from a two-year slump caused by the recession, will probably have to invest more money to provide more bandwidth.

For travelers, it may mean still another fee, since hotels will be paying their own Internet bills.

For more:  http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/25/business/ipads-change-economics-and-speed-of-hotel-wi-fi-on-the-road.html

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by | September 27, 2011 · 6:10 am

Hospitality Industry Guest Health Risks: Illinois Hotel Sued Six Months After Guests Discovered Bed Bugs In Room

A hotel employee again offered the couple a new room, the lawsuit said, but they declined. After they returned home, they said Gonzales noticed bite marks on Layman’s shoulder. She said a doctor confirmed she was bitten by bed bugs, and the couple’s suit said a Hollywood Casino manager acknowledged the pests were bed bugs.

“..they pulled down the covers and discovered red bugs running on the sheets. Layman said she videotaped the bugs with her cell phone…”

 

A Blue Island couple is suing the Hollywood Casino Joliet and its hotel, saying they found bed bugs in their room more than six months ago. Tamara Layman and Leo Gonzales filed the lawsuit in Will County this month. Layman said she first tried asking a manager there to simply reimburse her for doctor visits, lost property and a ruined weekend. But she said she’s had no success.

The lawsuit said Layman and Gonzales checked into the casino’s hotel March 5, left their luggage in their room and went to the casino. They returned a few hours later and went to sleep. But Layman said she woke up at 1:30 a.m. and noticed a bug on a pillow.

Gonzales killed the bug, and Layman carried it in a tissue to the hotel’s front desk, where an employee offered to give them another room.

Layman and Gonzales said they threw out most, if not all, of what they brought to the casino including luggage. They also said it took 17 days for the hotel to send an exterminator to their home for an inspection.

For more:  http://news.google.com/news/more?q=hotel&hl=en&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&biw=1366&bih=497&wrapid=tlif131713187418910&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ncl=d6mgZ9jhZCUXCgMuGZI-DUW1QcQjM&ei=adaBTpPAMI7MsQLqmoiYDw&sa=X&oi=news_result&ct=more-results&resnum=10&ved=0CMsBEKoCMAk

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by | September 25, 2011 · 8:24 pm

Hospitality Industry Marketing Risks: Hotels Are Increasingly Reacting To "Negative" Postings On Social Media Sites As Guests Go "Online" Rather Than To Management

Social media has empowered consumers, forcing companies to be more transparent and responsive. That’s a good thing. But hotels have always been responsive, if not transparent. Lodging a complaint is as simple as marching up to the front desk.

So why is it that some guests, upon encountering an issue, log on to Twitter or Facebook and bring it to the attention of their entire social graph instead of to the one person who can fix it the problem: the manager?

  • Monitor review sites and social networks closely. Even if you aren’t active on them many of your guests likely are.
  • Respond quickly to all feedback, positive or negative.
  • If comments are negative, attempt to take it offline.
  • When responding to negative reviews and commentary, always thank, apologize, explain, invite back and follow-up. No excuses, and no bribes.
  • If guests are still on property, don’t let them leave until you’ve won them over. Convert twerrorists into twadvocates, so to speak.
  • If comments are offensive, abusive or repetitive, you have the option of ignoring them. Tweets have the shelf life of tuna sushi in the desert sun; Facebook wall posts can be deleted. Sanitize, but don’t censor.
  • A social media policy and guidelines will help minimize risks and prepare you to act swiftly to minimize fallout.
  • The more helpful and engaged employees are with guests the more likely guests will be to bring issues to their attention before logging on to Facebook.

For more:  http://www.htrends.com/researcharticle58059.html

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by | September 14, 2011 · 10:47 am

Hospitality Industry Guest Room Risks: "Hotel Minibars" Are "Loss-Leaders" At Many Properties Where Theft And Spoilage Cause Inventory Issues

“… actually [minibars] are loss-leaders…(some hotels have) been phasing out stocked minibars…Theft and billing problems can eat into minibar income. Hilton loses 5% to 20% of minibar revenue to “quote-unquote breakage…”

To cut costs and keep better track of sales, more hoteliers are installing automated minibars equipped with sensors that know when an item has been removed, immediately charging a guest’s bill.

Hotels and minibar manufacturers say these can cut labor costs since employees only have to check the roughly 25%-30% of rooms that use the minibar on a given day. Software can track how long items have been sitting in the minibar, cutting down on the problem of expired snacks.

But automated minibars cause problems of their own. If you take out an item and put it back, you might be charged, though most hotels give a grace period of about 40 seconds. And forget replacing a minibar’s high-priced sodas with your own snacks.

Sensors can also be overly sensitive, causing problems even for travel professionals.

For more:  http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904537404576554441363020606.html

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by | May 23, 2011 · 6:06 am

Hospitality Industry Guest Service: Hotels Will Optimize "Guest Satisfaction" By Following Retail Industry Leaders Such As Nordstroms In Using "Hand Held" Devices For "Check-In, Room Key Cards, Spa, Restaurant And Other Services"

“…Nordstroms’ President, Blake Nordstrom, announced that some 5,000 hand held devices will be in the hands of Sales Associates by this July…”

“…everyone is in Guest Services…no more Front Desk – we have a Concierge Center. Check folks in right there on your hand held, take their credit card impression, dispense the “room key card”, via e-mail, and the bar code will open the Guest Room door, plus be used for all Hotel charges – spa, restaurant, golf, etc…”

 Nordstrom’s credo is exceptional Customer Service, and,   for those of us who have waited in line or even tried to find a Sales Associate in these large stores, the mobile application is just great.  By the way, Nordstroms just posted a 6.5 percent increase in first-quarter same-store sales.

Many operations already have the option of Kiosks, but they are so impersonal.  Get your people out from behind their desks (those barriers), meeting, greeting and rooming your Guests.  This is the “personal touch” in a technical world, and, watch, in 3-5 years this is what it will look like.

For more:  http://www.hoteltechresource.com/article54896.html

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by | March 28, 2011 · 12:10 pm

Hospitality Industry Legal Compliance Issues: Hotels Must Be Compliant With "Americans With Disabilities Act" (ADA) Regulations Including "Mobility Issues" For "Devices Other Than Wheelchairs"

Federal law requires hotels to give people with mobility issues access to their properties, including allowing them to use devices other than wheelchairs as long as they do not raise legitimate safety concerns. The type, size and speed of the device, along with the amount of pedestrian traffic all factor into the decision.

One major change deals with the information available to people making room reservations. The idea is that people with disabilities should be able to book hotel rooms with the same efficiency, immediacy and convenience as those who do not need accessible guest rooms. The provision applies whether people are making reservations by phone, in person, on a website or though a third-party provider such as a travel agent or OTA.

Hotels must identify and describe the hotel’s accessible features in enough detail so potential guests can determine if the hotel can meet their needs, McCullough said.

Hotels also have an obligation to hold accessible guest rooms for people with disabilities unless all other guestrooms of that type have been rented. For example, McCullough said, if a hotel has 25 double-bed rooms and two are designated accessible, the reservation service must rent all 23 of non-accessible before it rents the two to people without disabilities. The rule does not apply to unique rooms such as a penthouse or bridal suite.

The difficulty is making sure that the reservation system accommodates this requirement, since the rule applies to reservations made through all channels.

“That will be a technical hurdle for your companies to leap over within the 11 months,” McCullough said. “I hope you are working on this particular issue.”

Another change requires that hotels honor a specific guest room request from customers with disabilities, even if it’s a policy of a hotel to not hold specific rooms.

For more:  http://www.hotelinteractive.com/article.aspx?articleid=20172

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by | February 4, 2011 · 2:58 pm

Hospitality Industry Risk Solutions: New York Hotel Introduces "iPads" Into Guestrooms For Room Service, Concierge Communications, And Room Controls As Technology Delivers Instantaneous Quality Control Throughout Property

[vimeo http://vimeo.com/19170938]

 At the touch of a screen, guests are able to order room service, make restaurant reservations, communicate directly with the concierge, request wake-up calls, explore NYC destination guides, and even check airline schedules and print boarding passes (which are promptly delivered to their room). Guests can even use the iPad to control the lights in their room as well as the heat and air conditioning systems.

New York’s Plaza Hotel is offering iPads in each of its guest rooms and suites. The program, which launched in January, makes the landmark hotel on Central Park South the first hotel in the world to provide guests services and room controls using iPads and Intelity’s ICE (Interactive Customer Experience) software to all of its guests.

“We chose the iPad because it is a great piece of equipment that is here to stay and won’t disappear tomorrow,” adds Krige. “It brings another five star element to the hotel.”

The iPads will not replace the human element at The Plaza.

“They are not meant to replace our concierge service and the personal touch we are known for,” Krige says. “It is to provide more choice. At a five star hotel you should have choices—if you want to use the iPad, you can do so. If you want a butler service, that is available, too. If you want to be left alone, that is a choice, as well. By putting the iPads in the guest rooms, we are bringing a new technology to everyone’s fingertips.”

In addition to providing a service to guests, the system helps the hotel track how it responds to requests made by guests, such as how long it takes to deliver a requested toothbrush. “If you order a pair of slippers, the request will go directly to the slipper department with no intermediary,” says Krige. “The requests go directly to the end producer, so that they can be very efficient.

For more:  http://www.luxist.com/2011/02/03/the-plaza-in-new-york-offers-ipads-in-all-guest-rooms-and-suites/

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by | January 20, 2011 · 9:02 am

Hospitality Industry Technology: "Technology-Driven Hotels" That Protect Guest Data Privacy And Invest In Low-Tech Upgrades That Guests "Don't Necessarily Have At Home" Will Increase Approval Ratings With Online Booking Sites

For more:  http://www.hospitalitynet.org/file/152004480.pdf

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by | December 20, 2010 · 6:24 am

Hospitality Industry Guest Room Security: Hotels Are Deploying New Technology For In-Room Guest Security And Satisfaction (Video)

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0s1EOY8P__4&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL]

David Heckaman, VP of Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group, walks us through some of the cool features built into their new Hotel in Las Vegas. the technology is by Control4, Guestlink, Saflok and Axxess. The system adds security, huge Energy savings and provides Guests with the best in-Room experience they can possibly have.

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by | December 18, 2010 · 3:22 am

Hospitality Technology: New Hotel Sensors Reduce Energy Consumption While Increasing Guest Safety And Comfort

The Westin Resort & Spa Whistler is continuing their quest to become one of Whistler’s most sustainable properties with the recent addition of new environmentally sustainable operations and programs.

  • The Westin Resort & Spa is the first resort in Whistler to install the Energex sensors, greatly increasing the green options for guests during their stay. The infrared-based technology can detect the presence of a guest in a suite, and when vacant, automatically adjust the temperature to a more moderate, energy-efficient level.
  • A centralized building automation system also allows real time control of the temperature of every suite simultaneously to conserve energy during periods of lower occupancy.  The system is expected to reduce the property’s carbon footprint by more than 54 tons of greenhouse gasses annually.
  • Housekeeping and engineering staff can detect when a suite is occupied before having to knock. Service to a suite can be discretely scheduled without ever disturbing a guest. 
  • The system also aids in guest safety by providing important information to expedite a building evacuation.
  • Guests can decline housekeeping service for stays over one night to conserve laundry, energy and cleaning chemicals, and in return carbon-offset credits are purchased on their behalf.

For more:  http://www.hotelnewsresource.com/article50999.html

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