Smartphones have become the ultimate productivity engines. While it’s been easy to see how these devices have transformed people’s lives, it’s taken a lot longer for hospitality businesses to learn how to benefit directly from their versatility.
The industry quickly began to leverage widespread mobile adoption to enhance the guest experience, driving greater demand. Travelers today benefit from an array of service apps – they can book rooms, arrange transportation and even discover sights with their device.
But when it came to improving their own operational efficiency, hoteliers would have to put down the smartphone and move to a workstation. With the launch of mobile management systems, owners can finally enjoy the same level of convenience as their guests!
Let’s take a look at the various areas where smartphone-enabled management could have an impact on a hotel’s operational efficiency.
Check-ins and check-outs:
The front desk is the first point of interaction between a hotel and its guest, and this is where the guest forms his true first impression about the property. Delivering a flawless front-desk experience is the very first step to ensuring a positive guest experience. Similarly, a smooth check-out is critical to completing a successful guest cycle. With a mobile management app, the hotel’s employees are no longer dependent on the availability of a workstation. They can check guests in and out of the property at anytime via their device. Employees can also create new reservations and even accept payments using the smartphone app, enhancing the front desk’s efficiency.
Staff employability:
Hiring is a major pain area for hotels – few industries witness a higher turnover rate. Finding experienced staff well-versed with hotel operations can be difficult and expensive. With a mobile management app however, this problem becomes redundant. Apps are easy to learn and user-friendly, and this broadens the property’s scope for employability. It also helps cut on training costs and enables new employees to get up-to-speed with the hotel’s mode of operation much faster.
Point-of-sale terminals:
Restaurants, bars, gift-shops and other such POS terminals can be efficiently managed via a mobile PMS app. Without having to get behind a workstation to process payments and take new orders, employees can be more mobile and spend more time with customers. Charges can also be routed to the room if required. This seamless connectivity between the hotel and its POS terminals also means the property can operate more such points without having to invest significantly in hiring new staff.
Revenue management:
As most hotel owners are aware of today, a property’s revenue needs to be constantly updated in order to maximize profitability – this is the fundamental pre-requisite of a good revenue management strategy. In order to do this, revenue managers need to have the ability to modify rates at anytime. Mobile management tools enable managers to toggle between the hotel’s various room rates and even create new packages, even when they’re not at the property. This is critical for hotels in especially competitive zones, where timing is everything!
Beyond these departments, mobile-enabled management also drives higher overall productivity by optimizing other departments such as accounting and house-keeping. And since almost everyone carries a smartphone today, it becomes a lot cheaper than investing in traditional workstations.
Having seen guests enjoy the benefits of smartphone technology for years, it’s about time the hotel staff also enjoyed the same privileges – and with the ‘PMS in your Pocket’, this is finally happening!
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