In all the history of hospitality, a hotel guest’s experience has never been as public, transparent, reviewed, and critically tied-in to business success as it is today. Meanwhile, the typical, contemporary hotel guest is also more variable, savvy, individualized, and particular than ever before. This means that for hotels, there is almost nothing more important than providing a bigger, better, more convenient, and more expansive experience that will ensure customer satisfaction. And smart, automated services in hotels, like grab-and-go goodies from guest-facing kiosks or the hotel lobby market are the starting keys to making this happen.
Checking In with Today’s Traveler
Undeniably, travelers themselves have changed. Low cost carriers increased significantly over recent years and the lower passenger fares brought out a wider variety of more socio-economically diverse travelers.
Widespread popular foodie culture also means that food and beverage habits are more individualized. Guests want more options – a single variety of coffee capsule for the expresso machine in the room may not suffice. Several types of soda and snacks in a minibar may work for some, but not for health-oriented guests on a whole-foods-low-carb-high-protein kick.
These swaths of guests may arrive anytime, day or night. For hotels to maintain 24/7 food service that could accommodate their wide-ranging needs is costly, and with employee turnover above 30%, it is often unreasonable. Even managing those sub-par minibars is resource intensive and yields low revenues.
In short, more people are on the move with varied and costly needs. They expect to get more value for their money – and they want what they want when they want it.
Unpacking Today’s Hotel
Hotels in general have become a more complex operation than they used to be. Competition is fierce with booking sites and price-cuts. And reviews can create an unwieldy layer of real-time information and feedback. One wing of a hotel that needs renovation or a single bad meal can bring in catastrophic reviews for the entire facility. And generally, the industry’s slowness to innovate can leave hotels lagging beyond customer’s cutting-edge expectations.
What this means is that hotels need to find meaningful, innovative, but still cost-effective ways to improve guest experience – prompting them to leave excellent reviews and bring in more business.
The Housekeeping of Happy Guests
When it comes to improving the guest experience, hoteliers need to think outside the box. Modern solutions that enable hotels to automate and monetize value-added guest services such as food can make all the difference. And while the way to a guest’s heart is initially through their stomach – beyond that the possibilities are vast.
With Nayax’s system, hotels can switch out minibars and costly food service for self-service markets in their lobbies, leading to an increased “basket size” for each guest. The broader choices and independence of such a grab-and-go setup are significant. And while the standard, lower budget traveler may pay for 3 nights and 3 breakfasts, with Nayax card readers, hotels will be able to monetize on many more services, even beyond food and beverage. This could include parking, EV charging, laundromats, massage chairs, and entertainment – like darts, kiddie rides, and arcades. These different revenue streams can be monitored remotely 24/7 via a management app.
Nayax’s Monyx Wallet payment app can also help hotels increase engagement and loyalty by creating punch card campaigns and other promotions just for guests. Nayax also offers integrations with different hotel management systems which can enable guests to pay for products via their room access as a closed-loop payment system. With data flowing directly into the property management system, guests can be charged only when they check out of the hotel. This kind of seamlessness is key to a positive experience that will lead to rave reviews.
Ask us about our solutions for hotels
Nayax: The Deluxe Suite
There is no doubt that automation is key to staying competitive in the hotel industry. And cutting out time-consuming manual tasks is not just better for the bottom line. It allows guests to have the seamless and independent experience they have come to expect – through expanded services that provide value to all (and bring about stellar reviews). And it means that your staff’s primary interaction with guests need not focus on nitty gritty details – they can instead focus on delivering that one-and-only human element.
To learn more about how Nayax can turn your hotel into a cost-effective, smooth-running, and automated experience that guests will love, contact us here.
