Digital check-in service is quickly becoming an essential element in hotel hospitality. Many of the world’s largest hotel brands are embracing a variety of new technologies that are changing the way guests arrive at hotels. New services have emerged including smartphone check-in, digital kiosks and keycodes sent directly through email that have drastically reduced or even eliminated wait times at front desks. Most importantly, guests have shown increased customer satisfaction with digital check-in service, noting the ease and time saved with these new technologies.
Recently some of the biggest names in the hotel industry have begun to make the switch to digital mobile check-in. Accor Hotels is the latest brand to offer their customers the opportunity to check-in before they arrive. They can conduct the entire process online and receive a SMS message alerting them when their room is ready. When the guests arrive at the hotel, everything is prepared and waiting for them at the front desk, there is no delay in swiping credit cards or checking to see if the correct room is available. Accor has tested this system at 20 properties throughout Europe and is rolling it out in 12 other countries including Brazil for the 2014 World Cup.
Starwood is taking digital mobile check-in one step further, introducing a new service that allows guests to unlock their rooms with a smartphone. The first of their properties to try this technology are Aloft Harlem in New York and Aloft Cupertino, with several more branches to be introduced in 2015. Guests simply check-in on the Starwood mobile app and head straight to their rooms, revolutionizing the way guests arrive at a hotel.
Customers have also quickly embraced this new hospitality service, and recent studies have shown that more and more guests prefer digital check-in when arriving at a hotel. Business travelers are especially keen on digital check-in because it helps save valuable time when on the road. Millennials fall into the same category; they want to be accommodated as quickly as possible. As technology continues to change in society, the hospitality industry needs to keep up. The recent rollout of digital check-in services from brands like Accor and Starwood show the hotel industry is ready to embrace these cutting-edge changes to create a better guest experiences.
