The unstoppable contactless experience trend

The hospitality industry is undergoing a transformative and collective change: a complete rethink of the guest experience.

Nowadays, as millennials and younger generations become the primary demographic group of hotel guests, their expectations for a digital and frictionless interaction with hotels have increased. These generations are more tech-savvy and accustomed to seamless digital experiences, so they prefer hotels that cater to these preferences.

Covid only accelerated this paradigm shift. Nowadays, guests not only expect but demand contactless operations: McKinsey found that “the United States has seen a 20% increase in preference for contactless operations,” significantly shifting what consumers expect from businesses.

As hoteliers, losing that personal interaction with your customers can be scary. However, it’s crucial to acknowledge that the shift towards a more digitally-driven guest experience is an unstoppable trend, regardless of our stance. Therefore,. the best strategy is to proactively prepare and take time to develop a great digital guest experience!

Self-Service Hotels: The New “Contactless” Guest Experience

The concept of a contactless hotel experience isn’t a new one. The industry has been moving towards a self-service approach in the last few years, with hotel brands and independent hosts utilizing smartphone locks and mobile communication.

Every hotel should conduct a comprehensive audit of the guest journey, which involves physically immersing themselves in the typical guest experience to gain valuable insights from their perspective. The objective is to identify all the touchpoints and discover opportunities for enhancing their experience.

Nowadays, there are a variety of technologies that you can implement in order to make this journey more pleasant and frictionless for your guests.

But, From a hotelier’s perspective, is this change worth it? There are a lot of upfront expenses to becoming more contactless.

Philip Bates, CEO of Bode, believes in investing in the contactless experience but only when technology serves a clear purpose. “Tech for tech’s sake” didn’t work before the pandemic and it still won’t work today”. The key is to focus on ROI. “If we are going to invest in technology, it either needs to increase revenue, reduce cost, or enhance the guest experience”.

Experience has shown that communicating with guests really early, really often, and managing expectations within this new, changed journey is what led to significant improvements in the ROI.” Being able to offer the right service to the right guest at the right time is what makes the difference.

“Technology itself is a tool, and how you use that technology is what enables you to create a better guest experience or better ROI or both! ”

In summary, the prevailing trend suggests that the contactless experience will gradually replace traditional guest interactions. Fortunately, if managed correctly, this shift presents a significant opportunity to deliver a more personalized guest experience, cut costs, and ease the staff workload. Just imagine the profound impact this could have on your bottom line!