Hospitality Tech Knowledgeable Reveals Why Prioritising Individuality Over Tech Drives Lodge Success

Within the final 5 years, there was an unprecedented rush to new applied sciences in hospitality resembling AI integration and totally automated customer support however usually this overlooks if that’s what company need.

With many of those traits solely specializing in the enterprise and operational wants of the hotelier, their implementation will not be the most effective factor for customers. 

In our survey of greater than 1,000 BWH loyalty members, we discovered {that a} third (32%) admitted that the presence of expertise didn’t improve their expertise when staying at a lodge. 

We’ve discovered that for leisure travellers, it’s clear that their precedence is a extra private, welcoming expertise with useful entrance desk workers over faceless apps. Many members (12.45%) chosen high-speed Wi-Fi because the expertise that mattered probably the most to them, adopted by contactless cost techniques (9%) and in-room leisure like good TVs (7.3%)*. 

By specializing in these necessities and thoroughly selecting new tech, hoteliers can present a service that’s easy, dependable and seamless, whereas nonetheless enhancing the visitor expertise and never dropping that non-public contact.

This emphasis on expertise over tech traits is central to the BWH enterprise mannequin and is the place a well-designed Property Administration System (PMS) can actually make a distinction. A PMS ought to intention to maximise effectivity with out complicating operations, streamlining duties so all the things runs easily and reliably.

As soon as totally built-in right into a lodge’s techniques, the PMS simplifies time-consuming duties, like fee administration, liberating up invaluable sources. By automating these features, lodges can focus extra on creating memorable experiences for his or her company.

Moreover, connecting toglobal loyalty programmes, like BWH Rewards, could be executed seamlessly via a PMS. This implies company can get personalised and easy advantages as rewards for his or her loyalty, with out including to workers workload. 

It’s clear {that a} renewed concentrate on easy, efficient expertise is the important thing to success, and it is a precedence we’re championing at BWH. By investing in the fitting folks and expertise, we’ve expanded our group, enabling our core builders to shift their focus to what matters-creating options that genuinely improve the expertise for each hoteliers and company.

This strategy ensures we strike the right stability, giving our group the time and sources to develop tech that’s environment friendly and dependable, whereas additionally supporting the non-public, human contact that company worth.

For unbiased hoteliers, choosing the fitting instruments is vital to staying future-ready. The true problem lies to find expertise that enhances effectivity whereas additionally supporting the distinctive identification of every property. At BWH, our focus is on guaranteeing that important expertise works seamlessly, so hoteliers can keep aggressive with out compromising what makes their properties stand out.

Digital foundations like a powerful, user-friendly web site, a seamless reserving journey and stable web optimization are very important in driving visibility and conversions, ensuring lodges stand out and entice the fitting company. 

However discovering the stability is vital, as information from our members exhibits that automated customer support instruments like chatbots and voice assistants are typically the least favoured (9%), with many company preferring human interplay. Equally, a lot of our members (10%) discovered digital cashless tipping pointless, with many nonetheless gravitating in direction of conventional tipping strategies.

For Greatest Western, our web site stays a key distribution channel, with 2024 bringing a ten% improve in net site visitors and an 11% year-over-year rise in bookings by way of bestwestern.co.uk. Throughout our current early Black Friday sale, we even noticed our largest single day of bookings, up over 12% from the earlier document. 

As we enter 2025, we’re rebuilding our web site in-house to make sure we’re ready for the following wave of expertise and continued development for our members.

Total, as soon as a hotelier has efficiently constructed a powerful digital basis, there’s no restrict to how far they’ll scale up or what new improvements they’ll discover to remain forward of the curve whereas staying true to their core values and what makes their lodge distinctive.

For extra data on BWH Motels go to www.joinbwhhotels.co.uk