It is no surprise that hotels and tourism have been the sectors hardest hit by the pandemic. Even among the most fortunate, such as one of our clients, the NH Hotels group, they reveal a 68.6% drop in revenue by 2020, from €1,708 million to €540 million. This is why, today more than ever, the need to jump on the bandwagon of digital transformation is more evident than ever.
Almost a year after the total cessation of their activities in Spain, 40% of the hotels have still not managed to reopen their doors and among those that have, more than 80% of the places they offer remain unoccupied, according to INE statistics.
But how can you improve the digitalisation of your hotel in these difficult times?
Digital transformation in the hotel sector is increasingly present. Nowadays, the customer is more digital than the hotels themselves, that is to say, the customer is more demanding and, therefore, has new needs. For this reason, companies must see digitalisation as a business opportunity, as the creation of new business models and new products will not only lead to customer loyalty, but will also achieve a significant improvement in terms of competitiveness within the sector.
“This crisis has served us, if I may say so, to confirm the wisdom of going digital and making it available to customers and guests. Before, it could have been thought that we had too many applications and functionalities that users didn’t need or weren’t that curious about. We were ready, but we have shifted the focus to the more visible processes, where we interact with customers, who are not only guests, but also companies and travel agencies” — Rufino Pérez, Director of Operations and Global Transformation at NH Hotels.
Therefore, the hotel industry has to commit to a transformation that will help them improve retention, loyalty and acquisition. But where to start? These are the keys to improving the digitalisation of a hotel and, with it, increase guest satisfaction, strengthen loyalty, bring innovation and, above all, ensure their safety.
Technology applied to satisfaction
As a general rule, hotels have a fairly heterogeneous customer profile. On weekends we will mostly find a family atmosphere and on weekdays the business customer will predominate. What is the common link between these guests? Both will demand an excellent Wi-Fi connection. And, as an added value, an attractive access portal to connect to the Internet that speaks of the hotel, of its brand image, that transmits its values and that allows it to advertise its own services. The advantage of this captive portal is that it can be managed by the hotel itself through a simple and intuitive application, to avoid intermediaries, and take full advantage of the infinite options offered by our Magallanes®. Of course, with our 24×7 support always available to help and solve any type of incident.
Our Magallanes® solution – Advanced captive portal for NH Hotels
Technology applied to loyalty
Until now, the main challenge for a hotel has been to find services that complement the hotel’s existing offer and appeal to both customer profiles. After the pandemic, the complexity of choosing solutions that do not involve a large financial outlay and, above all, that optimise the resources already available is now added. We agree that the common ground between work and leisure time is the consumption of content on platforms such as Netflix, HBO, Movistar+, Spotify and a long etcetera. But which one do we choose, which platform does my guest consume? It would be a big investment to have to contract all of them.
It is clear to us that most customers already have subscriptions to these platforms. The convenience we can offer them is that they can watch all the available content, which they already have on their own smartphone apps, in the hotel. With a couple of clicks and a scan of a QR code they can enjoy all the series and films they would watch at home.
This solution is called Esferize On Cast and we have successfully implemented it in several hotels of different sizes. We have also designed a service for the most demanding ones that, as in the captive portal, allows the hotel to customise this interface with its own brand image, promote its offers and services, as well as interact with the customer.
Our Esferize On Cast solution – Personalised portal for Ilunion Hotels
Technology applied to innovation
We have to offer the guest a differential value, a service that surprises them and that, at the same time, has a vital functionality for the hotel. To improve the digitalisation of our hotel, the Internet of Things and, more specifically, home automation can undoubtedly help us. With the placement of sensors and through IoT, we can control the temperature, humidity and a host of other factors. In addition, they will help us to optimise the control of energy consumption for the sake of greater efficiency, boosting savings by up to 30%.
Our Zeus solution – Environmental control through sensorisation
Technology applied to security
All of the above solutions would be meaningless if we lose sight of the most important factor: security.
As we mentioned at the beginning, the implementation of quality Wi-Fi is the leap that hotels must take if they want to reinforce their reputation with guests, generating preference and loyalty. We all know that setting up a Wi-Fi installation at home does not involve any complexity. But what about a large infrastructure such as a hotel? This is a challenge where nothing can be left to chance.
The same is true for On Cast solutions. Many households use Chromecast® devices to cast their content to the TV via Wi-Fi. But what happens in a hotel room, where the guest next door is only a few metres away? It’s not uncommon for security and privacy breaches to occur.
At Esferize we leave nothing to chance. We care about your security and that of your customers, because we know how important it is for your business. That is why security is one of our strong points.
Do you have doubts about how to improve the digitalisation of your hotel? We can help you. Every company is different and, therefore, all solutions must be tailor-made and fully customisable.
