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Daily, hotels experience a steady stream of post-booking, pre-arrival requests. Entertaining these guest requests can actually represent the majority of...
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Hotel Upselling Technology Leader Launches Front Desk Upselling Application ORLANDO, FLORIDA – November 5, 2024 – ROOMDEX, the sole provider...
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# How to Increase ADR and REVPAR with Pricing Automation
By 
### More on Automation
An expert panel discussion with the 4 Leading Hotel Software Companies, moderated by ROOMDEX’s own Paul Peddrick as part of our Webinar Series. Join:
* Michael McCartan, Chief Growth Officer at Atomize
* Michael Linton, VP of Sales, at Pegasus
* Daan de Bruijn, Head of Sales, Co-Founder at Bookboost
* Michael Mernagh, Head of Sales, OTA Insights
and Jos Schaap CEO and Co-Founder at ROOMDEX for a lively discussion on the evolution of revenue management and other automation opportunities to enhance ADR and Revpar.
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# Speak their Language: Why Translation Sells
English is commonly regarded as one of the world’s most used languages. So, it’s not surprising that over 60% of all web content is in English. Many companies assume that because the majority of web content today is in English, there isn’t a big demand for a localized version of their content and translation is unnecessary. However, the facts tell another story. English native speakers only comprising approximately 5.4% of the world’s population. When it comes to the internet, over 70% of all internet users don’t speak English as their first language.
### **Translation matters**
Large markets exist beyond the English-speaking world – and the importance of having website content available in the language of your prospective customers cannot be overstated. A research series by , , underlines the immense importance of offering multilingual options for B2C and B2B — as well as the pitfalls for English-only content. Some of their headline findings include:
* When it comes to parting with their cash, 65% of consumers would prefer content in their native language.
* 75% of respondents will not make important purchasing decisions unless the product description is in their native language
* 40% will not make or complete a purchase at all unless the product description is in their native language
This is the power of content translation. Yes, of course, many customers speak English. But you’ll maximize your chances of succeeding in international business by speaking their native language.
### **Translation is a powerful tool in eCommerce**
Twenty years ago, companies didn’t know where to start when it came to content localization. Creating an effective multilingual digital content experience was not straightforward. It came with many maintenance questions (headaches) and was mostly cost prohibitive. However, times have changed. Smart applications of translation solutions, like Google Translate mean a business can leverage machine translation (MT) engines. For major players in eCommerce with consumer facing applications, MT has proven to be an invaluable tool. Big brands, like eBay and Airbnb have been very open about their use of MT with the former even writing reports on how MT boosts productivity, saves time and translation costs.
### **Let ROOMDEX help you maximize your sales**
At ROOMDEX we understand the value of providing guest facing emails and product offers in a customer’s own language. That’s why we use Google Translate, so that you can ensure that your digital content is easily accessible to everyone regardless of language.
Via API integration, ROOMDEX quickly and easily automates translation for your hotel, allowing you to provide guest facing communications in multiple languages. Hotels no longer have to manually translate content. There are no multiple translations of emails or endless translation of offers. Instead, ROOMDEX’s Google Translate integration automatically does it for you.
But is it accurate? Undoubtedly, accuracy is the most obvious concern when it comes to machine translation. But you need not worry. ROOMDEX includes an internal [hotel] language interpreter, ensuring precise translation output in foreign languages. At ROOMDEX, accuracy isn’t a problem.
When applied intelligently, MT is a very powerful tool. Understandably, the majority of consumers have anxiety about transacting in a foreign language, especially if they don’t fully understand what they’re reading. But with automated translation, you will foster the trustworthiness required to convert the business of a much wider audience. According to Forrester Research, such confidence and trust can increase revenue by approximately 300%.
Have questions about how to make this all work? Contact ROOMDEX. We’ll help you to start speaking your customer’s language. Your brand stands to gain a lot, in both reputation and revenue.
# Integration = Innovation: How Hotel Tech Connectivity is Fueling Efficiency & Revenue
Experts from ORACLE Hospitality, Siteminder, HapiCoud and ROOMDEX moderated by Paul Peddrick will discuss the state of open API’s, “free API’s,” hotel systems connectivity, and how open technology enables endless possibilities for innovation. Hear about ORACLE’s PMS API evolution, the API marketplace perspective from Siteminder and Hapi, how ROOMDEX uses APIs to support REVPAR, ADR and a contactless guest experience in the ongoing COVID recovery.
# The Post-COVID World Will Require Hotel Automation
Can you recall the last time you figured out math in your head, dusted off a map to figure out how to get somewhere, or even went to the bank? Me either. Technology has invaded our fast-paced lives making things easier and less time-consuming. We couldn’t imagine, even a decade ago, tasks and tools that once seemed routine would be possible to do with the help of a small gadget.
Our life is wholly digital nowadays and it has changed the way people interact, shop and travel. We no longer do simple things like remembering a friend’s phone number – heck, even a spouse’s number! Streaming services, web archives, and easy-to-purchase downloads now mean the timing of a TV show barely matters anymore – and there’s certainly no need to worry about remembering to hit record on the VHS of your favorite show. Automatic recording of data is now expected.
We all live in a world of digital self-service. But what we are really experiencing is ***automation***. Every time we interact with a service app or website, we are actually executing an automated process on a server that was probably once done manually somewhere at some time in the past. For example, the manual booking services of travel agents used to be essential for any vacation, but online booking has automated the research and purchase function that used to be manually executed.
But believe it or not, hotels have just dipped their toes into automation-driven efficiency. For example, the manual check-in and check-out process has not really fundamentally changed since, well… ever. Waiting at a counter to show ID, provide credit card details and other menial credentials to be incorporated into a database and receive a key card – no longer makes sense.
But that is changing. Some hotels have removed the front desk entirely and rely on self-check-in kiosks or mobile check in exclusively. Pre-COVID, this set-up was an option for boutique hotels looking to reduce overhead. Post-COVID, self-service front desk interactions now seem like a best practice for health and safety.
Pre-COVID, hoteliers defined the guest experience by their personal interactions between guests and staff, believing that long-standing traditional values can only be successfully delivered and received as a face-to-face interaction. Not only has the hospitality landscape outgrown those behaviours, but this is precisely the hotel industry’s most vexing paradox right now. Check into most hotels today and you are greeted by a masked attendant standing behind a sheet of plexiglass. So much for a personal service experience. So how do you give customers what they want when the pandemic has turned the cornerstone of your service offering upside-down? Automate.
Back-office automation ultimately reduces the number of people in the hotel lobby, long waiting lines and queuing issues during peak times at reception*.* Automation of room assignment, upsell decisions and credential and payment collection allows hoteliers to reduce the number of touchpoints within a hotel and help safeguard and welcome returning guests.
Prior to the coronavirus, travellers were already becoming accustomed to using their smartphone to interact with the world around them. For this tech savvy cohort, who are adept at finding, arranging, doing practically whatever they want via their mobile devices, the front desk provides no additional value-add. As guests look to travel again in the midst of the pandemic, self-service contactless options will become much more of a universal demand, if not an absolute necessity, as health, hygiene and safety are primary concerns. In fact, numerous industry associations, including the American Hotel and Lodging Association (AHLA) and the U.S. Travel Association, have recommended contactless technology as a critical component of social distancing and enhanced hygiene protocols.
**Summary**
Hoteliers now need to re-examine their traditional notions about operations and look towards technologies that can automate manual processes that have become not only inefficient, but also undermine more important efforts to reduce interpersonal contact and improve health and safety. Look at what your staff is doing. What can be automated so that your guests can conveniently use their phone in a safe, self-service environment? Your guests won’t think your hotel’s service levels are diminishing – they will thank you for moving forward in the digital world with them.
# The Bottom Line is…Well… The Bottom Line of Hotel Automation
## Table of Contents
Traditionally, hospitality has been a conservative industry when it comes to technology and hotel automation, given that the focus has always been on face-to-face service between staff and guests. The central location for the majority of interactions has been the front desk (or Front Office (FO) department). , however, is changing all of this.
No one knows for sure what the new normal will look like, but hotel stays are likely to be a stripped-down affair moving forward, particularly in higher-end hotels where personalized service and amenities have long been part of the draw.
Step into any hotel lobby now and you will find aesthetics are taking a backseat – hand sanitizing stations are located every 50 to 100 feet, furniture is removed to discourage congregating, and social distancing signage is displayed throughout. Floors are marked to encourage one-way pedestrian flow between entrances and exits. To check in, there is a good chance you may avoid the front desk entirely.
Hotels, in a sweeping effort to boost confidence among wary travelers, have updated their cleanliness procedures during the past few weeks. Yet, overall occupancy remains low. Confronted with increasingly squeezed margins, the quest for greater efficiency and healthier revenue becomes ever more pressing.
## How do hotels use technology and hotel automation?
In times of crisis, the first reaction of many businesses is usually to adopt a short-term cash-optimization approach, making swift adjustments to their operational and investment strategies. However, cutting expenses can have an adverse effect, creating an unsustainable workload and decreasing guest satisfaction.
Alternatively, despite the unprecedented challenges presented by coronavirus, hoteliers should look to invest in technology such as , which can strengthen business and offer a direct added value to the hotel and their guests.
With coronavirus already resulting in the loss of employment for many within the hospitality industry, it does seem somewhat contradictory to invest in technology that could further eliminate jobs. However, automation does not necessarily equate to the loss of human roles or take authentic service away. Rather, it complements hotel operations.
Hotel automation takes over the repetitive, dull, and time-consuming tasks that are such a drain on productivity and staff engagement, freeing up team members to focus on higher value and more fulfilling activities. Similarly, with social distancing likely to become part and parcel of daily life going forward, it is conceivable that there will be a consumer demand shift towards hotels and businesses that adapt to this new technology-driven standard.
For example, pre-COVID guests didn’t want to wait in queues when checking-in. When asked what makes a good hotel stay, 90% of millennials said they would be interested in checking into a hotel through their mobile phones and skipping slow service – as well as long check-in queues – in hotel lobbies.
Post-COVID, this hasn’t changed much – furthermore waiting in a line at check-in now is the very antithesis of social distancing. Smartphones and tablets have become an integral part of our lives. And, guests want to be self-reliant, but with greater expectations of service and personalization.
Hotel automation via the check-in process improves the lives of both staff and the guest. Guests have complete autonomy over their check-in, allowing them to enter details and provide necessary information online, remotely, and at any time before arrival – while front desk staff allocates resources to other areas for greater operational efficiency.
## What is smart hotel automation?
Smart hotel automation is a way your guests can upgrade their stay. As demand for rooms is low, hotels will need to maximize the amount of money each guest spends to increase profitability.
* Proactively upselling can make a big impression on the bottom line, no matter the size of the property. As we know too well, many front desk agents skip the upgrade offer because they see it as an imposition rather than a value-add – there are just too many variables.
* Agents must learn to recognize and anticipate the needs of the guests as well as have the proper product knowledge to make an educated suggestion of a more comfortable room option – a tedious process, if not an almost impossible task resulting in a low success rate.
* Conversely, automated upselling results in a higher conversion rate. Guests are open to buying a more expensive product than they initially planned, as long as it represents good value, is convenient, and feels like it’s adding something relevant to their stay.
* Smart hotel automation via upselling supports the front desk by creating and sending highly targeted offers – pre-arrival – to guests and then letting them decide how they would like to enhance their stay. As Forbes Contributor Shep Hyken noted, “Can you imagine an accountant trying to do complicated tax work without the aid of a calculator? That’s how companies need to think of [automation]. It is an essential tool that will be, if it is not already, not simply a ‘nice to have,’ but a ‘must have’ technology.”
## How can you streamline operations with hotel automation?
Another item in hotels that is largely manually and repetitive is room assignment. Depending on the hotel type and rooms available, this is almost an impossible task to do as it is constantly changing. It requires constant attention, especially when guests have specific requests.
Front desk agents can make assumptions that enable them to hone-in on subsets of requested room categories to find a match, but typically overbooking of some categories arises and fragmentation still occurs. There is no way for an agent to be fully aware of all pending reservation requests or guest requirements when making these decisions. In the end, specific features, amenities, or room types requested by the guest won’t be fulfilled.
Instead of spending hours manually pre-assigning while trying to figure out how to best balance the house, hotel automation of room-assignment will satisfy guest demands more accurately while better managing rooms to meet budget and forecast.
The bottom line of hotel automation is, well, the bottom line. Hotel automation doesn’t mean the removal of authentic service, but instead, it is a way to focus operational management of the property in a better way by providing a choice of service to guests.
Automating repetitive laborious processes saves time and allows resources to be diverted elsewhere, letting your staff focus only on interactions where they add value. In a post-COVID world, hotel automation means businesses can unlock more revenue potential, increase guest satisfaction, boost productivity, and remain more agile.