The ownership of smartphones is at an all-time high across the world. With an estimated 6.1 billion owners by 2020, these phones are not disappearing anytime soon. Whether they are used for communication, getting directions, or for browsing the Internet, smartphones are well on their way to being utilized in every industry imaginable. The hospitality industry is no exception.
When smartphones first began to rise in popularity, hotel industry leaders saw an opportunity to gain an advantage over their competitors. Now that they have become more popular than ever imagined, that potential advantage has turned into a necessity for any hotel that wishes to compete in the hospitality industry. The use of hotel apps and the mobile accessibility provided by smartphones has forever changed the hotel industry. Smartphones have taken over the hotel industry and the only option for them is to adapt.
7 Smartphone Uses In The Hotel Industry
Digital Keys
Anyone who has ever stayed at a hotel is sympathetic to some of the challenges posed by the check-in process. Arriving at your hotel after hours of travel only to stand in line can be quite an inconvenience that only gets worse when you finally arrive at your room to find that the key doesn’t work.
The emergence of digital keys has fixed this problem. Now, through only the use of your phone, you can check in to your hotel and unlock your door. The ability to avoid having to wait in lines altogether is amazing but, it is even more comforting knowing that your key will work upon arrival.
Customers love this approach, which is why more hotels are using this feature. Soon, mobile check-in will be the most common method offered. The emergence of mobile check-in is just one more reason that smartphones are taking over the hotel industry, but it is far from the only one.
Mobile Apps
The reason why digital keys work is because of the development of mobile applications. Because of the increasing use of mobile devices, namely smartphones, hotels are focusing on creating and improving their mobile apps.
Mobile apps already exist for the majority of large hotel chains, but what you can do with the app varies greatly. Some of these apps have already completely changed the way hotels go about their business.
On a well-developed hotel app, it is possible to do everything on it. From booking the hotel to checking in and all the way to checking out, you can go your entire hotel stay without needing to look away from your phone.
One of the main reasons mobile apps on smartphones are taking over the market is that having an app benefits both big and small hotels. With the use of smartphones, a lot more work is now streamlined. The streamlining process speeds up the way in which work gets done while decreasing the numbers of employees needed to complete the work. This cuts labor costs for hotels and lets them focus on improving their services.
More Personalization
Consumers in today’s market care about having a product or service specifically catered to their needs. The significance of the need does not matter; consumers will choose the product that is closest to what they want. Smartphones in the hotel industry allow this to happen.
These phones are now allowing hotel visitors to personalize their visits by acting like remote controls. Through only the use of a smartphone, is it now possible to do things like changing the temperature of your room and operating the window blinds, all without having to leave your bed.
Some hotel services even offer a concierge service that can be used exclusively through the use of a smartphone. The ability to fully customize and personalize your stay through the use of your smartphone is a service that cannot be matched. Providing a service such as constant personalization is necessary for a hotel to provide the best possible stay and services like these are not available without a smartphone.
Customer Outreach
Mobile apps provide more benefits than just allowing for increased personalization and mobile keys. Since running a hotel requires establishing and maintaining a customer base, it is important for hotels to take advantage of every possible opportunity to reach as many potential customers as possible. Smartphones enable hotels to accomplish this in ways that were never possible before.
Access To 6 Billion Customers
As mentioned above, the number of smartphone users will eclipse 6 billion. Simply by having smartphone accessibility, a hotel has the chance to reach a number of new customers. A hotel that is not smartphone accessible causes an inconvenience for potential customers. Inconveniences lead to a loss of customers.
Maintaining The Customer Base
Although smartphone users delete apps for a variety of reasons, usefulness and simplicity do not make that list. Once a hotel’s app is downloaded on a user’s phone, as long as the user thinks the app is simple and useful it will not be deleted. The next time that user is thinking about booking a hotel stay, guess where they will look? That’s right; they are going to use the app that they already have installed.
Smartphones have made it easier than ever to expand on a hotel’s customer base and to maintain that same base. The potential growth is unlimited once a hotel is accessible through a smartphone. Hotels know this, which is why smartphones are taking over the hotel industry.
Increased Connectivity
With social media usage not only taking over the hotel industry but also the Internet, being connected with customers is essential to maintaining a good reputation.
Social media allows for visitors to upload pictures and share their opinions of a hotel to millions of other people simply by clicking a button. This is great news if the customer enjoyed their stay. At the same time, if something went wrong, a single customer review could cause a PR nightmare, resulting in lost business.
Being connected with the customer base through smartphones is useful for helping to prevent negative press. By being connected, hotels have the opportunity to fix the issue that is plaguing the customer. A hotel that does not have direct access to customers will not be able to weather the storm brought upon by customer complaints.
A Necessity In The Hotel Industry
It is easy to ignore the benefits of smartphones until you use them and see how much of a difference they can make. A hotel that is not taking advantage of the benefits provided by smartphones is a hotel that will not be competitive in the industry. In the modern era of technology, it is impossible to provide a customer with the same amount of satisfaction without using the amazing services provided by smartphone accessibility.
Not only does refusing the possibilities provided by smartphones hurt customer satisfaction, but it also hurts customer accessibility. With the majority of people today’s modern world using smartphones, a hotel is only decreasing the size of their customer base by not being accessible by smartphones.
Smartphones have taken over the hospitality industry because of the convenience they provide. With convenience being one of the most desired traits for customers, hotels simply cannot ignore their existence if they wish to be competitive.