No matter the size of your property, hoteliers can benefit from the ease of use and functionality of a mobile app with a hotel keyless entry system. That’s because the best digital key software helps hotels increase revenue per guest, is customizable to look and feel like your hotel’s website, and improve overall operational efficiency, all while enhancing the guest experience.
But just in case you weren’t already convinced, here are the five biggest reasons why your hotel should get ahead of the competition and start using a hotel digital key:
#5 – Reduce your costs and waste
Easily one of the most common problems guests experience at any hotel is misplacing their key card. That’s where a digital key comes in handy.
Switching to a digital key means no more plastic cards and malfunctioning card readers outside hotel room doors. Eliminate costs like replacement, printing, programming, and malfunction that accompany plastic entry cards. You’ll also eliminate the need for unnecessary handoffs between staff and guests, routine on-site maintenance, and the guest frustration that follows after misplacing a key card.
With a digital key, your guest’s smartphone is the entry key and the only maintenance you’ll need is managed by the app developer.
On top of all that, you’ll eliminate the waste that comes with pesky plastic key cards.
#4 – Improve hotel efficiency
From the front desk to the dining staff and housekeeping, a hotel digital key reduces menial tasks that affect your typical day-to-day hotel operations (phone calls to the front desk, in-person service requests).
At the push of a button, guests can use their smartphones to conveniently order room service, reserve a spa appointment, or make a reservation at your hotel’s restaurant. That way, your staff spends more time building genuine relationships with guests while your hotel operations are streamlined in one fell swoop.
#3 – Effective marketing & messaging
Reach guests before, during, and after their stay with messaging that resonates with your hotel’s guests. With a hotel mobile app and digital key software, you can send customized offers and messages to specific customer segments you choose for a more personalized experience.
Have extra seating available at your restaurant? Let your guests know by sending a coupon for your restaurant directly through the app. Push messaging about potential room upgrades to the right guests. Or offer value-added services like valet service or a bottle of champagne in the room. All this while increasing incremental revenue per guest.
Plus, using a hotel mobile key tied to a mobile hotel app allows guests to completely bypass the paid search ads, Google Hotel rates, and organic listings—which include additional competition—that populate the SERPs (search engine results page). Instead, a guest can open your hotel’s mobile app and see only your hotel. With the right hotel marketing software, you can even send push messages to re-book to the right guest at the right time with their preferred room already selected, all within the app. Start with implementing the industry’s leading guest messaging software.
#2 – A contactless solution
With the world of travel changing dramatically because of the COVID-19 pandemic, hoteliers have had to look for ways to create a more contactless guest experience while maintaining—and improving—their day-to-day hotel operations.
This is where a digital key pushes your hotel past the competition.
With a digital key, you’re ensuring:
- Less foot traffic at the front desk
- The elimination of key card handoffs between guests and staff
- Reducing operational guest-to-staff interaction
- A faster arrival and departure process
- More authentic guest-to-staff interaction
- More time for guests to enjoy everything your hotel has to offer and less time worrying about menial hotel tasks
#1 – Happier guests
Above all else, it’s your job to ensure a positive, unforgettable experience for every guest that walks through your hotel’s front door. With an intuitive, custom-designed hotel mobile app and digital key, this makes that job incredibly easy.
Travelers are more accustomed to the ease-of-use, personalization, and control their smartphone offers than ever before. So why not incorporate these important values into your hotel’s operations with a digital key? A digital key is a practical application that hotels can adopt that will make life easier for guests and staff.
Simply put, a hotel mobile app and digital key are a step in the right direction for a better, safer, and more efficient hotel experience for all.
