As a hotel manager, one of your top priorities is to provide the best possible experience for your guests. You want them to have an unforgettable stay, to come back next year, to take pictures to show on social media. But guests are demanding and pay increasingly more attention to reviews they read online… So, one bad experience is enough to get a bad review and lose hundreds of potential bookings.
Thinking about the best way to increase guest satisfaction in your hotel, we researched the top guest complaints in hotels. We came to the conclusion that technology is on your side – you can avoid the most common complaints with cutting-edge technology. Sit back and discover Infraspeak’s top integrations for hotels to:
- manage your property better (PMS)
- improve communication with your guests (helpdesk)
- centralise building management (BMS)
- connect sensors with your maintenance platform (IoT)
Top 5 guest complaints (according to eHotelier):
- 24% of complaints are about the room temperature, either being too hot or too cold;
- 14% of complaints are about Wi-Fi malfunctioning;
- 11% of the complaints posted online are about noise;
- 10% of complaints are about the cleanliness of the room;
- 9% are about the hotel service.
Fortunately, all these complaints can be reduced, in one way or another, with the right technology. Use an air conditioning with sensors, install signal repeaters, choose the best time to do maintenance without pestering the guest with the help of software, have cleaning checklists… You see what we are getting at.
Using new technology can reduce guest complaints by 71%.
In addition, it can improve ratings by 19%.
Property Management System (PMS)
Nowadays, we look at hotels like Vidago Palace (the first in Portugal to have lift and telephone in the rooms), Hostal dos Reis Católicos (the oldest hotel in the world), Maids Head (the oldest hotel in the UK) or the mythical Belmond Copacabana Palace and think, how could they manage so many rooms without computers?
Nowadays, it is unthinkable to run a large hotel without a Property Management System. A PMS facilitates booking management, integrates various sales channels, automates tasks, monitors occupancy, and helps optimise the rate of each room. Efficient room allocation can even decrease air conditioning usage by 30%.
Integrating your PMS with the housekeeping platform allows you to coordinate housekeeping even better. When you receive a booking, you automatically create a work order for check-in in the maintenance software. And later, when the housekeeping team completes the task, the room automatically appears as “available”.
Communication is constant and instantaneous. The housekeeping team doesn’t have to knock on the door to confirm if a customer has checked out and if the room needs to be cleaned. Reception always knows when the room is ready. And fault reporting is so easy, you’ll get fewer complaints about malfunctioning equipment.
The new Housekeeper app from Infraspeak was designed exactly for this purpose. Through Housekeeper, which integrates with any PMS, you can easily exchange information about check-in and check-out dates and the status of each room. We want to highlight some PMS for hotels that integrate with Infraspeak:
- Opera
- Maestro
- Mews
- Protel
- Infor
Customer Support: Help Desk & Chatbot
Do you still remember the complaints we talked about above? Well, only 25% of guests report an issue that affects their experience during their stay. The majority (51%) only complain “sometimes, depending on the issue”, while 18% only do so if it’s “a serious problem” and 6% simply “won’t stay at the same hotel again”.
Most interestingly, 45% would rather report a problem via SMS or through an app than make the complaint by phone, email, or in person. The percentage is even higher in Generation Z (born between 1997 and 2012) and Millennials (born between 1981 and 1996) – 58% and 56%, respectively.
Therefore, communicating with your customers through an app generates a domino effect. First, it facilitates communication and increases the likelihood of reporting a problem. This gives you the opportunity to resolve the issue in a timely manner and improve the guest experience. Finally, you get them to write you a positive review.
Infraspeak integrates with various programs and chatbots, so that your guests’ requests automatically turn into maintenance and housekeeping requests:
Did you really think you couldn’t use your favourite messaging app with Infraspeak? We’d never do that to you. Through our partner EZ4U, you can turn maintenance requests received via SMS or WhatsApp into work orders. With this integration, communication with your guests will flow like never before!
Guide 121
Izi, from Guide 121, is more than a chatbot. It’s a chat-experience. With the help of this software, your guests can communicate with you whenever they need something, including housekeeping. Then, the requests made through Guide 121 unfold into different work orders in Infraspeak.
HiJiffy
HiJiffy’s smart, multichannel chatbot – it brings together Facebook inboxes, WhatsApp, and WeChat, among others – makes communication with guests flow. The integration turns maintenance or cleaning requests into work orders in Infraspeak, so you can keep all your customers happy.
Building Management System (BMS)
While other programs take care of soft facility management, a Building Management System (or BMS) is the right software to control all electrical and mechanical equipment. It centralises control of ventilation, lighting, the fire-fighting system, security alarms, and other technical components.
In fact, a BMS allows you to monitor and control the hotel facilities remotely, which is even more interesting for hotel chains that do not always have staff on site. Real-time monitoring allows you to detect any changes quickly, while the reports and graphs that the software generates aid in decision-making.
If you integrate the BMS with your maintenance platform, you can generate work orders automatically and optimise predictive and preventive maintenance. This way, you can reduce downtime and ensure that all equipment is available when your guests need it.
We recommend you explore these Infraspeak integrations with BMS:
Siemens Desigo CC
Siemens Desigo CC software is a BMS designed to automate tasks in high-performance buildings. Since data is shared with Infraspeak’s platform, you create a work order every time the BMS flags an asset. So, you can decrease your reaction time, resolve potential breakdowns faster, and minimise the loss.
BISYS-PRIAC
Infraspeak’s integration with BISYS-PRIAC also allows you to share data between your maintenance platform and the BMS. Whenever an asset is not performing within normal parameters, a notification is generated in Infraspeak. Again, the advantage is to decrease reaction time and limit damage.
Projedomus
Projedomus gives you real-time readings of various indicators of each asset, such as temperature or pressure. By noticing a change in an asset’s performance, or values outside the target you set, it generates a work order in Infraspeak and increases your operational efficiency. Always be on top of things!
Internet of Things (IoT)
You probably already know this, but it’s always good to know that you’re not alone in the fight. Heating or cooling spaces – our demanding and not always loyal HVAC system – is responsible for 70-90% of energy consumption in hotels. In addition, energy consumption accounts for 60% of hotels’ carbon emissions.
In most rooms, air conditioning is always turned on or left on standby. It is not uncommon for the air conditioning to be on even when no one is in the room, or for guests to keep the air conditioning on while the windows are open. So, unsurprisingly, air conditioning is the source of 90% of wasted electricity.
A 2011 study of hotels in several European countries concluded that it is possible to reduce energy consumption by 10 to 15%. In Southern Europe, with milder temperatures, it is possible to reduce 25 to 30%, including 15 to 20% in heating, 5 to 30% in cooling, 40 to 70% in water heating, and up to 60% in lighting.
If you don’t have enough budget to invest in renewable energies, using sensors and monitoring energy expenses in real time is a great help in fighting waste. It also provides more comfort and well-being for occupants – which, after all, is what you want to offer your guests.
Learn about some Infraspeak integrations that you may find useful:
Airthings
As soon as an Airthings sensor registers a sudden variation or abnormal reading of parameters, such as CO2 concentration or indoor temperature, your team automatically receives a notification from Infraspeak to inspect the asset. In addition, sensor readings are recorded so you can analyse the asset’s history and monitor air quality.
Finally, you can download an indoor air quality certificate that you can post in common spaces, showing your guests that their comfort is your priority.
Wattsense
Infraspeak’s integration with Wattsense gateways allows you to monitor the hotel’s energy consumption in real time. If the sensors detect an anomaly, a work order is automatically generated for the maintenance team to get down to work. Your guests will not even notice!
Any questions? Schedule a demo with an expert and get an understanding of how Infraspeak’s platform fits your exact needs, regardless of hotel size and operational challenges. We’re waiting for you 👇
