Jon Sholter
Today, in less than 5 minutes, we are going to cover the following:
How technology can change the dynamic of your hotel.
How is your 24-hour hotel communicating?
Sure, every business needs to communicate between colleagues and departments, but not every business runs for 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. But wait, isn't 7-11 open 24 hours / 7 days a week? Yeah...
A hotel can be odd depending on your position. You come in, put in the work and all the magic of the guest experience happens when you're gone. You come in the next morning and thank God everything went well, or pray to God the next evening goes better.
With a 24-hour operation, it's impossible to have consistent in person interaction with each person on your team. If you think you're solving this problem with notebooks and pass-ons, keep reading.
As technology progresses, so does hotel communication. There are plenty of software solutions out there designed for workplace communication. Investing in one or two of these solutions is a must, and ongoing optimization may take your hotel to the next level.
Hotel specific solutions include Quore, Alice, Hot SOS, Kipsu and more. These platforms tie in specific hotel functionality but sometimes lack overall features. Additionally, there's a bunch of non hotel specific software like Basecamp, Slack and Workplace by Facebook, to name a few, where the opposite problem is true (no hotel specific functionality). We do not have exposure to all of these solutions, but vetting several companies is worthwhile if you are going on a search.
But how do I choose the right software and put this together?
Your solution should have the following functionality at the core. Additional features are bonuses.
Indexing and thread capability. If you have an issue or a communication, your team can reply and keep tabs on that topic. They do not need to search around multiple posts and piece things together. Imagine being able to track a guest issue from a previous guest stay. Or documenting an entire guest recovery process on one screen.
Who reads what functionality. When you post a new directive or policy, you want to be able to tell who read it. This creates buy-in and accountability for your team.
Culture building. You want your software to build and facilitate culture within your hotel. This is so important when management is not ever present. Giving public recognition through a centralized space for everyone to read is much needed.
Team chat communication. How about finding a platform that allows you to talk directly to team members through instant messaging? This is a game changer as having everyone's cell phone number or WhatsApp app contact is not plausible.
Cross-department communication. Sure, your Front Desk may always keep up with guest notes and ongoing communication, but what about the rest of your Team? Can you get a platform that builds engagement through your entire organization?
Media Posts. Ability to post pictures, videos, live calls. Once a bonus, it has now become a must.
If any of these criteria are not met above, either keep searching for the right solution or combine more than one solution. Obtaining this functionality is going to lead to the following:
Better problem resolution through a documented process.
Better team learning through seeing how other colleagues have handled situations day in and day out.
Better problem identification through seeing common trends through guest and staff struggles.
Better team engagement through recognition and appreciation.
There are probably another 100 positive side effects that cannot all be mentioned.
Now comes the challenge. Is there a solution out there that does everything you need it to for your hotel? If there is, we'd love to hear about it. At the moment however, you may have to split some of these duties between platforms.
We personally use Quore for some hotel operational documentation (like PM's), front desk day to day guest log communication and guest recovery. However, this platform left us wanting regarding cross department communication and team building. Our solution for this was Workplace by Facebook—a platform not built for hotels specifically but familiar enough for employees to buy into easily. The solution is great for announcements, direct messaging, recognition and process training.
To the owner, cash is king, to the operator, communication takes the crown.