By Jason Price and Mariana Safer
Over 42% of website visitors and nearly 16% of hotel bookings came from tablet and mobile devices in the first half of 2014. Hoteliers must embrace the mobile-connected traveler by offering relevant and practical content while on property and within a local radius. Commonly referred to as the fourth-screen, the hotel can turn the website meant for the general public into a customer service channel and a revenue generating opportunity accessible to on-property guests only. Read on why hotels should consider the fourth-screen a simple and practical extension of the hotel’s direct online channel.
Connecting with Hotel Guests on the Move
In general, retailers need to use digital more effectively to create a better connection with their consumer. Two in three consumers do not find the information they need in-store, and 43% leave feeling frustrated (Google). The same could apply to hospitality. By using technology to determine that a guest is on property, and not researching before the reservation, a hotel can serve a completely different and more relevant experience to the user. A more customized experience will put a hotel ahead of its competition.
What is the Fourth-Screen and How Does it Help to Connect with the Guest?
After desktop, mobile, and tablet versions of the website, a fourth-screen, or Guest Portal, can speak more to the on-property guest experience. The fourth-screen is a responsive version of the existing hotel website customized with content relevant mainly for the on-property guest. It is most commonly seen by people on their mobile devices within a certain radius of the hotel, or by those connecting to the hotel’s wifi.
On-property Guest Portal content should include information such as FAQs, check-in and check-out information, fast facts, area map, calendar of events, language sensitivity, and revenue generating opportunities like upgrades, latest special offers and dining options at the hotel. Incorporating the PMS adds an additional layer of technology which allows a direct communication channel with personalized content, such as stored billing information and the ability to complete last-minute purchases prior to check-out. Some hotels are even experimenting with tying the fourth-screen to the guest room’s smart TV (shall we say fifth screen?) to have one single voice online and on television.
The way most hotels currently cater to the on-property guest experience is rudimentary and far from ideal. In most cases, when a hotel guest enters their room and logs on to the hotel’s wifi, they are served either a blank page, a page advertising the wifi provider, or directed to a generic landing page like Google. At worse, the lazy hotel approach serves the existing hotel website which has the main goal of getting the website visitor to make a hotel room reservation, not ideal for the guest already on property.
If sections of the existing website were restructured and organized with consideration to the intent of the on-property guest, then the experience is more relevant and much improved. By repurposing the existing website to manage the content for the fourth-screen, the hotel avoids needing to make costly investments in new technologies. This type of experience can be maintained through a hotel website’s Content Management System, allowing the property to easily make updates to their fourth-screen.
Background: Supporting Research Project
Graduate students from New York University’s Tisch School for Hospitality & Tourism Management were tasked to work with HeBS Digital to evaluate the current state of affairs for digitally-based on-property guest services and to interview general managers on fourth-screen viability.
Key research questions were:
- What is the demand for a separate on-property website?
- What content and functionality do you think would be most appropriate?
- What value would it provide for the guest and hotel?
- What are the revenue opportunities for the hotel?
Let’s review the results of the research, starting with product demand.
Product Demand
If a personalized website were available to guests, 25% of respondents answered they would greatly appreciate the feature and believe it would improve their experience. Thirteen percent said they would likely seek out information on their own. Overall, 62% of respondents said they would utilize the in-room personalized website depending on the type of information present.
Guest Content Preferences
Once guests have arrived on property, the information they need from their hotel drastically changes from before they made the booking. Pre-booking, website visitors are researching specials and packages, room accommodations, general amenities, and getting a general feel for where the hotel is located. When the dates of stay arrive however, that information is no longer needed. For instance, what benefit does it serve to show a current guest a last minute special on the hotel website? This will just cause headaches at the front desk.
By scouting lobbies, the students queried guests to gather data on the desire, practicality, and sensibility of an on-property fourth-screen or Guest Portal. What types of content and functionality would make sense, what type of information do guests prefer to know when they arrive, at what point do they experience information overload, and where is the line drawn on what is practical and merchandisable? For example, selling future room nights to a guest currently on property scored low while informing guests of upgrades and dining credits during their stay scored high.
When asked about what kinds of content guests would like to see on the hotel’s Internet landing page, the five most popular choices were local information, transportation options, reservation information, hours and availability of hotel amenities, and local weather. The least popular choices were information about exchange rates, local news, digital entertainment, and an online chat function with the hotel. The choices with medium popularity included information about housekeeping, rewards points, onsite special events and TV.
The Hotelier’s Perspective
Currently, addressing guests while on property ranges from hotels doing nothing to hotels investing heavily (and often unnecessarily) in the slickest applications. A random walk through the convention floors of HITEC, IHRMA, and other industry trade-shows demonstrates that where there is a profit motive there is no shortage of sellers. Students catalogued the latest mousetraps from over ten companies from the smartphone and tablet driven concierge to a multi-layered mash up of local area content applications on steroids. Many of these solutions were impressive and also rather costly.
General Managers value reducing demand at the front desk if the FAQ or fast facts could answer basic questions like check-out time, parking fees, and local recommendations from staff. The idea that the existing website could be repurposed to serve up such a cohesive on-property quest experience, without losing control or investing heavily in new technologies, was highly favored during the interviews.
Question:
“What if you could change the content of your website when a guest arrives on property? What if you could serve a personalized welcome message and even deliver relevant and practical information for the on-property guest without incurring significant costs?”
The fourth-screen, or Guest Portal, creates an opportunity to broaden the guest understanding on the range of services and affiliated products as a soft upsell for the hotel. General Managers also liked the idea of collecting information about guests for current or future upsells pushed by SMS or email. The value of the guest-life cycle increases.
Providing Guests On-Property with Valuable Information
Once the user has arrived at the hotel, how are we meeting their needs post booking? Does serving them the same version of your mobile site, pre and post booking, provide any real value? The answer is clearly no.
Sample home page for the Guest Portal/Fourth-Screen
Based on research and analysis, HeBS Digital tweaked its smartCMS for hoteliers to now have the option of the on-property Guest Portal. The front-end look and feel is the same as the current website, and the hotel manages all content from the backend.
Similar content may be used on both versions of the website, such as the same calendar of events, specific promotions, and other general information. The guest-portal serves the dual role of providing practical information to the guest on property and a cost efficient digital marketing solution to the hotel.
The fourth-screen, or Guest Portal, is served under two conditions:
1. The property Wi-Fi: The opening screen upon connection to the hotel’s WiFi will direct guests to the Guest Portal.
2. The hotel website: Guests on property will be served the Guest Portal when they access the hotel website.
Content should include:
- Quick hotel facts: check-in/check-out info; phone numbers, business hours, etc.
- On-property special o?ers and packages for hotel guests
- Dining information: restaurant hours, menus, reservations
- Spa information: treatments, pricing, reservations
- Local weather
- The neighborhood: places of Interest nearby, an interactive map with all local attractions and activities, staff recommendations on things to do
- Events and happenings at the property and neighborhood
- How to share the hotel stay experience on social media
Summary
The on-property guest experience represents the fourth-screen in digital marketing. Savvy hoteliers recognize the value of providing a Guest Portal in terms of customer service and revenue potential. It is a practical way to push unique content to guests staying at the hotel and visiting the lobby. Managing and pushing content to a Guest Portal is easy and cost efficient.
The main benefit to a Guest Portal is an improved experience for guests. Additionally, the hotel will experience a boost in revenues from on-site amenities such as their restaurant, spa and any on-property promotions. Serving the same experience to guests, regardless of whether they have made the booking or are currently staying at the hotel, is not an effective way to communicate with or make your guests happy. By serving a fourth-screen, or Guest Portal experience, any hotel can offer an improved guest experience which in turn leads to higher review ratings, increased guest satisfaction and repeat bookings.
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Reprinted from the Hotel Business Review with permission from www.hotelexecutive.com
