Summary of contents
✅ Did you know that</span style=”color: #5a636b;”>a virtual assistant can perform customer check-in at your hotel, on-site service contracting and everything they demand ☝ in a personalized way? ⭐ Find out how in this article on Contactless Hotels.
After the health situation we have been through, all sectors have been affected and forced to innovate to keep their customers and employees safe. But, without a doubt, one of the most affected has been the tourism sector, especially in the summer months. This sector, made up of hotels, apart-hotels, hostels, etc., has been forced to make major changes in its reservation system, reception of tourists, provision of services, etc.
This is due to the fact that they used to provide a very close customer service (in person) and, now, with the distance and the means of security, the closeness of the service has been lost. For this reason, more and more companies have returned to “normality” by using a virtual assistant to serve customers and continue to offer them all their services with total security.
A clear example of how the virtual assistant attends to hotel customers can be seen at the reception desk. Now, at the hotel reception, for health and safety reasons, there will be no person to attend, only a machine that the customer will approach. That machine will be controlled by a virtual assistant who will be in charge of the customer’s check-in at the hotel, and also of reserving a time for all the hotel services he/she wishes to use. And all this WITHOUT CONTACT. Fantastic, isn’t it?
Therefore, next, we will explain in depth how this service works, we will see some practical cases and the advantages it provides to companies in the tourism sector.
How does a virtual assistant work in contactless hotels?
The virtual assistants are machines with a great artificial intelligence, which allows them to successfully perform all kinds of functions. That is the great reason that benefits companies in all sectors, as it allows them to increase their profitability without overexertion and to offer personalized and immediate customer service. In this specific case of the tourism sector, virtual assistants are able to:
- Manage customer appointments in an automated way and without requiring human intervention
- To perform ticket openings of incidents (TV does not work, window does not close properly, …).
- Information of the status of orders such as laundry service.
- Reserving your table in the restaurant.
- To reserve a time to use the spa and sauna services.
- Contract the hotel’s Internet service.
- Contact the cab service.
- …
In addition, tourists will not have any problem when contracting services or opening any incident, because it speaks more than 70 languages. But, … how would we develop the process? Very simple.
Before, when the client wanted to make use of the hotel services, he had to go down to reception or call from the telephone in his room and explain what he wanted. Now he does not have to move from his room, by simply picking up the phone in his room he will be able to communicate with our telephone advisor who will indicate in his language the dialing he should select to request the desired service. For example:
- Dial 1 for restaurant
- Select 2 for Laundry.
- Choose 3 for incidentals.
- …
Once the customer has selected the desired option, the wizard will tell you the hourly availability, will process the reservation and the charge of the service WITHOUT PERSONAL CONTACT.
How do virtual assistants act to avoid the no-contact hotel problem?
Let’s assume several real situations since the customer enters the hotel:
1. How do virtual assistants perform customer reception?
When tourists arrive at the hotel reception, now there is no one there. What they find is a robotic machine where they must scan the QR code they have received after making their reservation. Then, the virtual assistant will communicate with them in their language and ask them to approach the machine to scan their retinas.
In this way, the tourist will be able to enter and leave their room just by looking at the receiver on the door of their room.
2. How do virtual assistants manage restaurant reservations?
The customer wants to make a restaurant reservation for dinner. He picks up the room phone and thanks to DTMF dialing he can select the service he wants to book.
Then, the virtual assistant will recognize his language and will offer him different time slots and the number of seats available. Once the customer confirms the reservation, the wizard automatically executes it in the hotel’s table control system. And, subsequently, it will charge the bill to the customer’s account without the need to use money or swipe a credit card.
3. How do the virtual assistants handle laundry service requests?
The tourist wants to hire laundry service to iron his wrinkled suit. Again, with the phone buttons, he will select the laundry service. The hotel’s virtual assistant will communicate with him in his language and pick up the request and then communicate it to the corresponding department through the hotel’s ERP.
Then, the person on duty responsible for the laundry service will receive the request and the assistant will generate a ticket that will be sent directly to the manager’s cell phone indicating the customer’s language and what he/she wants.
As we can see, in all the situations of the services offered, the process is the same. When the customer selects the desired service option, the virtual assistant will access the agenda of the specialty and will inform the customer of the first free slot, indicating the date and time.
If the client accepts this first option, the assistant will assign the reservation by registering it in the agenda and will send a message with the reservation data. In the event that the client does not agree with the time provided, the assistant will offer him another one at a different time.
It is undoubtedly a great service that helps hotels with optimal management of their customers, as well as to increase their productivity without reducing quality. Get to know all the functions that a virtual assistant provides you with.
What advantages do virtual assistants provide to contactless hotels?
One of the main advantages offered to hotels is their total availability on an uninterrupted basis. This is due to the fact that virtual assistants can work as many hours as necessary to the companies, being able to be there 7 days a week, 24 hours a day.
Thanks to its speech to text function, it is capable of instantly translating voice messages into text, offering an instant response. In addition to other advantages such as:
- Cost and time savings for companies
- Control of the agenda and calendar.
- Connection with other electronic devices.
- Offers uninterrupted communication to customers.
- Avoid direct contact with hotel staff.
- It allows you to employ your human staff in more productive activities.
- Optimizes customer service.
- Provides and manages appointments, reservations, … synchronizing them with the company’s and the customer’s agenda.
- It allows to know better the customers by analyzing the interactions they have with the virtual assistant.
- It offers unlimited information instantly.
- Generates a positive experience.
- Increases the productivity of the company by relieving the human team of some tasks.
- Makes your company more competitive.
- Reduces response time.
- Offer all the services of the tourism sector.
- …
If you have hotels, apart-hotels or any other company that is dedicated to the tourism sector, you may be interested in having a virtual assistant. This one will be in charge of attending your tourists / clients and will offer them all your services without the need of contact. In this way you maintain the security of your employees and customers.
If, on the other hand, you already have one and you want to improve it or optimize it to the maximum to enjoy the advantages it offers, do not hesitate to contact us, we will attend you without obligation.
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