Why does your hotel need front desk software?

Even the simplest front desk tasks can quickly become overwhelming during high season, especially if they are handled manually. However, some hotels still use pen and paper or Excel spreadsheets to assign rooms, keep track of bookings, register visitors, bill them, and handle complaints.

Hoteliers can increase receptionist productivity and decrease labor expenses while improving client pleasure by providing them with centralized, automated technology to conduct a variety of jobs. Some hotels take it a step further and provide self-service check-in as well as face recognition technology. Still, greeting customers from behind the counter is the most conventional form of hotel engagement. We’ll show you how front desk software can help you streamline this procedure in this post.

How might front desk software help the hotel industry?

You save a lot of time and are much more organized when you use hotel front desk software. Let’s look at the benefits of automated front office administration for a hotel.

Front-desk traffic has decreased

A five-minute wait at the check-in desk can reduce an American guest’s happiness by half. The Cornell Center for Hospitality Research analyzed wait time discrepancies across countries. This breaking threshold for Europeans is 15 minutes. Hotels may shorten lines by implementing front-desk technology. This does not imply that you should rush a guest through the procedure, but rather that you should work quickly to respect the guest’s important time.

Interactions with guests are made easier with front desk functionality.

The major purpose of the front desk is to communicate with visitors. All interactions were organised into five stages, each of which was specified in terms of the capability a receptionist may use during that period.

Pre-stay procedures

The availability calendar allows a receptionist to easily input phone and walk-in reservations. Color-coded reservations make it easy to see the status of your accommodation and reservation. Internet reservations are received automatically from the online booking engine switch the hotel frontdesk system.

Check-in procedures

The receptionist can immediately identify the guest’s reservation in the check in software using the confirmation number or the guest’s name when they arrive. If a hotel allows mobile check-in, a guest can use their smartphone or tablet to check into their room. Guests can use an electronic signature to sign check-in receipts or registration cards, eliminating the need for face-to-face encounters with personnel.

During the procedures of the stay

If a hotel offers ancillaries such as a restaurant, gift shop, or activities, the front desk is responsible for keeping track of these fees. They can add extra costs to reservations for room service or spa services by integrating with a POS system. With several charges for different rooms, it’s helpful if the system allows you to apply expenses to multiple reservations at the same time.

Conclusion 

It’s not enough to just provide your employees access to the front desk system. You can only assure that you get the most out of your software investment if you teach them how to utilise it.

If your vendor offers to teach your personnel, take advantage of the opportunity. They could also give you some training resources. In this scenario, have your employees research them. Alternatively, request that your provider host a webinar.

Employees that understand the programme quickly should be rewarded. Then you may position them in the lead so that they can assist others accept technology more quickly.