Unattended payments are increasingly in demand at hotels and hospitality businesses rebuilding during economic recovery from the pandemic.
It’s hard to imagine industries that were more affected by the COVID-19 pandemic than travel and hospitality. Restrictions and lockdowns left people unable to travel or find lodging. And, even when they were able to move about, fewer people than normal were willing to do so. Hotels and hospitality businesses have suffered through the pandemic from layoffs and labor shortages, and concerns about virus spread in shared spaces have forced changes to many aspects of the operations in these businesses.
Unattended payment technologies, such as those used in self-service kiosks, unattended parking areas, and vending, can help hotels adapt to some of the new demands of the pandemic. Here are four reasons your clients with businesses in this industry need unattended payments now.
1. Social Distancing and Less Person-to-Person Contact
Rather than interacting with a person at the front desk and waiting in a crowded line, guests can simply check themselves in at a kiosk. Kiosks that also dispense keys after a guest makes payment allow for an entirely contactless check-in experience. In addition, a guest can check out at a kiosk, allowing them to check additional charges, review an invoice, make payment and receive a printed or digital receipt.
2. Staffing Issues
Labor shortages have been a key issue during the pandemic. Employment in the hospitality sector has dropped by 10 percent since February 2020, and job openings are increasing. Unattended kiosks can help fill the gaps in hotel staffing, allowing workers to be reassigned to areas outside of the check-in/check-out desk. Staff can focus on guest experiences and increased efficiency rather than performing tasks that guests prefer to do themselves.
Long before the pandemic, the hospitality industry searched for ways to operate most cost-effectively while still providing the experiences that their customers demand. Unattended payment and self-service options that are key to reassigning employees, for example, working in parking garages and front desks to more guest-centric and revenue-building tasks, can be part of a successful strategy.
3. Guest Expectations
After a long day of travel, the last thing a guest wants is to wait in yet another line at the hotel. Kiosks speed the check-in process by allowing guests to look up their bookings easily and skip the wait. A survey of nearly 400 adults found that the most important factor in choosing self-service kiosks was the speed of use.
Kiosks equipped with unattended payments also send a message to guests that the hotel is modern, has carefully orchestrated guest experiences, and has covered all the bases to please its guests and earn their loyalty.
4. Revenue Generation
A self-service kiosk also provides hotels with upselling opportunities. With the touch of a single button, a guest can upgrade their room, order services, and redeem offers. While the staffer behind the front desk may forget to upsell, a kiosk never will.
Additionally, the hotel can upgrade vending and provide self-checkout at shops so that guests can purchase items they forgot to pack or that will make their stay more pleasant.
Opportunities for Solutions Providers
As a trusted provider, you can educate your clients operating businesses in the hospitality industry on how tech solutions integrated with unattended payments can solve challenges they face.
Make sure you include self-service solutions in your portfolio – and that those solutions are integrated with a payments platform that seamlessly and efficiently enables unattended payments as well as your clients’ other payment needs.
Contact Datacap Systems to learn more about how providing unattended payments for the hospitality industry can help you grow your business.
