Avaya identifies gaps in the guest experience

Avaya has announced the findings of its first annual Hospitality Industry Survey, where 72 global hotel brands identified market trends and room for improvement.

Survey respondents aligned around three particular issues as they seek to improve the guest experience: guest engagement, communication and services. Many companies, however, are seeing significant opportunities by taking advantage of mobile, multichannel communications for both guests and staff, and updating standard, in-room devices with cool new applications and capabilities.

Various gaps in the guest experience were identified through the survey:

Engaging guests - more than half (55%) of hospitality companies say they struggle to engage their guests during the booking process, while 70% say they struggle during and after the visit.

Communication between guests and staff leaves a lot to be desired - 60% of survey respondents say the inability of their staff to effectively communicate with guests is a “main factor” diminishing the guest experience at their properties.

Services - six in 10 (62%) of global respondents said the quality of the guest experience at their properties would be significantly improved by enhanced in-room and on-property guest services.

Technology to the rescue

Since most guests are on the move during their stay - as well as a large portion of the staff dedicated to serving them - respondents recognised that mobile apps offer the most compelling opportunity for improving service of any technology (48%). In fact, 81% of respondents are planning to create high-functioning apps over the next five years.

“The guest experience is more important than price when it comes to repeat customers and recommendations. The big question is how do we improve the experience at a reasonable cost, when nearly everything about a hotel has high capital and operating expenses? With Avaya, our hospitality industry customers are finding exciting new ways of engaging guests, creating efficiencies and delight that will help ensure their properties are booked to capacity,” said Frederick Sabty, VP, Hospitality Worldwide for Avaya.

Avaya provides solutions to more than 2,500 hotels worldwide and has existing relationships with nine out of 10 of the world’s luxury hotels.

Flora Creek Deluxe Hotel Apartments is recognised as top performer by Booking.com

Flora Creek Deluxe Hotel Apartments, owned by Flora Hospitality Dubai, has been recognised as a top performing hotel based on guest reviews at Booking.com.

Source: Booking.com website. Flora Creek Delluxe Hotel Apartments scores 8.6 on guest reviews.

The award is in recognition of hospitality excellence and the overall scores are a combination of several review factors including cleanliness, comfort, location, facilities, staff service, value for money and quality of free Wi-Fi. 

"The Booking.com website has built a worldwide reputation as a leader in booking accommodations online attracting visitors from both the leisure and business sectors with over 750,000 room nights reserved on the website each day," said André Manning, Head of Global PR & PA at Booking.com. 

Flora Creek Deluxe Hotel Apartments is near Dubai Creek and Deira City Centre Shopping Mall. Its Wi-Fi network was recently upgraded as part of Flora Hospitality's overall network upgrade in a AED2 million investment to improve the guest online experience.

Hyatt hotel guests to enjoy free Wi-Fi

As part of the company's continued efforts to evolve the guest experience by listening and responding to guest needs, Hyatt Hotels Corporation will offer free Wi-Fi at all Hyatt hotels worldwide from February 2015, providing connectivity and convenience regardless of booking method or loyalty programme participation.

Guests will be able to access free Wi-Fi on an unlimited number of mobile devices or laptops in Hyatt-branded hotel guest rooms and social spaces, the company said.

According to the Expedia Mobile Survey 2014:

- 62% Indian travellers say Wi-Fi availability or pricing (like free Wi-Fi versus not having to pay for Wi-Fi) impacts their purchase decisions when searching for and booking flights or hotels

- 43% say complimentary Wi-Fi in guest rooms and public areas is very important when they book a hotel for personal travel

"Internet connectivity is no longer an amenity. It has become an integral part of travellers' daily lives and a basic expectation," said Kristine Rose, VP of brands for Hyatt. "Travellers shouldn't have to remember which brands or locations offer it for free or the strings attached to get it."

Hyatt hotels across many brands have long offered Wi-Fi at no charge to guests in several of its brands and to elite members of the Hyatt Gold Passport loyalty programme. Expanding free Wi-Fi is part of Hyatt's ongoing focus to make the guest experience more seamless.

"Our colleagues are committed to not just listening to what our guests say, but understanding their real needs. This practice has already brought us new ways to make a guest's stay more personal and seamless, from expedited check-in methods to easier ways for guests to make requests," Rose said. "Today, people consider smartphones just as important as their car and more important than television or coffee.* Travellers feel out of sync with their lives when they can't freely connect. Giving free Wi-Fi without a catch will enable us to continue innovating the guest experience to help people be more productive and stay better connected to colleagues, friends and family."

Where available, Hyatt Gold Passport Diamond and Platinum tier members will receive a complimentary upgrade to premium Wi-Fi service.

*Braun Research on behalf of Bank of America, June 2014.

Accor hotels to deliver newspapers and magazines digitally in 2015

Accor, in partnership with PressReader is making a new free-of-charge information delivery service available in all Group hotels by the first quarter of 2015. This commitment is part of Accor’s Leading Digital Hospitality plan, which aims at integrating and redesigning digital at every step of the customer journey.


With Accor Press by PressReader, customers of the group’s hotels can read more than 3,000 international and local newspapers and magazines on their smartphone, laptop or tablet, in every digital environment (iOS, Android, Blackberry, Windows).

Accor Press by PressReader is accessible via hotel’s Wi-Fi for guests to download articles, newspapers and magazines, and then read them whenever and wherever they wish. This digital platform is intuitive, customisable and offers various features such as content sharing on social media, online commenting, content translation into 17 languages, and more.

Accor offers 470,000 rooms in 3,600 hotels across 14 trusted brands in 92 countries. The Accor brands include Sofitel, Pullman, MGallery, Grand Mercure, and The Sebel in the luxury-upscale segment; midscale names such as Novotel, Suite Novotel, Mercure and Adagio, and in the economy segment, ibis, ibis Styles, ibis budget, adagio access and hotelF1. 

Michelin star chef Nicolas Isnard to cook at Singapore's Sofitel So Singapore

Source: Accor Hotels. Chef Isnard.

Xperience, the signature restaurant and bar at Sofitel So Singapore, welcomes French Michelin star chef Nicolas Isnard to deliver fresh and sumptuous flavours from France to Singapore. From 4 to 8 November 2014, Chef Isnard will act as Guest Chef, bringing his Mediterranean and Italian influences and serving up rustic flavours in the classic French style.

Partnering with Chef Anne-Cecile Degenne, Executive Chef of Xperience, Chef Isnard will offer a daily set four-course lunch at S$45++, daily set five-course dinner menu at S$88++ and a Saturday 6-course Gala dinner at S$148++ or S$188++ with wine pairing. An à la carte dinner menu will also be available.

Originally from the South of France, Chef Isnard acquired a taste for cooking from his Italian grandmother. Famous for mixing traditional cooking with innovation, he currently co-owns the L’Auberge de la Charme restaurant in France, which earned a Michelin star within a year of its opening in 2008. The restaurant also boasts four Gault & Millau toques.

“As the culinary capital of Asia, Singapore is the place for gastronomic adventures and new experiences. Sofitel So Singapore strives to offer our guests an exclusive interactive culinary journey of the senses. With Chef Isnard and Chef Degenne together, we are confident that they will bring an extraordinary culinary experience for Singapore’s gastronomes,” said Vincent Lelay, General Manager of Sofitel So Singapore.

Chef Isnard’s specialties include filet de boeuf, farmed chicken egg and onion soup “Contemporary Style”.

“I am excited to be collaborating with such an inspiring chef to continuously push new boundaries for Singapore’s culinary scene. Chef Isnard’s creativity and innovation will certainly elevate our guests’experience to a whole new level,” added Chef Degenne.

Guest Chef Isnard is the grand finale of Sofitel So Singapore’s Guest Chef Series. Earlier this year, Chef Degenne was joined by other internationally acclaimed Michelin star guest chefs, including Chef Yuichi Kamimura and three-Michelin star Chef Quique Dacosta.

For reservations, please call the hotel at +65 6701 6800.

NEXT Hotel Brisbane offers smartphone-based room access

SilverNeedle Hospitality’s flagship NEXT Hotels brand is redesigning the guest experience with DOCOMO interTouch, offering guests more freedom and control with mobile guest services through the NEXT App mobile app. 

Part of that new freedom includes enabling the first NEXT Hotels property in Brisbane's Queen Street Mall to allow guests to open their room doors using their smartphones as room keys. NEXT Hotel Brisbane, which accepted guests from 24 September, is the first hotel in Australia to offer such a service.

Source: Next Hotel Brisbane website.

"Our NEXT Hotels brand is dedicated to providing the ultimate guest experience, and that requires us to effectively combine the use of space, technology and service to ensure that every moment is memorable and stress-free," said Iqbal Jumabhoy, Managing Director and Group CEO of Singapore-based SilverNeedle Hospitality. "It's all about giving travellers the freedom to choose how they want to experience our hotels.”

SilverNeedle Hospitality is also launching the NEXT App, which contains the "room key". The NEXT App, available in both Android and iOS versions, works with free Wi-Fi throughout the hotel to allow guests to request hotel services through their smartphones – from making a room reservation, entering the room, controlling in-room gadgets and ordering room service, to checking out of the hotel. 

Prior to arriving at NEXT Hotel Brisbane, guests can check in using the NEXT App; select their preferred rooms or accept the pre-assigned rooms; and receive their own room key codes on their smartphones, bypassing the conventional check-in process to get to their rooms.

"The NEXT Hotels are truly innovative in their delivery of guest technology and they have been a real pleasure to work with," said Charles Reed, CEO of DOCOMO interTouch.

The NEXT App interconnects all the systems and services with the hotel so guests do not have to be physically in their hotel rooms to manage their stay. The integrated NEXT Technology allows them to change the TV channel, set the mood lighting, adjust the room temperature or order their next meal. If they don’t want the housekeeping staff to freshen up their rooms, they can activate the ‘Do Not Disturb’ indicator even when they are away from the hotel. Guests can also watch their favourite movies and stream their desired content securely on the Samsung Smart TV available in every room.

Guests who prefer not to use their own smartphones during their stay can use the NEXT App on Samsung Galaxy S4 smartphones as part of the NEXT Connect service that is provided in every NEXT Room at no extra charge. This NEXT Connect App also has features that can be used outside the hotel. The HotSpot feature provides free WiFi for guests’ smartphones and laptops outside the hotel, for example. 

The phone system also provides access to free local calls and cheaper international calling rates with no additional roaming charges. Plus, the NEXT Service offers online concierge assistance to book a taxi around the city, order room service on their way back to the hotel or make an in-room massage appointment.

The NEXT App can be downloaded from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store. For further details or to make a booking, please activate the NEXT App or visit nexthotels.com/brisbane.

Marriott expands mobile check-in and checkouts to more brands

As part of its global mobile strategy, Marriott International has extended its mobile check-in and checkout feature to eleven additional brands – The Ritz-Carlton, JW Marriott Hotels & Resorts, Renaissance Hotels, Autograph Collection, AC Hotels, Courtyard, SpringHill Suites, Fairfield Inn & Suites, Residence Inn, TownePlace Suites and Marriott Executive Apartments*. 

The services are now available at 1,200 properties worldwide, and will be live at more than 4,000 hotels worldwide by year-end. Guest mobile check-in and checkout was previously available to nearly 500 properties of the company's flagship Marriott Hotels brand. The company's hotels have achieved a near perfect success rate in executing a half-million mobile check-ins to date, leading to nine out ten guests saying they will use it again.

With the Marriott Mobile app, Marriott Rewards members receive a push notification on their Apple iPhones or Android devices after 4 pm on the day before their arrival alerting them that they can check in. They will receive an automatic notification when their room is ready. 

Communicating in advance means the hotel is prepared for their arrival. Because payment information is stored within members' profiles, guests simply walk up to the expedited mobile check-in desk where their pre-programmed key card will be waiting for them.

At the end of their stays, guests receive a push notification alerting them that mobile checkout is available. Upon completion, guests will then be prompted to provide an email address where their bill should be sent, allowing them to confidently bypass the front desk. Mobile check-in and checkout are available in five languages: English, French, Spanish, German and Mandarin.

The company's award-winning Marriott Rewards became the first major hotel loyalty programme to offer geo-targeted, mobile offers using beacon technology. Participating hotels send members, who opt-in, push notifications on their mobile devices as they pass by "hot spots" within the property. Called LocalPerks, offers are tailored to the property, ranging from food and beverage to golf. Future plans for LocalPerks include extending them to the neighbourhoods surrounding participating hotels.

*Mobile check-in and checkout is available at all Marriott Hotels, JW Marriott Hotels & Resorts, Renaissance Hotels, Marriott Executive Apartments and at a select but increasing number of Ritz-Carlton, Autograph Collection, Courtyard, SpringHill Suites, Fairfield Inn & Suites, Residence Inn and TownePlace Suites properties. 

*Images from Marriott.