Can technology augment customer experience in hospitality?

At a recent UK hospitality event, I asked one of the panel participants, a key stakeholder of a major hotel chain: “Do you think technology has a place in hotels? Should hotels be more open to technology?” 

He said “No, hotels should keep on doing what they do best - delivering great customer experiences.” and I agree. 

Great customer experiences are at the core of the hotel business, but what if technology can improve upon the greatness of experiences provided at every level. 

Why, what exactly do you mean Wes? 

I mean, what if you could know a lot more about your guest at every step of their experience?

Learn what they like, what is important to them - and I do not mean THEM as a busload, but rather them as a couple, or even a single person. 

The 'What Ifs'

What if they could order on the premises or on their way to your place using a mobile phone? Order automagically delivered to the right kitchen station or bar station, and you (or the shift manager) can see it was prepared and delivered on your phone. 

Connect your inventory to the menu and the ordering system down to every ingredient or combination of toppings. When someone makes an order in person, via your website menu or app, inventory is updated. Low on rice? Let Bizzon order it from your preferred vendor automatically. 

What if all this could scale from one boutique hotel to hundreds of locations around the world. 

How Accor did it

I might be biased, so I asked someone from Accor to tell you about the world of possibilities technology brought to their business. If you don’t know, guests in AccorHotels UK & Ireland properties can now order food and drinks at their leisure using Bizzon from their smartphones. 

Thomas Dubaere, COO AccorHotels Northern Europe said they use Bizzon to enable guests to get what they want in the most convenient manner that fits with their everyday behaviour. He also calls it a significant step in our mission to give guests the best possible experience in our hotels.

If the sixth largest hotel group in the world, running 4,800 hotels boasts how technology augmented their customer experience, it must be true. 

You must be wondering how long would it take to implement at your place, and if you have more places, how long would a roll-out take? How long will it take for my staff to pick it up, learn how to use it? 

We set up pilots in 24 hours: interactive kiosks, kitchen displays, ePOS, menu and inventory. Ask Carla Milovanov, Vice President, Digital Services and IT, AccorHotels, who was happy with how easily Bizzon integrated with existing IT platforms. 

She considers it intuitive and easy to train employees to use. 

She later stressed how it helped Accor partners manage their hotels better, optimise revenues and monitor and track their performance.

Did I mention your first month is free? 

www.bizzon.com