7 Ways How Hotels can Welcome Guests to an Automated Future
Winning the hearts of guests has always kept hoteliers on their toes. Smartphones and tablets already control most all aspects of our lives — from business to travel, grocery shopping to medical appointments. Self-service claims have become the present age currency.
As a result, when it comes to hotel accommodation, guests want to experience the same self-service alternatives. Trilyo — being one of the very few players in the hospitality industry today, provides self-service hospitality solutions like room bookings, check-ins and check-outs, seamless payments with a high level of personalization. Without further ado, let’s have a look at how automation is taking over the hospitality industry and improving guest experience:
- A WARM WELCOME
Welcome your guests to the new era of hotel entry, which is keyless, cardless and is re-defining the standards of guest experience. As in the case of 17 Marriott Hotels, the Marriott MobileApp is now the room key for guests enabling them to skip the front desk and check-in to gain access to their room and other hotel services.
Besides, this also frees up hotel staff allowing them to engage with guests and provide an exceptional experience for them. Furthermore, this helps the hotel in branding and acquiring a loyal customer base. However, OTAs such as Expedia, might give hotels a run as they are coming up with a keyless-entry feature on their own mobile-booking apps. So hoteliers, you might want to buck-up!

Hotels need to make sure that no stone is left unturned when it comes to providing personalized experience that is par excellence. Upon arrival, as guests enter their room for the first time, the “Welcome” scene is activated — lights turn on, soothing music plays, drapes are drawn open, and the TV displays a personalized message welcoming the guests. And there you have it-an impressed customer!
2. NOW OCCUPIED!
The Shangri-La Hotel, Abu Dhabi houses 214 rooms and has successfully implemented a state-of-the-art Guest Automation System. When the hotel reservation system switches to an “Occupied” status of a room from being “Vacant”, the central station adjusts the room temperature to an ideal level as guests head towards their room. The system also provides valuable operational data such as staff response to the guest call, energy saving data, room occupancy status etc., and reduces manual errors by the hotel staff significantly.
3. AN ENDLESS PERSONALIZED EXPERIENCE
The dire need for hoteliers to create unique and memorable customer experiences is pushing Artificial Intelligence to pave the way for it. A “Wakeup” atmosphere is activated triggering the drapes to open gradually and turns on the news, or music, rather than the shrill of an alarm clock or phone call — an irresistible experience for the guest!
Another fantastic example of an extraordinary in-room personalization has been adopted by Al Ain Rotana Hotel, UAE that houses 90 guest rooms. Each room consists of a smart bed side console from where the guest can operate all the lights in the room, switch the air-conditioning on or off, adjust and view the temperature in the room as part of the Guest Automation System.

With a breathtaking view from one’s hotel room balcony… sipping on a cocktail while relaxing by the pool…or simply getting lost in the comfort of the spring bed in the hotel suite, one is bound to lose track of time with so many amazing luxuries! So occupied that they forget it’s time for lunch!
How about someone reminding your valuable guest to go grab his meal while he’s lost exploring your hotel? We’re not talking about using precious hotel staff time, but a ‘personalized’ bot of your own hotel that is taught to prompt guests on their phones for room cleaning services, lunch time or even special add-ons like a spa or bar night during their stay. Let your imagination run wild to come up with more such in-house offers to impress your guests!
4. GO GREEN
Utilities are responsible for around 6% of operating costs. As energy costs are on the rise and so is environmental consciousness, hoteliers must shift towards sustainable practices, and the best way to start would be the guest room. Lights and air conditioning can be shut off based on guest activity and room occupancy. If your guest has headed over to the balcony, the sensors in the other spaces will switch to standby mode. Not to mention, guests enjoy a great welcome experience when the welcome lights turn on upon arrival, and sensors switch them off automatically when the main lights come on.
Although this involves major investments, long-term decision-making and time, the commitment to opt for ‘Green Technology for Hotels’ will certainly give hotels a cutting edge against their competitors and create easy word-of-mouth marketing.

5. MOBILE REQUESTS- AT YOUR SERVICE, ANYTIME!
Marriott MobileApp comes with another ground-breaking feature called “Ask Anything”. A round-the-clock concierge service that attends to beyond basic requests like ordering bath and bed linen, room-cleaning services or just a simple “where is the best place to go out tonight” amongst others . This is a two-sided function which connects guests directly to a staff member, bypassing the phone or a visit at the front desk.
As the consumer tendency is shifting towards text messages and voice chats, Trilyo’s Voice and Chatbot solution understands that this feature is gaining high popularity against the conventional method of phone calls at the reception desk. Be it booking a room, viewing a hotel property, arranging for an airport pickup, asking for a towel, or any other in-room service, consider the job to be done. Curious enough? Check it out here.
6. AUTOMATED FEEDBACKS
Hotels often shy away from confronting their guests to ask for reviews. Automated Feedback Systems send pre-scheduled emails to recently checked-out guests. As a result, staff time and effort is greatly reduced as customers can sit back and write about their stay on their way to the airport without getting bothered by the front desk staff. With Trilyo Realtime Feedback system, a negative feedback alert ensures that the customer’s issue is attended to immediately.

7. NEXT-GEN VOICE CONCIERGE
When it comes to hotel operations and services, automation is already here to take over the reins, so that you can focus on more important things — the guests. For the same reason, Trilyo understands that it is the need of the hour to take guest experience to the next level and hence Trilyo Voice Concierge is in the making to renounce every other foregone technology.
To begin with, this voice concierge is an intelligent personal assistant, vying for a spot in the rooms of International hotels. Having it by the bedside console and equipped to understand voice commands, it could accommodate all the features of a concierge. From every aspect of lighting, temperature and the audio-visual components of a hotel room — to finding the best nearby restaurants for you, it can seamlessly be integrated with the in-house offers and even greet your guest with a “good morning” when they wake up. However tech-forward or even unfamiliar you are with this technology, all you really have to do is start talking.
If this interests you and if you want to explore one of these technologies, click here to get one for yourself today! Or share with a hotelier friend or anyone who you think might be interested. Let us know your thoughts on AI and automation by dropping us a comment below or on Twitter.

