The hospitality industry specializes in crafting a luxurious guest experience, and many hotels go to great lengths to make every aspect of that experience perfect. Yet, if there’s one thing that can mar the entire experience, it’s paperwork.
From losing reservations to forcing guests to navigate complex forms, many document processes can disrupt the experience. To mitigate this, many establishments turn to document management strategies to streamline the guest experience.
For the hospitality industry, document management is more than just keeping paperwork in order. It’s also a way to elevate the guest experience and provide a truly luxurious service.
What Is Document Management?
Document management is the use of software or other strategies to efficiently and securely manage documents. Frequently, document management encourages a company to replace physical paper processes with digital ones. This has advantages in terms of security, accessibility, disaster recovery planning, and overall office efficiency.
Most companies produce a massive amount of paperwork, and hotels are no exception. For a single guest, a hotel might have:
● Booking paperwork
● Billing information
● A customer history
● Notes regarding preferences or special needs
● Food and beverage menus
● Tour bookings or additional accommodations
● Flight itineraries or scheduled drivers
The guest experience with hotels typically involves several details, which might seem minor but make a huge impact. Keeping track of all of this means the difference between superior guest experience and chaos that ruins a trip.
4 Ways the Hospitality Industry Benefits from Document Management
Hotels frequently adopt a document management system to keep track of the constellation of details they have for each guest. However, there are still many other advantages that such a solution can deliver to the business. A solid document management strategy enables:
1. Digital Reservations and Bookings
Booking reservations online has become the default course of action for many. According to research by eMarketer, digital travel sales increased by 10.4 percent worldwide in 2018 and showed no sign of stopping throughout 2019.
The internet has proven to be an incredible tool of convenience, one that allows individuals to access information or make plans instantaneously. Many hotels leverage this by empowering future guests with the ability to make digital reservations. This eliminates the need to make a phone call, allows for greater flexibility with the reservation, and automates the payment process.
2. Customer History for a Customized Experience
Competition in the hospitality industry is fierce, causing hotels to always be on the lookout for ways to gain a competitive advantage. Many turn to their document management systems to mine customer data and compile histories of guest stays. This enables them to provide a more customized guest experience based on data.
This is a smart move. Like in other industries, guests want to feel recognized. Research suggests that 90 percent of travelers want a personalized experience and will pass up an establishment if it doesn’t provide that.
3. Improved Guest Security
Travel is associated with security. Whether it’s waiting in line at the airport or dealing with over-zealous agents, the last thing that anybody wants to deal with is more security woes once they’ve checked into their room.
Hotels are frequently the target of cybercriminal activity. In 2019, just over 700,000 guest records from the major hotel chain, Choice Hotels, were leaked in a massive data breach. A centralized document management system with enhanced security features and automated backups could have avoided this.
4. Faster Workflows
Sometimes, the best guest experience happens because everything on the backend flows smoothly. Document management suites deliver many advantages to the internal processes of the hotel. Whether it’s rapidly accessing information or finding answers to a guest’s questions, having the right technology in place makes it easier to keep guests happy and returning.
At the end of the day, hotels are still a business. They need to run like one, and that means using a document management system to keep their internal processes efficient.
Hotels in Ohio Choose Blue Technologies for Their Document Needs
When it comes to business processes supporting the customer (or guest) experience, nobody does it quite so effectively as the hospitality industry. Organizations in this industry specialize in creating the ideal guest experience that leaves visitors relaxed, replenished, and ready to return to their real lives.
Many companies view document management software as a purely practical solution designed to enhance internal operations. While this is true, a document management system can also have tangible effects on the customer experience. From a smoother booking process to the delivery of a customized experience, a DMS may be just what a hotel needs to stand out from its competitors with its guest experience.
Blue Technologies helps companies in many industries develop flawless customer experience. Get started now discussing how a document management system can benefit hotel guests.
