For 10 years – from somewhere around 2010 to 2020 – there was a polarizing debate in the marketing and design communities surrounding QR codes.
Opinions were split almost exactly down the middle: Half of marketers thought QR codes were the wave of the future and the other half laughed at the notion, many declaring, after several years of low adoption, “the death of QR codes.”
But then along came COVID and no one wanted to touch a paper restaurant menu ever again. QR codes were resurrected as a way for diners to quickly and easily look up a menu on their phone. QR readers are now built into the native camera application on nearly every smartphone.
It’s safe to say that QR codes have become ubiquitous.
Self‐serve kiosks in hotel lobbies have followed a similar trajectory. Installing a kiosk in your hotel lobby to assist with guest check‐in and check‐out is not a new concept. As self‐service grew in popularity over the past decade, many hotel companies have given kiosks a try.
In most cases, adoption was low, the experience was less than satisfactory and guests still had to visit the front desk to complete some part of the process. Ultimately, the machine was either pulled out or sat there mostly collecting dust.
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Flash-forward to the COVID era, when suddenly hotels needed to start operating with fewer staff members and taking any and all precautions to keep interaction between guests and staff at a minimum. Because consumers are more familiar with self‐serve kiosks now, using them for everything from checking in at the airport to checking out at the grocery store, adoption in the hotel industry seems to have gained traction again.
Kiosks serve an important role in the hotel lobby today and will continue to do so even after COVID issues subside. For many reasons, not everyone is capable of going through the check‐in process on their mobile phone, so if a hotel wants to get rid of the front‐desk agent entirely, kiosks are the path forward.
Fortunately, many of the common perceptions about kiosk functionality over the past decade are no longer true. The technology has evolved, the process is smoother and the machines can handle the entire end‐to‐end check-in experience, allowing each and every guest to bypass the front desk entirely.
Here are five common misconceptions about kiosk technology that should be debunked:
1. Debunked: Mobile check‐in is superior to kiosks
Allowing a guest to check in on the device in their pocket seems like the ideal solution, and in many cases it is. But hoteliers who want to fully remove the front‐desk experience have to solve for 100% of use cases.
Consider the traveler whose battery died on a long trip, or the older gentleman who doesn’t carry a smartphone, or the folks who don’t have their email connected to their device. When these folks arrive at your lobby and there is no front desk or no kiosk, how will they check in?
Another deterrent to mobile check‐in is the fact that not all hotels have replaced their door locks with mobile access technology. And not all mobile phones are capable of sending the signals required to these locks to gain access.
At the end of the day, yes, our industry should be moving toward mobile keys. But, for dozens of reasons, mobile keys aren’t going to work for everyone, while kiosks can provide a solution for 100% of the guests that enter your property.
2. Debunked: Kiosk technology is sluggish
It’s true that the early kiosk systems were often slow and cumbersome, but just like most other technology, kiosk technology has come a long way since the early days.
Early models were patched together with various external components – the screen was from one manufacturer and the camera, microphone, card reader, etc., were each separate pieces of technology. Getting each part to communicate quickly and seamlessly was a challenge.
Today, iPads can handle most of the work. They feature high‐resolution screens, cameras and microphones, and integrate well to additional tools like a key card dispenser. On an iPad‐based kiosk, if the credit card and identification process has already been completed before arrival, check‐in time averages about 20 seconds.
Should the guest need to complete the ID verification and payment process at the kiosk, the process takes no longer than a minute, on average.
3. Debunked: Many guests still need to visit the front desk after their kiosk experience
There are three key steps to checking in a guest: collecting ID verification, collecting payment and issuing room access. Today’s kiosks have been designed to handle the entire end‐to‐end process.
Today’s kiosks have been designed to handle the entire end‐to‐end process.
Branigan Mulcahy
They’re currently running in many short‐term rental spaces where there is no front desk whatsoever.
However, should the guest experience an issue during check‐in, the best systems have a live operator available to assist. With the tap of an icon, the guest is connected to a virtual concierge that can walk them through the process.
For hotels, this assistant can be located remotely, at home or in a central office. It can also be a task assigned to the hotel manager, who is free to take care of other responsibilities and will receive the virtual call on his or her mobile device.
These remote assistants have full capability to help guests verify their ID and collect payment. They can even hit a button to dispense a room key.
4. Debunked: OTA guests can’t check in via kiosk
Many legacy kiosk systems fail if the guest reservation originated from an online travel agency. This is because they rely on the original booking to look up the customer’s phone number and email address on file.
Modern systems, however, have ID verification built in, which allows the guest to enter this information and verify the booking before room access is granted.
5. Debunked: Kiosk technology will remove "hospitality"
Today’s kiosk systems have been built with flexibility in mind and hoteliers can choose exactly how much of the experience they want to automate.
For operators that want to emulate a short‐term rental experience, removing the front desk altogether to provide a self‐service environment and save on labor costs, kiosks can handle the entire end‐to‐end process.
In higher‐tier hotels, operators may choose to transform their traditional front‐desk agent into an ambassador who greets the guests as they enter the lobby, assists with luggage and provides a personal, elevated experience.
COVID has upended the way consumers think about self‐service. It gave hoteliers an opportunity to reset and rethink their approaches.
Meanwhile, the technology has evolved and the engineering work is no longer in the hands of the hotelier. For an industry that has been slow to embrace change, now is the time to take another look at kiosk technology.