How the guests of the hospitality and vacation rental industry have changed in the digital tourism era and the tools to better take care of them
A digital concierge for hotels and accommodation properties is a mobile app that does the tasks once typical of a human concierge, enhanced by the power of digital. Digital concierge apps can have various features. Among the most common:
More generally, the digital concierge apps increase customer loyalty, encourage guests to leave positive reviews about the accommodation that pampered them through its technological device, allow the host to get in touch with guests during all stages of the Travel Experience.
The phrase hotel app is used both to refer to those mobile applications that travellers from all over the world use to search and book accommodations. Both to talk about digital technologies for smartphones that traditional accommodations and vacation rentals offer always more often to their customers, such as Digital Concierge. The first kind is used by travellers who have not booked yet. The latter instead it is designed for all customers who have already chosen their accommodation. The second type of this technology for hotels and accommodation properties has 2 main purposes:
The models of app for hotels currently more widespread on the market are:
The travel experience has profoundly changed, in line with the mutations recorded in the travel & hospitality sector. The travel experience begins even before the stay and ends after the returning home. The travel experience includes 5 moments: The reservation. After searching for inspiration and information from both desktop and mobile, the user books accommodation and flight. The booking on average takes place 60/80 days before departure. Immediately afterwards, enthusiastic about the idea of a new adventure, travellers acquire essential services such as transfers and unmissable experiences (for example, a visit to the Colosseum in case of holidays in Rome). However, they are not ready yet to organize the whole trip in detail. Therefore, any offers of services and activities risk not being converted into purchases. A few days before departure, however, the future guest appreciates receiving advice and buying useful services, tours and activities. When the journey begins and the guests arrive at their destination, the check-in is the first thing to manage. Then customers dedicate the next 24 hours to explore their accommodation, from the pillow to the view from the window. Only afterwards they begin to visit the destination and buy services and experiences. Finally, the moment of the check out arrives with the possible choice of the transfer for the return. Once at home, the guest appreciates leaving feedback on the stay and receiving promotions. Despite this, there are too few accommodations that ask their guests for a review. It is essential to note that the host is the only actor ever present in every step of the new travel experience. Furthermore, only the hospitality manager has a human and digital relationship with the traveller, unlike any OTA or tourist service provider. Thanks to the Digital Concierges, the host can establish a relationship with the guests since their reservation. With this mobile technology, the host enters the customer’s smartphone demonstrating the innovative profile of the accommodation and building, prior to arrival, a privileged trust relationship with the guest.
The travel experience has profoundly changed, in line with the mutations recorded in the travel & hospitality sector. The travel experience begins even before the stay and ends after the returning home. The travel experience includes 5 moments:
It is essential to note that the host is the only actor ever present in every step of the new travel experience. Furthermore, only the hospitality manager has a human and digital relationship with the traveller, unlike any OTA or tourist service provider. Thanks to the Digital Concierges, the host can establish a relationship with the guests since their reservation. With this mobile technology, the host enters the customer’s smartphone demonstrating the innovative profile of the accommodation and building, prior to arrival, a privileged trust relationship with the guest.
The number of vacation rentals has exploded in the last 10 years, driven by Airbnb. In 2008, on its website there was one reservation per day. Today there are 6 bookings per second. Italy is the 3rd country for active ad numbers on Airbnb. At the same time, new professional figures were born, specialized in the vacation rental sector. This kind of property managers frequently complain about 3 critical issues, which distinguish them from hotel colleagues:
The average stay in the vacation rental sector lasts less than 5 days and it is concentrated in 48 hours. In addition, around 40% of Airbnb bookings is last minute, concluded 14 days before departure.
In Italy, the short rent is a temporary lease contract lasting no more than 18 months. The types of short rent are two:
According to the D.L. 50/2017, even the short tourist rent applies to “cedolare secca” regime. In addition, it is mandatory to communicate data on contracts, pay a withholding tax of 21%, apply the tourist tax if provided by the municipality.
It is important to clarify that you can benefit from the “cedolare secca” at 21% even when in addition to the rent you offer linen and cleaning services. But not for tourist rentals stipulated in the exercise of a business activity. In this last case your profit will be declared as business income.
The short rent, in particular the tourist one, has some advantages compared to the traditional one. It allows the owner to easily re-enter the property in case of need or sale. Furthermore, it is a fairly simple way to capitalise on unused properties such as holiday apartments.
The property manager is a consultant who manages properties on behalf of owners, investors and companies. Property managers assist their clients in the purchase, sale, rental and management of the property.
In addition, in the vacation rental industry, the property manager also relates to the guest of the apartment or managed holiday home, until becoming an intermediary between the guest and the destination through the up-selling of services and customer assistance.
In Italy, the property manager profile does not correspond to that of the real estate agent, even if it partly coincides. The agent is a qualified consultant who participates in real estate brokerage and earns with commissions. The property manager is often a real estate agent, but may also not be qualified and offer the client a paid technical advice based on their training and experience.
However, since in Italy to manage apartments and holiday homes it is necessary to be “agenti a titolo onoreso”, it is convenient to be real estate agents.
A skilled property manager is not only an agent but also an expert on the market, always up to date, able to provide complete advice on tax, legal and marketing matters. He preferably has a degree in real estate and uses digital technology, such as software for managing reservations, digital concierge to optimize the property management and maximize profits.
With the transformations of the tourist industry, the customer loyalty management strategies are no longer the same.
However, despite the various upheavals, loyalty remains the most effective method to turn occasional customers into loyal guests, disintermediate from OTAs and defeat the hard competition typical of the hospitality sector.
Among the most effective ideas and technologies to have loyal customers both in hotel and in vacation rental accommodation, there are:
Ancillary services are the facilities that enhance guests’ stay experience and help to earn customers’ loyalty.
In the digital tourism age, ancillary service offerings are increasingly conveyed by the new technologies, such as digital concierge apps, smartphones and social networks. It is also possible to sell ancillary services in different ways in all phases of the travel experience (search, booking, purchase) before, during and after the stay.
Nowadays the type of services expected and desired by the guests is very wide. Therefore the host’s proposals must be customized according to the target of customer.
Some ancillary services are free, others with fee. Some are taken for granted by customers, while others are difficult to find and amaze the guest.
Among the most common there are room services such as a bottle of water, internet access and a safe. The usefulness of some services is often underestimated by the customer, as in the case of the bell boy or of the parking lot. Customer who instead tends to overestimate the use that will make of other facilities, such as the SPA. Some ancillary services are more often required by business customers: self check-in, early check-in/late check-out. Among the most common services there are also those for entertainment, TV, mp3, on demand.
The tools useful to upsell effectively are emails and digital concierge apps. Through these latest, the accommodation properties can offer selected services at the right time and they can be sure that their proposals will be clearly visible to the customer on the smartphone, easy to purchase in just a few clicks.
In fact, internal and external services allow hospitality operators, hotels but also vacation rentals, to extend their offer to customers. These managers have also the great opportunity to increase profits by selling directly or using their partners.
Travelers spend on services during every stage of the Travel Experience. Too often, however, tourists buy services without the intermediation of hosts, preceded by OTAs. In fact, hosts frequently do not have the necessary technologies to intercept this need.
The accommodation properties that want to earn more through services must first identify what to offer and then choose the most effective tool to do it:
The moment of checking in is one of the most important touch points between guest and host. Because it is one of the first communication occasions with the customer and it marks the beginning of the stay.
Too often, the check-in is identified with the registration. But it is much more. In fact it also entails filling in the forms with guest’s personal data and sending these to the web portal.
Instead, the automatic check-in via Digital Concierge has lots of benefits for both guest and host. Customers can insert data on the app by themselves, even from their home before arrival, avoiding going to the reception. Hosts will have all the personal data already entered by their guests. Usually the digital concierge apps for the check-in automation also allow you to quickly export data via a txt or csv file for sending to the web portal.
Furthermore, the check-in causes other operations, such as the key collection. The access to the room/apartment complicates both the organization of the arrival for the guest and the reservation management for the host, above all for non-hotel operators, Airbnb, property managers.
In fact, the moment of key delivering has become even more complicated since Airbnb arrival. Giving and reacquiring the keys is often a hindrance for those who rent apartments on the American platform and maybe even have another job. Sometimes it is necessary to pay another person to meet the guest at check-in/check-out. Or the host has to trust the client, asking him to leave the keys inside the apartment.
Nowadays, independent key collection services are spreading in the most important cities, or hosts can use the digital key service integrated into their digital concierge app.
The Destination Marketing is that branch of marketing that takes care of attracting travelers to a specific tourist destination through the satisfaction of their practical and emotional needs, without damaging, but rather improving the life of the local communities.
A Destination Marketing Organization (DMO) involves the various tourism operators present in an area, including traditional and non-hotel accommodation properties, as well as other types of companies, public and private entities.
The Destination Marketing puts together the factors that make the destination attractive and the services for travelers. And it includes a series of communication, promotion, urban planning initiatives, etc. aimed at improving the tourist offer.
In the current travel industry where every journey is a life experience, the Destination Marketing becomes even more strategic.
The accommodation facilities need to connect themselves to the destination in which they are located. First of all to be found by customers in the first phase of the trip organization, when the future traveler still has not chosen yet where to go and seeks inspiration on social networks and blogs.
At this time it is important that the property appears on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest associated with the location. It has to provide information on the destination on the blog and to be among search results when the traveler types on Google “hotel/ holiday homes/ b & b + location name”, for example by optimizing the Google My Business profile.
Secondly, the host must act as an intermediary between the tourist and the place, taking advantage of being the first to get in touch with the customer thanks to the reservation. So he can win the trust of the guest by providing him with all the information on the local attractions. For example, by providing paper material or, much better, a smartphone digital map (easy to do through a digital concierge app). Moreover, the host can act as an intermediary between tourists and essential services, such as car and bike rental. And finally he can offer suggestions and advice on travel experiences through which to live the holiday in an authentic way, sold directly or through other local operators with whom he needs to network in a destination marketing strategy.
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EDGAR SRL © 2020, Cagliari, Italy | P.IVA: 02550580902 | SDI: 5RUO82D
EDGAR SRL © 2020, Cagliari, Italy
P.IVA: 02550580902 | SDI: 5RUO82D