How Intelligent Voice Assistant – IVA enhances the guest experience from check-in to finding next new place to spend and check out
The vacation rental (hotel industry) is leading the way in adopting the smart solutions nowadays. This is made possible with the surge in the IoT, AI, and voice assistance (virtual assistance) technology being evolving in timely manner. These technologies are growing very fast and making the difference in various industries. This smart technology powered by the IoT devices are fueling the shift towards smart living in every aspect possible in the human life.
Today with the advancement in such smart technologies, vacation rental business is witnessing the race to be more competitive and make the guests come back again. The most important thing the vacation rentals are trying to prove to the customers is a positive customer experience. The brands in the vacation rental business seem to fall when they fail to include these technology advancements into their services. Hyatt, one of the world’s leading hospitality company saves $4.4 million (USD) with the conversational virtual assistant. Hyatt partnered with the interactions (company that provides Intelligent Virtual Assistant – IVA solutions) to improve the customer experience and sales efficiency.
There are various main players in providing the voice assistance platform, such as Amazon (Alexa), Apple (Sri), Google Home, etc. These voice assistance technologies bring top of the line tech driven hotel user experience, by providing the services like information about the locality, hotel services (virtual concierge, ordering food, room change etc), interact with the smart devices (auxiliary products – thermostat, TV, etc), and have access to the third-party service information’s (air quality, temperature, etc).
Why we need voice-based application developers and service providers?
Even though the voice activated intelligent device works great and find application in several big hotel business, there is still a large number of vacation rental and hotel business around the world that never had an insight into such technologies. The big corporates in hotel and hospitality business are already partnering with the voice based virtual assistant solution providers to leverage the voice assistance into their hospitality business. This paradigm has given rise to a new business opportunity for the voice based virtual assistance service providers and the voice application developers. These service providers use the platform Amazon Alexa, Google home in developing the voice applications with the seamless user experience.
Voice assistance is impacting the travel and hospitality industry in several areas such as.
Concierge services:
Concierge services with the voice activated virtual assistance to the guest is an interactive service for providing restaurant recommendations, handle check-in (self check-in), check-out, provide information about the hotel, timings, and plan the trips based on the nearby locations. Concierge services can also help the guest to query about the charges, make confirmations/cancellation with an ease through the voice assistance. With the concierge service guests do not have to call the front desk for queries.
The first impression hospitality providers get from the customer is with the arrival and check-in. After a long drive or flight the guests always hate the process of the tedious paperwork. To make this check-in experience a fruitful one there is a possible solution of self check-in. The self check-in could be achieved by using the online self check-in system or with physical instrument that automate the check-in process in person on arrival. But there is also a possibility to use the shared independent voice assist device at the reception for only the self check-in for the guests. These self check-in solutions could provide a guest with the personalized services and the guests do not have to stand in queue at the reception desk.
Inorder to achieve the online self check-in process there are various APIs such as Vikey, NexGen Concierge, Mews, SabeeApp, Agilysys, Abitari, Roommatik, Mancloud, Ariane, IRECKONU, Ivy by GoMoment, etc.
The main door for the hospitality business to success is the guest feedback. Voice assistant behaves as a tool to collect valuable guest feedback and reviews on the checkout time. These feedbacks could possibly be used to enhance their services and any negative feedback could be forwarded to the respective hotel management staff.
Room service requests:
With the voice assistant in role the guests do not have to call the front desk for room services and amenities such as room cleaning, questions about the hotel, pool timing, etc.
Travel planning and logistics:
Virtual assistance really helps the guests to know more about the nearby events, top attraction spots around the location, weather, air quality, etc. Further hotels with their own itinerary plans can help the guests to find their next paradise.
Controlling the smart devices in your hotel room:
Controlling the smart devices (thermostat, TV, lights, music, etc.) gets the guests so many things done without getting up from the bed. Voice activated virtual assistance with the help of third-party providers really helps in controlling and managing the voice-enabled smart devices. These smart devices can be instructed to perform tasks through the voice commands.
Food service at door steps:
Guests with the voice enabled device could request for the available meals or meal idea right away from their room. With the selected food item, they can place order and make their food available at the door step without moving out of the room. Possibly they could also keep track of their food in real-time.
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