Top 5 Ways In-Room Tablets Can Reduce Internal Workload

Staff shortages can be challenging for hotels that want to maintain their guest experience standards. Here are five top ways to turn your in-room tablets into staff members to reduce internal workload.  

Most people see in-room tablets as brand-new equipment that makes the hotel rooms look tech-savvy and updated. While they can revamp the hotel rooms perfectly with their design and sleek hardware, they’re not just shiny toys designed to entertain hotel guests. They can also transform into valuable team members who reduce the overbearing workload in times of need. 

For some time now, these times of need have been constant, regardless of the season. The ongoing staff shortages seriously affect the operational efficiency and the overall guest experience worldwide. 

What do you do when the traditional means of operation fail? You try to think outside the box, channel your inventive side, and get creative to find a solution for your problem. Technology loves creativity, and when combined with practicality, it can work wonders. These are some of our favorite ways to use in-room tablets to relieve the workload off your team's shoulders.

A PLEASANT CHECK-IN EXPERIENCE

Check-in and check-out are the first and last things a hotel guest does. Most, however, dread the experience because waiting in line to check in after a back-breaking journey is never ideal, and waiting in the same line when you’re catching a flight back home can easily give you a migraine. 

So, why not make the most of your in-room tablets and let them explain the stay for you? By introducing a SuitePad in-room tablet during check-in, you can shave up to 01:30 minutes off your front staff's time presenting information about the hotel, like breakfast times or ancillary services. This way, the staff has more time for complex requests or personal exchanges. 

WELL-INFORMED GUESTS, WELL-MANAGED TIME

In the past, the hotel staff would have to manually replace paper collateral in the rooms and update it in real-time. This was the only way to ensure that the guest information was up to date. 

Nowadays, if you opt for in-room tablets to function as digital guest directories, you only need to go to the admin panel of the in-room tablet and update the information across all your devices with just a few clicks. This saves an incredible amount of time and also reduces unnecessary paper waste! Plus, well-informed guests navigate their stay with fewer hiccups and this leaves your staff ample time to focus on other important tasks. 

ONE LESS ROOM TO CLEAN

What do you say to not having to clean every room in your hotel on a daily basis? What if there was a way to instantly know which guests don’t want their rooms cleaned?

Well, that’s possible by using in-room tablets. With a feature like our “Green Option,” your guests can skip daily room cleaning on the days they want with just a few taps on the tablets and logging in their preferred dates. It's simple and easy, and it's also good for the environment! 

YOUR HOTEL'S VERY OWN DIGITAL SERVICE BELL

United Hotels of Portugal found a genius way to manage having less staff and more work. João Marto Pereira, their CTO, says they realized they needed to use creative technology solutions to keep providing excellent service to guests, even with the staff challenges.

So, they introduced a cool feature called "staff-on-call" on their SuitePad tablets at Lumen Lisboa Hotel in Lisbon, Portugal. This new feature lets hotel staff be ready to help when guests ask for it using the tablets. A call is made via the device, and the right staff member takes it and goes to their respective workstation to help their guests. This way, they don't have to keep someone there all the time. 

A CENTRALIZED HOTEL MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

The SuitePad software has interfaces with many common hotel management systems (PMS) and other hotel technology solutions. This relieves your staff from having to enter data into various programs manually.

For example, if a guest orders room service via the in-room tablets, the request can be automatically forwarded to the relevant staff via a hotel operations platform. Thanks to digital traceability, this convenient networking ensures fast service and minimizes the risk of errors.  

CONCLUSION

Embracing technology and letting it be a part of our operations are more important than ever. In this climate of staff shortages, treating hotel tech as one of the staff opens possibilities for growth and maximizes operational efficiency. And if you combine it with creative solutions for unique problems that your hotel faces, it can work wonders and then some. Digitization and leveraging technology are the keys to resilience in the industry and keeping your standards high even during challenging times.

_{Published on 26 March 2024}