Hotel kiosk check-in systems and implementation

Hotel Self-Service Kiosks: History And Outlook

In today's fast-paced world, travelers demand the maximum of convenience and the minimal amount of delay from the hospitality industry. The need for speed is especially apparent, when the demands of airport travel fray customers' temperaments beyond repair. Airports have instituted self-service purchase kiosks to expedite traveler's processing through the airport. Hotels have followed suit, noting a shift in customer expectations. Hotels are even more logical for self-service check-in kiosks as there is a decreased need for advance-level security checks and no risk of weather-related delays. Customers can simply point and click, just as today's tech-savvy customer is accustomed to do, in most spheres of his or her life. "For many travelers, the best service is self-service" (Rose 2008).

A 2008 study by Buzzback Market Research found that "86% of U.S. And Canadian consumers are more likely to do business with a company that offers the flexibility to interact using self-service. Moreover, 66% of survey respondents said the availability of self-service technologies creates a more positive perception of the deployer's brand" (Rose 2008). Although the convenience of the self-service kiosk may initially seem to suggest the impersonal nature of a fast food restaurant, higher-end hotels were some of the first establishments to use self-service kiosks. The Hilton chain of hotels was the first major American chain to deploy the kiosks in 2005 and its competitor Marriott soon followed suit. Marriott also allowed air travelers to print boarding passes while checking out of their hotel. Hyatt Hotels and Resorts have incorporated touch-screen XpressPort self-serve kiosks as part of their lobby redesign. "Hyatt guest usage grew to 30% within the first two weeks of implementing NCR self-service kiosks," said Lance Marrin, Corporate Director of Rooms for Hyatt Hotels Corporation (Rose 2005).

At the prestigious Fairmont Hotel of Toronto, kiosks enable guests to efficiently check-in and out, personally select a room from a map of the hotel and receive their room key, 24/7, without speaking to a person. While in earlier eras, personalized service was seen as the mark of quality, now speed has replaced hands-on attention. To further expedite travel, at the Fairmount, guests can also use the kiosks to obtain a specially expedited boarding pass for any Air Canada flight, before departing for the airport. "We have a win-win situation with Air Canada because this feature may reduce the number of people in their line-ups,'" says the hotel (Lombardi 2005).

From the hotel's perspective, self-service can reduce operations costs of staffing the hotel with employees, as well as minimize wait times. The Marriott chain admitted: "Eventually, the kiosks will likely result in some cuts at the front desk" (Chakravorty 2005). Labor makes up 45% of hotel operating expenses (Chakravorty 2005). Hotels can then pass these savings on to customers. Having a competitive price point is critical in remaining competitive in the cutthroat hospitality industry during a recession. Reduced overhead is good news for cash-conscious consumers, but bad news for hotel staff, although some former front desk employees may be promoted 'laterally' to other parts of a company.

However, subsequent IT security and maintenance demands may offset some of these cost savings. "Self-serve applications such as the Fairmont's kiosk are different from desk applications because they have to run 24/7. Once deployed, there are no ways to intervene. The kiosk can't be automatically restarted, so it needs to be a rock-solid, robust device" (Lombardi 2005). The security system must be constantly monitored for possible infringement: "The kiosks are sitting on a secure network, and we're also running WEP security, a wireless encryption protocol. That's not 100 per cent bullet proof, so there's another server-based layer of security which authenticates transactions as well as providing another level of encryption" says the Fairmont (Lombardi 2009).

Kiosks can be tailored to the need of the individual hotel or chain. They can potentially reduce overhead and costs for budget hotels and chains, provided the technology is well-maintained and secure. At high-end hotels, customers used to a technologically-focused, expedited world can have the same services he or she enjoys at the airport. "Marriott International is also considering other services for its kiosks, such as ordering room service, setting up a wake-up call, making restaurant reservations, booking a car or printing a map to the guest's next destination. Kiosks also provide some of the services once only provided by concierges. They also make it easier to "locate amenities around a hotel property, such as identifying the best route to a guest room, pool, hotel restaurant or other services" (Rose 2008).