It is curious that we are in 2018 and everyone is talking about artificial intelligence, machine learning and block-chain, while most hotels are still validating cards by hand or sending the same emails over and over again, also manually, or exporting contacts to excel.In this post we review how we can use technology to improve the day-to-day running of your hotel, automating repetitive tasks, avoiding mistakes and oversights, and maximising the opportunities for direct contact with your customers.
Have you stopped to think about whether the tools you currently use in your hotel do what you really need them to do? And if they do, are they easy to use, do they talk to each other correctly, and do you think there are any points in the workflow that could be significantly improved?
In our opinion, there are things that you should be able to automate, intuitively, effortlessly. Things that are really useful and improve the daily work in your hotel.
Email automation
- Thank you for booking: courtesy or thank you email when you receive a new booking.
- See you in a week: it is very common to send an email before the end of the free cancellation period. Very useful to avoid no-shows and unnecessary penalties.
- Confirmation of arrival time: How much trouble this email would save us: We are expecting you tomorrow at the hotel. Your expected time of arrival is 13:30h, is that correct?
Credit card task automation
- Using payment platforms like Stripe or Addon Payments your PMS can:
- Check the validity of the cards at the moment of receiving the reservation.
- In the case of an invalid card, notify the portal (e.g. Booking.com) and/or send an email to the customer if it is a web booking.
- Make automatic charges with the amount indicated and at the right time according to the policies of the tariff, either upon receipt of the reservation or at the end of the free cancellation period.
Send quotes and invoices
- Create a booking with pending status and send it to the customer with a single click. Offer the possibility of confirmation by online payment.
- Generate and send the invoice to the customer from a booking automatically with just one click.
Advanced synchronisation with channels
- Synchronisation of content: room types, rates and photos.
- Synchronisation of promotions
- Mark card as invalid
- Mark booking as no-show
If your PMS does not allow these automations contact us for a demo of the new CloudHotelier PMS management system and start automating your day to day right now!
