Imagine a hotel without a front desk or a concierge station. Now imagine that hotel's lobby with comfortable, shared spaces that blend leisure with business. Today these properties exist, and guests love them.

Hotel staff are no longer tethered to a front desk. They can focus on other tasks that significantly enhance the guest experience. These properties are finding that they can be more creative with the design of their spaces in terms of what inspires and truly resonates with today's traveler. There are more bleisure travelers in today's hotels (those who combine business with leisure travel), as more people have the ability to work remotely and have the freedom to visit other locations. Design firms around the world are finding that many hotel common areas are now a blend of co-working and gathering spaces as hotels must provide an environment conducive to a hybrid stay.

In its Design Forecast® 2022 blog series, Gensler, a global architecture, design and planning firm, found hotel properties that offer versatile layouts and innovative designs will experience the most success attracting today's guests and enticing them to stay longer, spend more and return more often. Now, hotels are seeing a rise in guests with travel-friendly hybrid work arrangements, the Gensler Design Forecast states. As more people enjoy the perks of remote work, they will book extended trips beyond what traditionally may have been a quick weekend getaway.

To tap into the revenue that these longer stays and more frequent guests generate, hotel properties are focusing on multi-functional spaces and one other very important investment to attract them – technology. The most competitive properties are not only focusing on design that makes for great photo opportunities and a comfortable work environment, they are focusing on technologies that create conveniences for guests and facilitate removing the front desk, fixed point-of-sale (POS) terminals, and other features in hotels of the past.

These newer, innovative technologies, including software solutions that deliver preference-driven, personalized, more connected experiences, allow designers to remove the utilitarian remnants of old technology, providing them with the flexibility to design extraordinary spaces. This is at the heart of High Return Hospitality, where hotel properties forge deeper, lasting, more profitable relationships, creating delighted guests who become champions at every touchpoint.

The Property Features that are Most Attractive to Today's Guests

Guests don't have to be internationally known influencers to appreciate a great background for their photos. By providing unique settings, activities, and offering exceptional food and beverage (F&B) selections that make for great photos (free of front desks, order counters, and lines), hotels and resorts have a better chance of appearing in social media posts and getting exposure that elevates their brand through their guests.

The right technology solutions can also help staff proactively create social media-worthy moments by providing them with access to guest information that highlights preferences and history. Through a single guest itinerary built by accumulating information at every touchpoint (before and during a guest's stay), staff can truly personalize experiences through software solutions powered by data-driven insights.

With accurate information defined by an individual's preferences and triggered by real-time insights, staff can anticipate those personal touches that enhance a guest's experience and proactively act upon them, like sending a bottle of the guest's favorite wine to their room, securing hard-to-get event tickets, and scheduling special activities offered by the property that the guest may not be aware of. Aside from a comfortable, clean room, and multi-functional common areas, the most important features to today's guests are convenience and personalized experiences like these, and technology powered by predictive analytics and real-time data plays a critical role in helping staff delight guests with these experiences.

One convenience that many of today's tech-savvy guests prefer is the option of going straight to their room upon arrival, bypassing the front desk altogether. This is especially true today where hotel properties provide guests with access to the services and amenities the property has to offer online through their mobile devices pre-arrival. This transforms the front desk or lobby area into a place for those who truly prefer personal interaction and where they can approach any staff member with access to property and guest information to assist through recommendations that create a richer experience, deepening loyalty each interaction at a time.

Today's guests can order and pay for food from their chairs on the pool deck without searching for someone to take their order. There is no longer a need for clunky fixed terminals that servers must constantly stay near when a property has implemented effective mobile-driven point-of-sale (POS) solutions. These solutions allow servers to concentrate solely on their guests while minimizing wait times, improving the speed of service, and providing greater convenience to the guest by not requiring them to constantly walk over to a station or flag down a server. They can order from digital menus updated in real time via their mobile devices, or through those that servers have access to on their own devices. In addition, guests can pay through a QR code embedded on the check without an interruption in their activities.

This innovation is at the heart of the transformation in hotel design, creating truly inviting, more modern environments that enrich the guest experience while still offering them the convenience and exceptional service levels they expect with technology solutions like mobile POS, self-check-in, and digital key access. Hotel properties that focus on providing unique settings centered around creating an exceptional stay for their guests at each interaction point are investing in their return on experience (ROE). This investment continuously produces positive reviews from delighted guests, creating champions of the property. The goal of today's hotel properties is to provide "zero disappointment" experiences each and every stay. Modern design combined with innovative technology has the power to ensure just that.

Using Technology to Create Experiences Worth Sharing on Social

Before they even arrive, potential guests must have full access to the rich information spotlighting the key features and comprehensive amenities that define the property. When properties provide an end-to-end platform that promotes the compelling attributes of the hotel while allowing them to book restaurant reservations, entertainment options, and activities that match their preferences, they are distinguishing themselves from the competition by exceeding the guest's expectations from the very first touchpoint. The photos of the property and its rich amenities build anticipation of a stay that will generate social media envy while elevating the property's brand image.

Once on property, many guests delight in settings like expansive gardens and tropical beaches with exquisite sunset views. Guests seek out dining options defined by delicious culinary delights while ultimately inspiring them to post colorful photos and rich, personal descriptions of unique experiences, foods, and venues on social media, and the property welcomes that. What guests don't realize is that technology solutions are powering these exceptional, personalized experiences. This innovation handles administrative tasks in the background so that the hotel staff can focus more on being exceptional hosts to the guests throughout their stay.

A staff member with access to a guest's rich profile outlining their preferences can deliver a tailored guest experience by knowing that a daiquiri is their favorite drink or knowing the guest's favorite table to watch the sunset each night. These types of rich experiences are just as shareable on social media as elegant, inspiring property shots. This is made possible through innovative solutions empowering staff to go above and beyond at each touchpoint while working in environments that aren't bogged down by guests waiting in long lines to be served at the front desk or in dining areas. By endeavoring to create an environment where this is possible, properties are forging stronger brands by ensuring positive reviews and additional visits by guests and their social media followers.

When guests find properties that provide unique, personalized experiences, they are more than happy to share with their family, friends and followers.

While technology can help hotels connect more closely with their guests, it also has the power to help them continue to evolve to exceed the unique needs of their guests as their demands continue to change. Tech-savvy travelers will drive new types of personalized experiences. Hotels have started to integrate technology into their designs to future-proof their establishments, noted Gensler's Design Forecast 2022. By offering a hybrid 'physical-digital' experience, hotels will be able to cultivate guest loyalty with thoughtfully personalized service. New technology will also help free up physical spaces for renovation as more functions, such as concierge services and wayfinding, are offloaded to virtual platforms.

A hotel's design is essential for attracting guests and providing them with open, free-flowing, and truly comfortable spaces they might not find at home. It's important for these properties to embrace technology that supports these designs and create truly unique experiences guests would like to enjoy in these inspiring places. Innovative technology makes all of this possible. Allowing hotels to re-imagine their physical spaces truly enhances the guest experience and optimizes how their staff delivers exceptional service at the individual level, fulfilling the vision of high return hospitality throughout the property.

In The Trends Shaping the Future of Hospitality, part of Gensler's Design Forecast blog series, Tom Ito, global leader for Gensler's hospitality practice states, I believe the greatest opportunity for operators is embracing technology even further. It's not only about efficiency, but it's driving better social and guest interactions. The idea of connected experiences - the convergence of the physical and digital together along with the total guest journey - is where we're headed.

The properties that do the best to attract guests are those that create inviting, yet highly functional spaces, while embracing technology that facilitates an exceptional guest experience ... every time. When guests are truly delighted by their surroundings and can truly enjoy their stay through the conveniences provided by the property, they will share their experiences and post glowing reviews. Today's tech-savvy travelers are looking for these social media-worthy hotels that also offer incredible, personalized experiences.

Reprinted from the Hotel Business Review with permission from www.HotelExecutive.com.

About Agilysys

Agilysys is well known for its long heritage of hospitality-focused technology innovation. The Company delivers modular and integrated software solutions and expertise to businesses seeking to maximize Return on Experience (ROE) through hospitality encounters that are both personal and profitable. Over time, customers achieve High Return Hospitality by consistently delighting guests, retaining staff and growing margins. Customers around the world include: branded and independent hotels; multi-amenity resort properties; casinos; property, hotel and resort management companies; cruise lines; corporate dining providers; higher education campus dining providers; food service management companies; hospitals; lifestyle communities; senior living facilities; stadiums; and theme parks. The Agilysys Hospitality Cloud™ combines core operational systems for property management (PMS), point of sale (POS) and inventory and procurement (I&P) with Experience Enhancers™ that meaningfully improve interactions for guests and for employees across dimensions such as digital access, mobile convenience, self-service control, personal choice, payment options, service coverage and real-time insights to improve decisions. Core solutions and Experience Enhancers are selectively combined in Hospitality Solution Studios™ tailored to specific hospitality settings and business needs. Agilysys operates across the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia-Pacific, and India with headquarters located in Alpharetta, GA. For more information visit Agilysys.com 

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