Skift Take
Although digital check-ins may one day be in the lobby of most urban hotels, the same mentality of ‘get in, get out’ doesn’t apply to boutique or vacation properties where guests look forward to that personalized service.
As part of its Crowne Plaza refresh initiative, InterContinental Hotels Group conducted extensive research on the amenities that guests, particularly business travelers, want out of a hotel stay.
“They want us to value their time”….For this reason, IHG is deploying digital check-in kiosks at its Crowne Plaza hotels.
“Some people are always going to want face-to-face options for check-in. That will never go away,” said Gina LaBarre, VP of brand delivery for the Americas division of IHG. But there are a significant number of guests who want to be in control of the check-in process, she said.
The new system works by sending a confirmation email to guests with a bar code attached on the day they are scheduled to arrive. After scanning the code using a smartphone or a print out at the kiosk, a prompt asks the guest how many keys they would like and then prints them out. They are then free to go to their room upon completion.
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Tags: checkouts, smartphones