Hyatt Hotels Corp. deployed 100 self-check-in kiosks to its upscale chain in February, 2005. Now, the company is expanding its deployment to double that number, and adding more services along the way. Hyatt Hotels vice president of operations Matt Adams explained how kiosks improve service and efficiency.
SSW: How has Hyatt benefited from its self-service check-in kiosks?
MA: As we continue to evolve our kiosks, we see a larger adoption rate. We’re also using iall our back-office applications moving forward. We want the platform to be based on the kiosk. We want the front desk staff to be less transaction and more customer service oriented and let the kiosk manage the transaction.
SSW: How have Hyatt’s guests benefited?
MA: Our guests have benefited from the ease and speed of use, especially in our larger convention hotels. I was at the Hyatt Miami the other day. When cruise ship guests are ready to depart, they don’t have to wait in a line or a queue for front desk staff to handle it.
SSW: Have you seen any demonstrable effects in cost savings?
MA: We’ll see that by the end of 2006 for sure as our deployments and rollouts in hotels increase tremendously. Our goal in converting agents from transactions to customer service will definitely create efficiency. There will be significant cost savings by the time we have them all deployed, moving through this year.
SSW: What features are most popularly used on your kiosks?
MA: The ability of the kiosk to manage room location. They can actually go in and select where their room is located in the building, select by high, medium, low floor, close to the elevator or not. Another thing we’ve seen good usage on is making sure their frequent traveler programs are loaded properly, so that they’re receiving their credit. We have a series of enhancements we’re also rolling out in the next phase of our software release to choose food and beverage amenities so they can choose what time they want it delivered and not have to use the phone.
SSW: What have you upgraded so far?
MA: We’re at the next phase, which will add the gold passport information. But we’re working on some other features, the way that it processes debit cards more efficiently. We’re looking at the kiosk to become the basis for a boarding pass interface, so you can also print out your boarding pass at that time. We want to deploy a Web-based boarding pass check-in product. If you’re going to L.A. from New York, you log into the Web site, and before I go to the airport I’m already checked in and have my room number. We think it will be a real benefit to our customers.
SSW: What is your personal favorite hospitality self-service device?
MA: I like the ability to access wireless Internet from a hotel lobby. I don’t like having to go someplace to use a computer. It just makes the portability of your workplace so much greater. The other would be the ability to check into the airline and get my boarding pass and bypass the old operation.
SSW: What will the next step in hospitality self-service be?
MA: That’s another product we’re in the process of developing: the ability to retrieve your guest folio, like you can do now with any of your credit card statements. That way, if I check out, I can call my assistant to process my expense account without waiting for me to get back to the office. I can completely eliminate the checkout process at the hotel. That’s the next wave.
