Staff-less hotels are a trend that keeps growing and it won’t go away any time soon. 

Many brands have decided to minimise their staff as much as possible, in some cases without any reception or front desk personnel, and in others, with no staff at all. 

One of the reasons why this is happening is due to occupancy rates and profitability. These hotels have fewer staff members, which allows them to be profitable even with a lower occupancy rate. 

On the other hand, there is also a need to reduce the amount of resources needed, because this helps to cover the cost of other areas. One clear example is linked to the night shift, which almost no one wants to take or it is inconvenient and it limits the services provided to guests.

This trend is taking many forms. While some properties have opted to leave out all forms of personal contact with guests, other models have chosen to combine a front desk with another service, for example, a bar. Also aiming to reduce the amount of staff needed while still providing good service.

Is this impossible? Not at all.

The truth is that the guest experience can have many faces. Some guests prefer personal interactions while others feel more inclined to the idea of an entirely digital experience. 

It will depend on the type of hotel and the type of guests. Business travellers, for example, appreciate the convenience of self-check-in and self-service options, which provide flexibility and save time. They can check in at any time without having to wait in line, enhancing their overall experience. While senior travellers on vacation will prefer to get the regular experience, where interactions with personnel are appreciated. 

No front desk before vs. now 

A few years ago this would have been impossible due to the needed software not being open enough to fulfil all touchpoints digitally. Today, however, this is a reality.

The right technology allows these hotels to operate seamlessly around the clock catering to guests who arrive late at night or need assistance outside of traditional front desk hours. It provides more flexibility, another trend that will soon become mandatory among guests.

The secret sauce: How Bookboost does it

The question is: can you provide a personalised and outstanding guest experience in a hotel where there is no reception? With the right use of technology, you can.

Bookboost is working hand in hand with customers worldwide running receptionless hotels, where all things run smoothly and automated. How exactly are these operations running? Let’s dive into it.

Create audiences in detail

You will get an overview of all your guests' profiles and you can create specific audiences. Why? So you can send each guest the information they need. For example, a returning guest who already knows how to check in will need fewer details than a first-timer. 

On one hand, this will help you to personalise the campaigns and messages you will send them but also to get to know your guests, understand the characteristics of each group, and more. 

A few examples are first-time guests, returning guests, high-spenders, business travellers, and more. 

You can read more about the audiences you can create for your campaigns here. 

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Create templates for communication

If you don’t have a reception or front desk, guests must receive all the information and assets they need at the right time and on the right channel.

How do you do this in Bookboost? In the same platform, you create all the messages you want to send to your guests, either an email, SMS or WhatsApp.

You can use drag and drop, content blocks and personalisation tokens. These tokens will help you to personalise the messages and they go beyond the guest name, all the way to the number of the room, type of room, date of arrival, date of departure, and more.

Once your templates are ready, you can add them to your guest journeys.

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Plan fully automated guest journeys

When a guest journey is in place, the booking confirmation goes out automatically, pre-arrival information is sent according to schedule and even check-in instructions are provided on time. All of it without you having to control it or intervene.

To create a guest journey with Bookboost, you will select an audience, a template and a trigger, meaning, the circumstances under which the message will be sent. 

For example: 

• Audience: First-timers
• Template: Instructions on how to get to the hotel 
• Trigger: the message will be sent 1 day before the arrival date

You can add all the touchpoints from pre-stay (booking confirmation, directions to the hotel, online check-in instructions, etc.) to post-stay (invoice, thank you for booking, feedback request, and more). The best part is that you can personalise it as much as you want. 

In addition, you can create different journeys depending on the type of guests. For example: a journey for first-timers, a journey for returning guests, and more. Each time a new guest books, it will automatically go to the guest journey they belong to.

Running a reception-less hotel can be tough if you don’t have the right help. In Bookboost, a visual guest journey builder helps you to see exactly what will be sent, to whom and on which channel, so you have total clarity and control. In this video, we explain more about how it works.

Reach guests no matter the channel

Hotels normally rely on email and if that doesn’t work, they call guests. However, with no reception and less staff, that is not an approach you can take.

Bookboost tackles all those points by giving hoteliers the option of using multi-channel campaigns. You can select the channel of your preference depending on the type of information. If it’s something that has priority and needs to be read promptly, you can choose SMS or WhatsApp instead of email.

In addition, having a multi-channel option serves as a reliable backup, meaning that if email doesn’t arrive, WhatsApp or SMS will, reaching guests right where they are with the information needed and the next steps in their journey. 

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Smooth online check-in

Since there is no staff in reception, guests need to be able to check in at the time they arrive without any concerns, whether this happens very late at night or early in the morning. This means they need to receive the information digitally and receive a digital key.

Bookboost takes care of the entire check-in process and it integrates with different digital locks providers to provide the digital key or code needed to access the room.

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Check-out without problems

It’s time to check out. In a regular hotel, guests will give back the key or access card and ask for an invoice, while the reception staff will ask them to fill out a form and say thank you for your visit. 

In a hotel without a front desk, this can still take place but without physical interactions.

Using Bookboost, you can create campaigns for the invoice to be sent out, send them a thank you email or ask for a review. All of these will be sent automatically at the check-out date. Since the key was digital, the code will simply change and won’t be useful anymore.

You can even use your guest web app to ask for feedback while they are still in the hotel, getting their opinion and allowing you to identify what can be improved. 

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The secret for a reception-less hotel: High tech & high digital interactions

Running a hotel with no reception and only a small number of staff members can be challenging. You need to make sure that you provide your guests with a quality digital experience that replaces the physical touchpoints and even enhances their stay. 

Accomplishing this without the right technology can be challenging, but once you find the right tech partner, things will run smoothly. Bookboost is partnering with hoteliers around the world to operate hotels with no front desk, helping them to solve these challenges and create a truly memorable guest experience.

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