Four Mobile Concierge Apps for Hoteliers and Guests
But a mobile concierge can be a smart solution to both delight your guests and take the pressure off your front desk.
If you’re reading this, you’re no doubt aware there are a lot of different mobile concierge solutions on the market. So to help you decide which one is best for your hotel, we’ll talk you through the key features to look out for, and give you our opinion on some of the options available:
- Operto Guest
- Monscierge
- ALICE
- Duve
Let’s get started by looking at how mobile concierge software can impact the hotelier and guest experience.
You can create a fully customizable branded mobile concierge
Mobile concierge software: What it does for the hotelier and guest experience
Hotels nowadays offer more than just a place to sleep. As guests become more interested in cultural activities and events, hotels can curate unique experiences to help travelers get the most out of their stay.
Traditionally, the hotel concierge was the gatekeeper to local information and recommendations, but technology is stepping into this role.
Advantages of a digital concierge for hotels
- Less workload. A mobile concierge means fewer questions from guests. You can reduce your staff’s workload, and your team can focus on adding value in areas that can’t be automated.
- Efficiency. Using a mobile concierge as a hub for messaging between the front desk and guests will mean communication is kept in one place and messages won’t get lost. Centralizing guest communications alongside your other automated management solutions will make you more efficient. And you can even have a dedicated remote team for handling communication to speed up response times.
- Branding. You can use your digital concierge to create a memorable experience for your customers as part of your hotel guest engagement strategy. Giving your guests an easy-to-use mobile concierge with thoughtful and timely recommendations will help your guests feel engaged and connected to your brand and make them more likely to repeat-book.
Advantages for guests
- Convenience. Nearly 93% of consumers want to communicate via text rather than phone, so giving your guests an app will mean they can ask all their questions in their preferred format.
- Control. Guests can be less dependent on staff with no need to line up at the front desk when they arrive, and they can use keyless door technology to come and go as they please.
- Personalization. Not all guests have the same expectations, but it’s possible to predict their preferences by the information they provide during check-in. So if you know your guests are a family with young children, you can recommend the local sea life center for a day out.
- Flexibility. Guests don’t have to wait until they’re checked in to make the most of a mobile concierge. From the moment they book, they can start interacting with digital guides as they look for ideas on what to do. And since it’s mobile, they can use the service as they’re trekking down a mountainside to book a much-needed spa visit before dinner.
- Contactless. A mobile concierge creates a modern, digital experience for guests that slots in with other contactless elements of the guest journey like mobile check-in and keyless access.
Let’s take a look at the features that make a great mobile concierge app.
Key features you should look for in mobile concierge apps
Here are some of the main features to look out for when deciding which mobile concierge app is right for your hotel:
Web-based app
Some hotels ask customers to download an app when they arrive at their hotel, but research shows that guests don’t like to download hotel apps. Even major chain apps have low download rates, and most of the downloads are due to specific chain loyalty programs and repeat bookings with those chains, rather than a one-off stay:
“Only 19 percent of the 63,000-plus guests who participated in the research have downloaded a hotel mobile app.”
Contactless check-in/room access
Providing a guest app that integrates with your hotel’s PMS and bookings makes it easy for you to offer digital check-in and contactless access. This creates a seamless guest experience, and takes them away from the front desk.
Essential information about the hotel and local area
A digital hotel welcome book gives you unlimited space to provide essential information like WiFi codes and nice-to-know tips about the best place to watch the sunset. You can make regular updates to a digital guide and customize it to suit different profiles of guests.
Communication
If your guests need more clarity about onsite amenities or restaurant opening times, a two-way messaging feature in your hotel guest app will allow them to interact with staff without creating lines at the front desk.
Upgrades and upsells
The app creates the opportunity for targeted hotel upselling. From the moment they book, you can tell visitors about available pre-arrival upgrades and special offers. And instead of having to remind staff to catch guests on their way to dinner and tell them what’s on offer, you can strategically share promotions that are catered to their tastes and preferences.
Room service ordering
In the past, guests would phone in their room service based on a printed menu. With hotel guest experience software, they can use smart buttons to order through the app. And you can update menu items depending on the season or availability and adjust pricing as necessary.
Branding
A white-label mobile concierge means you can add your hotel’s logo and brand colors to your guest app, helping your guests to engage with your brand as they enjoy the smart tech experience provided by the app.
Multilingual
If you get visitors from overseas, a mobile concierge that offers a range of language options will help avoid lost-in-translation moments that can be frustrating for guests and staff.
Four mobile concierge apps for hotels
Let’s look at four mobile concierge solutions on the market and see what each one brings to the hotel experience:
Operto Guest
Operto Guest is a standalone web app for guests that integrates with Operto’s suite of automated solutions for hotel management. Providing a concierge service, it facilitates a contactless guest journey with online check-in, digital guides, and guest-to-hotelier messaging.
Features of Operto Guest include:
- Custom branding. Ability to add the hotel’s logo and brand colors
- Digital hotel check-in and check-out. Guests can check in online before arrival and receive the codes for their mobile key
- Operto messenger. Smart buttons let guests contact the front desk
- Smart upsells. Staff can directly target guests with in-app offers and messaging
- Auto translation. Five languages are available: English, French, German, Spanish, and Italian
- Digital guides. Create unlimited mini-sites about hotel amenities, local attractions and activities, menus, and more
- Synching with Property Management System (PMS). Integrations include keyless locks, thermostats, and noise monitoring
- Near me. A toggle with local information, you can promote small businesses and provide a personal touch for guests with curated recommendations
Operto Guest is a standalone web app, and you don’t need to purchase smart locks or other tools from the Operto suite.
However, you can connect it to Operto for more functionality, including:
- Reservation monitoring across rooms
- Monitoring of temperature, noise, keyless access, and housekeeping teams
- Team messaging and task assignment
Hoteliers who use Operto Guest say it’s transformed their business and enables them to offer an enhanced guest experience with less staff. They also praise Operto’s dedicated customer service teams who quickly deal with issues and feel like an extension of the hotel team.
Pricing: $8/room/month
You can create a fully customizable branded mobile concierge with no download required. Give guests everything they need to enjoy their stay in the palm of their hand with Operto Guest.
- Beautiful, unlimited content with photography and videos
- Digital guides that cut guest questions and even cancellations
- Digital check-in to free up your front desk
- Streamlined two-way messaging from your dashboard
- Smart buttons that monetize guests
Monscierge
Like Operto Guest, Monscierge offers a digital concierge containing information on hotel menus, map directions, and local recommendations.
Their Mobile App for Guests includes:
- In-app check-in and check-out
- PMS integration
- Digital keys
- Digital guides with information on hotel amenities and local recommendations
- Available in 26+ languages
- Opportunity to promote upsells, in-house services like restaurants and cafes, reward programs, or local businesses
- Guest messaging and staff task management
A key difference with Operto Guest is that Monsierge’s Connect Mobile App isn’t web-based, so guests have to download it via iOS or Android.
Monscierge also offers interactive lobby displays and touchscreens for guests to use around hotels and resorts.
Hoteliers who work with Monscierge say their lobby touchscreens are a big hit with guests and a focal point for interaction between front desk staff and new arrivals.
However, installing large touchscreens around the hotel or resort is very expensive, and some customers complain that the system’s interface is not very easy for non-technical staff to use or comment that these high-touch areas become dirty very quickly and aren’t hygienic. Also, guests are often reluctant to download an app onto their phone for a short stay.
Pricing: Provided by the vendor
ALICE
ALICE’s concierge is another downloadable app that gives guests the chance to contact staff with questions and requests for concierge services. It gives hotels a single online location for communicating with guests and lets them upsell services through push notifications.
Main features
- SMS text messaging option for guests who don’t want to download the app
- In-app messaging between guests and staff
- Client support with frequent requests for feedback and suggestions for improvements from the help team
- PMS integration
- Customer Relationship Management (CRM) integration to improve customer service among returning guests
- Branded itineraries to give hotel-branded documents a polished look
A popular feature of the app is ALICE Local, which lets hotels integrate Google Maps with their own database of local businesses containing the hotel’s insider knowledge of where to go and who to call when you need a last-minute reservation.
ALICE’s customers praise its easy-to-use interface and the way the tool saves time for busy concierges by automating processes. Where it differs from Operto is its role as a support tool for the front desk. Guests can access the messaging system, but it’s front desk staff who remain the gatekeepers of concierge knowledge using the ALICE system.
Pricing: Provided by the vendor
Duve
Duve offers a contactless guest experience with a web-based app that connects front desk staff and guests.
It lets hotels digitize and automate different concierge services from check-in to payment processing. Plus it has a digital guide with messaging and recommendations and upsells.
Main features:
- Personalized web-based guest app
- Digital spots (QR stands) available around the hotel linking to relevant parts of the concierge system
- Chat with real-time translations for the guests and the hosts
- Unified inbox with email, SMS, chat, Whatsapp
- Digital guidebook about the hotel and local area
- Mobile key
- Upsell key services
- Pre-scheduled messages by segments and smart filters
- PMS integration
Duve’s customers are very positive about the app, particularly the contactless features that work quickly and smoothly and the simplification of customer communication through one unified inbox.
However, some hoteliers complain that the app doesn’t offer as many integrations as they would like and that there could be more personalization of automatic emails.
Pricing: From $5 per room per month for a basic guest app up to $9 for premium
The best mobile concierge for your hotel
A mobile concierge can reduce the workload of front desk staff and improve the efficiency of hotel operations, while creating a personalized experience for guests that puts them in control of their stay.
As we’ve seen, the most accessible and popular mobile concierges are web-based so guests will still be able to access all the information they need for their stay without having to download an app. They should form a seamless part of a guest’s contactless journey and integrate with tools like online check-in, in-app communication, and keyless access.
Plus, a mobile concierge should be white label, so you can use your hotel’s branding, and associate that brand personality with a comfortable and streamlined guest experience.
You can create a fully customizable branded mobile concierge with no download required. Give guests everything they need to enjoy their stay in the palm of their hand with Operto Guest.
- Beautiful, unlimited content with photography and videos
- Digital guides that cut guest questions and even cancellations
- Digital check-in to free up your front desk
- Streamlined two-way messaging from your dashboard
- Smart buttons that monetize guests
Frequently asked questions about mobile concierge apps
What is a concierge app?
A concierge app is a tool for guests to access the services they would usually get from a front desk concierge, like room service, local information, and assistance with booking travel and restaurant reservations.What is a digital concierge service?
A digital concierge service offers front desk services like room service and travel bookings in a digital format. It can be available as a downloadable app, a web-based tool, or even touchscreens located around a hotel or resort.What are the benefits of a concierge app?
A concierge app can reduce the workload of front desk staff and create a personalized and convenient tool for guests to access the concierge services of a hotel in the palm of their hand.More Articles
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