Are hotel receptionists a dying breed? In a recent survey of consumer attitudes, two-fifths of respondents said they would much prefer the speed and convenience of a self-service kiosk when checking in and out of hotels as opposed to dealing with a human being.
It’s a concept whose time seems finally to have come, now that we’re all familiar with using kiosks for the likes of DVD rental, car hire and, of course, flight check-in. Hotels have tried check-in kiosks before, but they were plagued by technical difficulties. Now they’re trying again with more success.
‘Our guests are coming in with new expectations because the technology has really arrived,’ says Robert Machen of the Hilton. ‘The bar has been set by the airline check-in success,’ adds Robert Chan of IBM Canada’s e-access solutions. ‘The natural evolution is to extend it to hotel services and give the guest choice and control.’
The standard hotel kiosk, typically found in large-scale resorts and convention properties, has a barcode scanner for reading reservation printouts, a key dispenser, and a chip and pin reader for payments. And more functions are being added, such as interactive maps showing fast routes to local attractions. With most guests owning mobile phones, the next phase will go further, allowing people to check in by swiping mobile phones over readers.
