The front desk of a hotel is typically one of the busiest and most chaotic areas. In an effort to reduce chaos and improve efficiency, technology can play an important role in automating many of the administrative tasks associated with running a hotel.

Automation can help streamline processes such as check-in and checkout, housekeeping, reservations and more, allowing UK hotels to save time and money while providing a better experience for guests.

In this article, we’ll discuss the numerous benefits of automating your hotel’s administrative tasks to reduce front desk chaos in the UK.  We’ll also explore how automation can improve customer service, increase efficiency and reduce costs. Finally, we’ll look at some of the best automation solutions available to UK hotels.

By the end of this article, you should have a better understanding of how automating your hotel’s admin tasks can help to eliminate front desk chaos and make running a business smoother and more efficient.

Shortcomings in managing your hotel business manually

Hotels have traditionally been managed manually for a long time. However, if you choose to continue running your hotel business without utilising technology, there may be some drawbacks that you could encounter as a hotelier.

Inefficient data management

Managing your hotel business manually can result in inefficient data management, such as guest information, inventory, and financial records. As a result, you may face difficulty making informed business decisions and tracking real-time data analysis for trends and market demand.

Lack of integration between departments

If your business is operated manually, there might be no integration among different hotel departments. Consequently, it could cause operational inefficiencies that may slow down services to your guests and negatively affect their experience.

Manual inventory management

Managing your hotel inventory manually is a tedious task, which can be prone to human error. This can lead to inaccurate room availability and pricing, which can cause challenges when trying to fulfil guest requests.

Increased labour cost

If you manage your hotel business manually, it can quickly become more labour-intensive. It can lead to errors, the processes will become time-consuming and the labour costs will also increase.

Benefits of automation in hotel administration

If you adopt automation in your hotel business, it can help you streamline your operations, increase efficiency and provide better customer service. Automation has numerous benefits for your hotel administration, such as:

Increased operational efficiency

Automation technology helps you manage your operations more efficiently by automating routine tasks such as reservations, check-ins, and housekeeping. This allows your staff to focus on more complex tasks, which ultimately improves productivity and reduces errors.

Financial advantage

By automating manual processes, you can reduce labour costs thereby increasing the overall profit of your hotel business. Automation also helps you to manage dynamic pricing, which can result in increased revenue.

Improved customer experience

Automation helps you to provide your guests with seamless and personalised experience. Automated services such as online booking, automated check-in, and digital key handling can help you to make the entire process hassle-free for your customers.

Data insights

Automation technology generates a lot of data that you can use as a hotelier to improve your business operations and customer service. Data insights can help you to make informed decisions about pricing, staffing, and marketing strategies.

How can automation in hotel businesses maintain order at the front desk?

Are you a hotelier who wants to maintain order at the front desk? Implementing automation in your business can help achieve this. It has the potential to streamline check-in and check-out processes, reduce wait times and provide guests with a more efficient and personalised experience. There are various ways that automation can help your business, such as:

Self-Service Kiosks

One way to improve guest experience is by setting up self-service kiosks that allow them to check-in and check-out on their own. These kiosks can use facial recognition technology to hasten the check-in process, and guests no longer have to wait in long lines at the front desk. The move can help lessen congestion and disorder at the front desk and allow staff to concentrate on other tasks that require personal interaction.

Mobile Apps

One way to improve guest experience at your hotel is by creating mobile apps that enable guests to book rooms, check-in, and order room service right from their own devices. By doing this, guests can enjoy a more personalised and seamless stay, and even skip the front desk altogether. Additionally, sending push notifications about upgrades, dining choices, and other amenities can further enhance the guest’s overall experience.

Automated Messaging

Automated messaging systems can be utilised in your hotel business to interact with guests prior to, during, and after their stay. This can involve sending pre-arrival messages that provide directions and other valuable details, as well as conducting post-stay surveys and sharing promotional offers. Automating these messages allows you to ensure that guests receive pertinent information promptly, without burdening your staff with the task of manual communication. This can easily be done from within your PMS, such as Preno.

Where does a Property Management System (PMS) come in?

To efficiently manage your hotel business, you can use a Property Management System. This tool can seamlessly integrate different hotel operations and provide features such as room management, allowing you to manage your room inventory, availability, and rates.

The PMS has a few useful features. One of them is the customer relationship management (CRM) which can provide you with insights into the spending habits of your guests. Another feature is the housekeeping management that helps you keep track of schedules of the housekeeping department. Lastly, it’s mobile accessibility enables your staff to manage guest requests from any location. That way, you can respond to their needs quickly and efficiently.

A PMS also offers automation features like automated emails and notifications, which streamlines communication with guests. Other benefits include digital key handling, payment processing, cost reduction, data-driven insights into customer behaviour, and more. All these help you to provide a better experience for your customers and run your hotel operations more efficiently.

Overall, automation can provide a number of benefits in a hotel business and help you maintain order at the front desk. With the right tools and strategies, you can easily streamline all aspects of the guest experience from booking to check-out. Additionally, automating processes like customer service and payment processing helps reduce

The advantages of using a PMS:

Improved Inventory Management: As a hotelier, PMS can help you keep track of your business inventory in real-time, making it easier to manage rooms, services, and other offerings.

Enhanced Guest Experience: By automating certain aspects of your business, you can provide guests with a more personalised stay. Automated features also enable you to respond quickly to their concerns and requests.

Streamlined Accounting and Financial Reporting: With PMS, you can automate your accounting and financial reporting. You can easily track revenue, expenses, and profits, or generate accurate financial statements.

Enhanced marketing and sales: PMS can help you as a hotelier in gathering valuable guest data. You can use that data to tailor marketing campaigns, improve guest engagement, and increase sales.

Improved staff communication: PMS can facilitate communication between your staff members, making it easier to coordinate tasks, share information, and resolve issues in real time.

As you can see, integrating a PMS into your hotel business is a key factor for success and can help you create a seamless guest experience. By automating certain processes, you can ensure that all aspects of the guest journey are managed efficiently – from booking to check-out. Additionally, these systems provide valuable data and insights that can help you improve your business operations. So, if you’re looking to take your hotel to the next level, a PMS is an ideal solution.

Ultimately, using automation in hospitality helps optimise processes and reduce costs while increasing customer satisfaction. With the right strategies and tools in place, any hotel can make the most out of their operations and achieve long-term success. Now that you know how a PMS can help your business, why not give Preno a try? Sign up now for a free 7-day trial.