HOTEL INNOVATIONS

Apps are modern day small inventions designed for mobile devices. It enables you perform a little beyond what a computer program can do. Short for "applications software", they are created by app producers for big telecommunications platforms like Apple app store, Google play, Windows phone store  and blackberry App World. They were originally offered for general productivity and accessibility to information but demand has increased its scope and capabilities.

Based on feedback from users, apps are constantly worked and improved on thereby necessitating regular upgrades by users. Upgrades prompts are sent to users as soon as improved editions are available. There are myriad of different apps serving same purpose so competition is cut-throat as apps producers on different platforms battle for the soul of our mobile devices.Some are free with the burden of adverts and you have to pay to access some.

Enough of telecoms, let's move to familiar territory. Hospitality. I was in one of the foremost hotels in Nigeria recently and after eighteen years of my time there, not much has changed! Apart from the deliberate weaning of the old order of human resources for the more preferred younger and trainable workforce, facilities and infrastructures remain largely the same.

Producers depend on users’ feedback for innovation and improvements on their device. Hotels are supposed to use intelligent information gathering to improve not only services but also facilities. Am not talking about drab letters left in suggestion box, events have overtaken that mode. Dynamics of guest feedback requires planning, tact and knowledge of workings of social medium. It’s no longer enough to collate information from guests without interpreting it.

Information collation is not an end in itself but a means to an end of giving consideration to guests' complaints and observations. A guest that made a complaint will not only be expecting a change on his next visit but also an update. Based on guest satisfaction index, observations and complaints can be aggregated into meaningful task(s) with timeline that the management can identify with.

Guests' feedback is also useful for room revenue management, budgetary purposes, sales forecast, room upgrade and discount planning. Managing guests' feedback is not a one off undertaking; it is a process that requires patience and an elementary knowledge of statistics. Cooperation between departments is also vital to the success of the exercise.Apart from the traditional means of sourcing information from guests, occasional informal cocktails meeting with guests can be a veritable method of data sourcing. Asking guests direct questions will not only reveal relevant information but also give guest sense of belonging that will ultimately translate into loyalty.

By way of closing as this subject cannot be exhausted here, improvements and innovations are continuous change process that must be professionally handled for maximum result. Today's invention is tomorrow's relic. Serious.