Building a cohesive hospitality tech ecosystem

As a hospitality professional, you may have encountered the challenge of dealing with fragmented technology systems within the industry. Integrating these disparate tools into your business can often be cumbersome and inefficient, leading to disjointed operations and a less streamlined guest experience.

In this blog, we will explore our connected approach to creating a cohesive tech ecosystem for hospitality businesses. Rather than advocating for a complete overhaul of existing tools—an approach that can be both costly and disruptive—we focus on seamlessly connecting and integrating the technologies you already use.

Our strategy involves creating interoperability between various systems, such as property management software, booking platforms, guest communication tools, and automation systems. By linking these tools together, we enable a smoother flow of information and a more unified operational framework. This connected approach ensures that data is synchronized across platforms, reducing manual input and potential errors, while enhancing the overall efficiency of your business operations.

We believe that by integrating rather than replacing your current technologies, you can achieve a more effective and cohesive tech environment. This not only minimizes disruption but also leverages the full potential of your existing tools, leading to improved guest experiences and streamlined management processes. Stay tuned as we delve deeper into how our connected approach can transform your hospitality business and elevate your operational efficiency.

Hospitality operations essentials

Typically, hospitality professionals use about eight to ten different software products to effectively manage their business. In addition to the PMS as a center of any hospitality tech stack, property managers use these third-party platforms and apps:

• Guest verification solutions

• Smart locks and other smart home systems

• Digital guidebooks (aka guest books and area guides)

• Contract signature tools

• Payment system

• Custom fees and upsell tools

• Customer relationship management (CRM systems)

• SMS messaging and survey tools

• Marketing automation and email technology

• Property care (housekeeping, maintenance management)

• Noise monitoring systems

• Revenue management & dynamic pricing

• Guest Apps

Today each of these categories includes multiple sustainable solutions, with a couple of best-in-class options. Operators can choose the best options for their business or maximize the built-in functionality in their central systems.

But they can also balance both approaches with Enso Connect.

Enso Connect’s unique solution is to integrate and white label those tools within customized workflows. This goes beyond simply transmitting data to the tool and allowing it to function independently. Instead, the tool is integrated into your system, enabling you to set it up, onboard, and pay for it all through one platform.

Here’s how it works. Enso Connect plugs these best-in-class technology partners into users’ guest journeys. Property managers follow the steps in Enso Connect’s Guest Journey Editor, choosing the best tools on every stage with one click.

Here is a step-by-step review of what Enso-connected users can, using the platform:

Booking confirmation

Send confirmation details and the guest app link through multiple channels, including SMS, email, and WhatsApp. Automate this process to ensure that every guest receives timely and personalized communication. Tailor your messaging to align with specific modern guest personas and use cases, enhancing the relevance and engagement of your communications.

Guests can benefit from receiving tailored messages that reflect their preferences and needs, which helps to create a more personalized experience from the moment they book. Whether you prefer crafting custom messages or utilizing pre-designed templates, you can ensure that your communication is both effective and efficient.

This approach not only streamlines the guest onboarding process but also reinforces your commitment to providing a seamless and accommodating experience, contributing to overall guest satisfaction and loyalty.

Guest verification

Customize the screening and verification process to fit each guest and booking case. Operators have the flexibility to choose trusted verification providers like Superhog or Autohost, ensuring robust protection against fraud and liability. For bookings made through platforms like Airbnb, which may already have verification measures in place, operators can also opt to manually collect and verify the guest’s ID for an added layer of security when additional protection isn’t automatically required.

This tailored approach allows operators to adapt the level of security based on the risk profile of each booking, ensuring that the verification process is both efficient and effective. By integrating verification options that suit your operation’s needs, you can protect your property, prevent potential issues, and create a smooth and trustworthy experience for your guests from the outset.

Rental agreements

Create and manage rental agreements in over 200 languages, ensuring accessibility for guests from diverse backgrounds. To streamline the process, integrate an electronic signature solution such as DocuSign, ensuring that all agreements are legally valid and securely stored. Operators can also implement conditional triggers to automatically send these agreements under specific circumstances, such as a last-minute booking or a particular listing that requires additional legal documentation.

This flexibility allows operators to tailor the agreement process based on individual booking scenarios, improving both efficiency and compliance. By making rental agreements accessible, personalized, and legally binding, you can protect your property while enhancing the guest experience with clear and transparent communication.

Security deposits or damage waivers

Charge a security deposit or offer guests a choice between a refundable deposit or a smaller non-refundable damage waiver. Many guests’ personal preference is to pay a damage waiver, allowing the operator to use this money to cover

Fees and upsells

You know why your guests are here, you know who they are. Leverage this data to increase your margins.

House rules and guidebooks

It’s not just about money, but also about creating a personal connection with your guests. Provide information to elevate their stay and give them a reason to come back.

Contactless check-in

Set up everything for a quick and easy check-in. Deliver a seamless digital check-in experience, with or without smart locks.

Checkout

Streamline the checkout process for both your guests and your cleaning team. Provide clear instructions and add efficiencies to the process.Post stayWhy remind every guest to leave a review? Handpick your champions to give you the glowing 5-star reviews you deserve!

Guest experience essentials

The way your hospitality service makes your guests feel before, during, and after the stay is the meaning behind the guest experience. It starts from the moment they book their stay and continues even after they leave the place. It’s all about providing convenience, meeting their expectations, being responsive, making them feel at home, and giving them a local experience they’ll never forget.

What technology is essential for hospitality professionals to ensure their guests have a delightful stay and return for future visits?

In the realm of short stay hospitality, we identify three core elements of guest experience:

A smooth, effortless, and quick processes

This includes streamlined verification, contactless check-in, one-click purchases, available transportation and other convenience services.

Meeting guest expectations

This can be achieved through effective communication, responsiveness, and providing all information necessary for a great stay ahead of time.

Creating lasting memories

Operators can curate available local experiences for their guests. This can be done through providing neighborhood guides, offering tours, excursions, and opportunities to dine and shop locally.

Enso Connect is enabling hospitality professionals to enhance their user experience with the help of its numerous integrations.

Enso-connected operators can provide their guests with a seamless vacation experience, all accessible in one place. With just a single tap, guests can arrange everything from transportation to food delivery and even car rental services from Turo, allowing them to explore nearby locations hassle-free.

Enso Connect links property managers to a wide range of experience partners, connected through the “Zapier of Hospitality,” to assist their guests in tackling various logistics such as transportation, luggage, food, and more.

By incorporating affiliate links to service providers like Uber, Turo, Viator, BabyQuip or local partners, property managers can create additional revenue streams. The ultimate goal is to prioritize the guest satisfaction and provide them with everything they need for a truly memorable vacation.

The flexibility of a connected approach: examples and use cases

Below are a few examples of tailor-made workflows for unique scenarios, created by Enso Connect users for their hospitality businesses:

Access post Verification

One crucial automation is sending check-in instructions and smart lock codes to guests only after they have completed the verification process. If  guest verification is completed with check-in instructions, then the smart lock codes are released.

Making changes to the Customer Journey

Deny access even after releasing check-in instructions with the “Revoke Boarding Pass” feature. This feature ensures that property managers are covered in edge cases when they need to act quickly and make last-minute changes.

Parking Instructions when a guest pays the parking fee

Automate and simplify the parking check-in process. If your Property Management System (PMS) records payment information for parking, Enso Connect can release the check-in instructions for parking. This means that parking instructions will only be shown to guests who have already paid for parking. If the parking fee is paid, then the parking instructions are sent to the guest.

Add protection to high risk reservations

If the reservation process in your PMS is a last minute booking, then add insurance to this reservation.

Tailor Verification for Channels

Save on extra screening and verification costs for Airbnb reservations. Airbnb already has a built-in verification process, which may make paid verification services unnecessary for reservations made through this platform. Enso Connect offers the flexibility to skip paid verification for bookings made through Airbnb.

Seasonality in Hospitality

Display relevant information based on the season when the reservation is made. For instance, if the reservation is for the summer, show digital guidebooks that highlight summer activities. Similarly, display appropriate information for all seasons or other conditions.

Converging Real Estate Assets

Centralize your technology infrastructure for managing different real estate types and brands. If you manage both hotels and vacation rentals, and use two separate property management software, Enso Connect creates a unified guest experience process. This is achieved by linking the two PMS platforms into a single, centralized system.

Simplify Signature & House Rules

Simplify legitimate signature processes to comply with regulations. In some buildings, guests are required to sign specific documentation. Or operators have a rental agreement signature as part of their guest onboarding. Enso Connect can streamline the signature process by pre-populating data from the guest verification form into a DocuSign agreement, sent to the guest.

Increase Direct Bookings with Data

Boost revenue with personalized and targeted marketing campaigns using the data collected from verification forms or other tools such as StayFi. Enso Connect allows you to import data from reservations or StayFi, enrich it with additional information, and export it to marketing automation tools like MailChimp or Hubspot for effective campaigns.