Isabella
October 31, 2020
Exactly how big is the impact of COVID-19 on the hospitality industry? There’s been 50% revenue decline in 2020, a year that’s projected to be the worst year on record for hotel occupancy. Either out of 10 hotel rooms are empty, and forecasted occupancy rate for 2020 is worse than 1933 during the Great Depression. On the operational side, 70% of hotel employees have been laid off or furloughed, and nearly 3.9 million hotel-supported jobs have been lost since the pandemic began. On the bright side, in times of crisis there’s a bigger opportunity for breakthrough and growth. This pandemic has drastically transformed guests’ expectations and purchase behaviors. Convenience and safety are the new standards and now is the perfect time for hospitality businesses to understand the new trend and adapt for changes.
FanFood on-premise contactless ordering platform for hotels, resorts, restaurants and more.
This blog covers the various use cases and considerations that hospitality properties need to be aware of when using contactless ordering services on premise. Minimize Physical Touch-points
One of the most obvious benefits of contactless ordering is the reducing in-person interactions. Guests can scan a QR code or enter a short URL link to order online, without having to touch a physical menu or talk to a server. Even for room services — guests no longer have to touch the bedside phone! They can simply pull out their mobile phone and order away.
Be it on-premise F&B outlets, nearby restaurants or even gift shops, guests can scan a QR code and place an order directly in their web browser.
This contactless process eliminates the need for a cashier and a server. The only employee touching the food would be the kitchen staff and the waiter bringing the food (FanFood has a Delivery App serving exactly that purpose. More on that later.) This gives guests the peace of mind to make purchases when staying at the hotel, and as a result they’re more likely to order more frequently. Guests will also appreciate the customer-centric approach and the thoughtfulness of the hotel to offer such an amenity. And this doesn’t apply to just on-premise food and beverage services. You can also list gift shop merchandise on the platform, or other types of services such as spa, laundry, gym reservation etc. For F&B and merchandise sale, the uses cases are endless: contactless table service, room service, poolside delivery, express pickup, curbside pickup…or delivery to any designated location on premise. Whatever the use case you consider as the most relevant for your property, contactless ordering will help you reduce physical touch points in between.
The ability to place order on their own phones gives guests the agency to order whenever and wherever they want, without having to wait for someone to serve them. This means greater convenience and faster service speeds for guests, which ultimately result in a better, more frictionless customer experience. Be it seated at the restaurant, waiting in their room or even away from the hotel, guests can pull up the menu to view availabilities, and order right then and there. Especially on our platform, hotels can set up pre-ordering options for scheduled delivery or pickup. That means the kitchen can be aware of future orders and manage inventory, as well as order preparation, in an optimal way. Our system also supports real-time chatting between guests, kitchen and delivery staff. This removes the need for a server to be relaying messages back and forth, and allows speedy communication with the guests regarding whatever they need. This level of convenience, instancy and on-demand service is hard to achieve otherwise.
What our hospitality partners love about our solution is how seamless the entire process is for the staff. Once the guest places an order, it will automatically show up on your POS system. Yes, we integrate with your POS system — or if you prefer to operate separately, we have a Manager Portal that you can access on any device on which you can open an Internet browser. The Manager Portal is equally potent, if nor more, as other POS systems.
The Manager Portal can be easily accessed on any portable device that has access to an Internet browser.
Once the order shows up on the POS system and Kitchen Display System, the kitchen staff can see if it’s a pre-order or an immediate order, and start preparing right away. Once the order is ready, they can assign the order to a server directly from the Manager Portal. The server can view assigned orders and locate customers on their own phones through the Delivery App, and deliver the order to the guest on-premise. Thanks for the coordination among different tools in our toolkit — aka the Consumer App, the Manager Portal and the Delivery App — the entire service is much more efficient, streamlined and speedier for both the staff and the customer.
If you think that investing in a branded contactless ordering platform is both costly and time-consuming — think again. We understand that brand recognition and customer loyalty is paramount for hotel properties. That’s why as much as possible, we encourage our partners to choose platforms that can be fully customized to fit their branding and operational models. Luckily, we offer multiple options for platform customization, app integration, and hands-on customer success support to help each property figure out the best implementation plan. To learn more about our flexible and cost-effective white-labeling solution, see our blog on why you need a white-labeled solution for contactless ordering.
If you’d like to learn more about how hotels and hospitality venues can implement on-premise contactless ordering, or what are some considerations to take note of when doing so, feel free to submit this form for a free consultation or platform demo and learn how we can fit in your operations.