What Is an Arrival Report and How Can It Help a Hotel?
At its simplest, an arrival report is a way of keeping track of the guests at your hotel. It lists information such as the following:
- Arrival time and date
- The first and last names of each guest
- The number of adults and children
- The rate the guest has agreed to pay
- Expected checkout date
- The source of the booking – online travel agent, call to front desk, etc.
- The room/s assigned to the guests
- Any special codes, such as VIP codes
- How many times each guest has stayed at this hotel
- Whether the guest is traveling with a group
- Any special preferences or needs the guest may have
- The guest’s contact information, such as their email or telephone number
Everyone in the hospitality business creates some type of report. However, there’s no reason to settle for the simplest arrival report example out there… when it could be so much more.
It’s no secret that the hospitality business has been struggling over the last few years. Travelers have so many options nowadays that you have to bring something special to the table if you want to get noticed.
Using a mobile arrival report can be incredibly helpful in this regard. According to Harvard Business Review, using a mobile app to communicate among your company’s “dispersed workers” increases productivity and reduces wasted time. It even decreases turnover and increases employee engagement, as it allows your staff to do their jobs more easily and effectively.
Just as importantly, a mobile report lets you provide better service. It can inform all staff when a VIP arrives at your hotel. It can also help management properly administer business resources, making sure the right resources are available at the right time.
How Can an Arrival Report Help to Save Money and Increase Profits?
A smooth-running hotel depends on so many pieces falling into place. Ideally, you have as many customers as you have available rooms. And those rooms have to be available when you need them. In this age of social media and online reviews, one forgotten reservation can lead to a public relations disaster.
With a mobile arrival report, you have access to all the arrival information in real-time. You can use this to regulate staff movement according to the number of guests. For example, you can move employee break times to accommodate an unexpected increase in guest arrivals. It’s easier to modify staff schedules and room assignments to adapt to early arrivals and late checkouts. You’ll be informed of no-shows and room cancellations immediately, so you can fit them into your calculations.
When you include the right information in your report, it can help you forecast room occupancy rates and guest arrival times for all sorts of variables. For instance, guests may tend to arrive early on days with good weather, so they’ll have the maximum time to enjoy the hotel facilities. Maybe most of your weekday customers are business travelers who tend to arrive in the early evening. A well-made report will help you figure out when to schedule your staff for maximum efficiency. This not only helps you manage costs, but it also keeps your customers happy.
How Can an Arrival Report Provide Excellent Customer Service?
When you ask customers what they want from a business, the first thing they say is “personalized service.” So when you’re asking yourself, “What details should I include in the arrival report?” think about the information you would need to provide that special touch. For instance, your arrival report can include some of this additional information.
1. A Photograph of the Guest
This can allow your staff to greet the guest by name and quickly meet any special needs and requests. These gestures of friendliness and efficiency can mean a lot, especially for long-stay guests or those who visit frequently.
2. Social Media Information
Guests with a wide social media following will probably share their feelings and experiences during their stay at your hotel. It might be a good idea to make an extra effort to surprise and delight these special guests. The good publicity can be worth it.
3. Special Requests and Needs
A mobile arrival report can keep all staff updated as regards special requests. Maybe one guest has requested a bouquet of red roses to be in the room when they arrive. Housekeeping can check the mobile app and know when the flowers are needed. Or perhaps you have a guest arriving with pets. Your staff will know when a pet-friendly room needs to be available. They can also provide some treats to surprise and delight both customers and animal friends.
Special guests can get the special treatment they deserve, too. The mobile app can help staff become familiar with VIPs, such as guests in luxury suites, guests who are staying for a long time, or guests who visit often. Staff can assign frequent guests with rooms that better fit their needs, or arrange special treats for VIPs, for instance.
4. Contact Information Requests
In a perfect world, all guests would give their email addresses at the front desk upon check-in – but we know this doesn’t always happen. A mobile arrival report can help remind staff to request the guest’s contact information when missing. Once you have a guest’s email, you can send out special offers and otherwise keep in touch. It might mean the difference between a single stay and a repeat guest. Or a guest who books by calling your front desk instead of with an online travel agent.
The Benefits of an Efficient Digital Tool for Arrival Reports
If you want to have control of your guests’ arrival, you need to keep track of everything that’s going on. It also includes knowing that tasks have been completed and executed according to your standards. With digital checklists from the app and desktop software, it’s easier for hotel managers and staff to stay organized before an arrival.
With Lumiform, the mobile and intuitive app for inspections and audits, hotel staff complete their tasks in a targeted manner using digital reports. The digital tool helps ensure compliance with hotel operating procedures to the satisfaction of guests.
The following benefits with Lumiform:
- With the flexible form builder, any customized paper list can be transformed into a digital hotel checklist in just a couple of minutes.
- Lumiform offers a variety of ready-to-use templates for hotels to get started digitally quickly and securely.
- Using the intuitive mobile app, all teams can perform any inspection or task on-site with ease and in a time-saving manner.
- All inspection results are automatically bundled into one report and can be sent to stakeholders.
