What Is a Hotel Check-In Form?
A hotel check-in form is a document that contains the check-in and check-out dates of hotel guests as well as their basic, personal information. The most important parts of a hotel check-in form include the guest’s name, address, and contact information. Often, the accommodation type is also indicated.
When crafting your hotel checking-in form, keep in mind that the guest’s needs must always come first. Simplifying the check-in process creates a positive first impression. But you also must make sure the process does not sacrifice the business’s efficiency. Effective business operation and customer satisfaction must go hand in hand.
A guest’s arrival and check-in at your hotel are two of the most critical parts of their experience with you. Your goal is to make them feel welcomed and cared for. Continue reading for more information on how a digital form can benefit your business.
In this article, the following points are explained:
1. Improving the hotel check-in process
2. How a digital form can speed up hotel check-ins
How to Improve Your Hotel Check-In Process
The unpleasant experience of a long queue while waiting to check-in at the hotel is a common problem faced by guests, especially during the holidays. There are numerous ways you can make check-in at your hotel quick and easy. There are self-service technologies (SSTs), such as hotel check-in kiosks, that you can install as an additional avenue of checking-in guests.
When fewer people are waiting in line at the check-in counter, these desirable results happen:
- There are fewer guest complaints that your front desk staff will need to attend to. This will improve job satisfaction and, at the same time, improve their demeanor towards guests.
- Your front desk staff will have more time to spend with each guest, thereby improving customer service and boosting customer satisfaction.
- You will need fewer attendants at the front desk, therefore reducing your manpower costs.
But since not all hotels can afford check-in kiosks, there is a need to find other solutions to long queues at the front desk. One of the most effective ways to avoid long queues at your check-in area is to take the guesswork out of your hotel check-in form. Apart from that, there are inexpensive ways to improve your hotel check-in process.
Some of them are:
- Traffic Flow Management
- Make sure that each guest has correctly filled out the hotel check-in form. Consider creating something similar to a hospital emergency room triage. Once you arrive at the emergency department of a hospital, a nurse will assess where you belong into three general categories. At your hotel’s front desk, you can assign someone to welcome the guests and guide them according to the type of transaction. Are they checking in or checking out? Are they trying to make a reservation? Are they there to complain about something? Doing this will ensure they are waiting in the correct line, so they aren’t overcrowded in the check-in section.
- Ideally, there should be at least two people at the front desk counter. One person must handle simple requests and inquiries while the other handles the checking-in process and other time-consuming tasks.
- Train your front desk staff to give the guest in front of them their full attention. When you do this, you will make the guest feel special and boost customer satisfaction.
- Mobile Check-in
- Priority Check-in
- Kiosks
- Be Prepared
- Arrivals – Prepare an arrivals report. This should include guest names, room numbers, and estimated arrival times. Make sure special requests are addressed before the guest’s arrival. Don’t forget to have the hotel sign-in sheet ready.
- Departures – Make sure the check-out process is smooth and quick as well. Have a list of guests who are leaving and when. If your hotel offers express checkouts that allow guests to leave without stopping by the front desk, make sure their accounts are settled before they leave the hotel.
- Say “Thank You”
You can improve your operations to help prevent the bottleneck of guests that can happen at your hotel at some point. Here are some tips for improving traffic flow at the check-in counter:
Smartphones are an incredible technology that most of your customers already have. And 73% of travelers say they would use their mobile phones for automated check-ins to bypass the front desk, according to the Seeing Returns study by MCD Partners.
You can take advantage of this as a hotel owner. You can enable mobile check-ins to reduce the need for more staff to man the check-in counter, especially during peak seasons.
There are mobile and online check-in tools that will let your guests provide their info and upload the necessary documents, such as a copy of their ID. The system could also let them know when their room is ready.
Priority check-in is an arrangement that allows your guests to check-in at your hotel without the need to wait in line. There are modern tools you can use to allow priority check-in for your hotel guests; they can scan their IDs even before they arrive at your hotel. Through the app, they can also let you know their estimated time of arrival.
If you use this modern technology, you can set up a VIP line for guests who opted for the priority check-in process. That is if your guest prefers to get their key from the front desk. But you can also use a mobile key, especially for repeat customers.
If you are running a large resort hotel, you can take advantage of check-in kiosks. Automated check-in kiosks are helpful, especially during periods when lines become too long at the check-in counter.
There are times when hotels and resorts have a sudden influx of guests, and it’s almost impossible for front desk staff to accommodate them promptly. There are also times when guests arrive even before their rooms are ready for occupancy.
Both of these scenarios create a bad first impression. You can avoid them if you make your hotel check-in process simple.
Arrivals, departures, and ongoing guest service take up a lot of your front office staff’s time. Doing these processes systematically can make the entire operation run smoothly and worry-free.
Show your guests your appreciation. Extend a genuine thank you each time you interact with your guests. This is especially necessary if the guest has been waiting in line for quite a while. Letting them know that you appreciate their patience and that you understand that their time is valuable will greatly improve guest satisfaction.
How Can a Digital Checklist Help Hotel Check-Ins Go Smoother?
People are impatient as ever these days; they want what they want, and they want it now. If they are held up for any reason, a bad review might just end up on your company website. To prevent events such as these from happening, you need to be smart about how you approach customer service. The first and last impressions are the most important, especially when you’re a business trying to build a loyal customer base. With Lumiform, all these things and more are possible with our mobile application, allowing you to establish a digital, contactless check-in process.
Here is how a digital hotel check-in form can keep the lines moving:
- Use Lumiform’s digital app and software to convert your paper documents into a digital version with our flexible form builder kit
- Conduct contactless check-ins – In the age of Covid, it’s more important than ever to practice social distancing. Because guests can check-in remotely via their own mobile device or hotel kiosk, it reduces the risk of an outbreak in your establishment.
- With faster processing time, it frees up the staff to address guest complaints and carry out other job functions.
- Protect your brand – Faster, smoother check-ins increase customer satisfaction, making it more likely that your guests will do the advertising for you.
- Because the app automatically bundles data into a digital report, it’s easier for managers to keep track of how many guests are in the building.
