Hi @dbarnesen first things first - we do not have it, but it sounds interesting.

The digital key solution of MEWS will not be free of charge and need to be added to your contract.

Regarding the check-in time: where did you find the article how to set it up at the online check in? whenever i am asking the bot for “online check in: ask for check in time” i only get the article to set the standard check in and check out time

If the guest would choose a later check in time and it would be changed in mews as the arrival time i thing the guest could not use the kiosk or mobile key to check in if arriving earlier. What do you think?

Best

Mariusz

hi @dbarnesen and @Mariusz Siwkowski we are interested in this (asking check in time) also! @Jason.Warnaar any insights you could give on this? ideally speaking it would be part of @Olivia.Dingreville's new updated guest portal?

@Mariusz Siwkowski Thanks for your reply! see the screenshot for the chatbot reply below, i can’t remember exactly what i asked before, but this time i asked if i can request arrival time in online guest services, and again got a the reply that it was possible.

In reply to your question

If the guest would choose a later check in time and it would be changed in mews as the arrival time i thing the guest could not use the kiosk or mobile key to check in if arriving earlier. What do you think?

With the third party solution we have now (Duve connected to Salto) they request the digital key online, and the key works from standard check-in time 15.00 unless they have chosen early check in, in which case it works from whatever early check-in time they chose. If they have said they will arrive at 18.00 but actually arrive at 16.00 it is no problem because the key is active anyway from the default check in time.

This works well, for our hotel in any case, and it means that anyone looking at Mews, front desk, housekeeping, maintenance, can see what tasks should be prioritised for early check-in. Or if you have guests that will arrive very late and want to do something special for them for example.

@mauritsbots I am sure there are many hotels that would like this feature, it’s pretty standard in other PMS i think, also i know that booking.com and other OTAs also ask guests for it.

Mews, if you really want to give a WOW feeling to your hotel customers, let us choose what we ask our guests. No two hotels are alike, no two guests are alike. The more flexible you make the system, the better we can make it fit.

Even Ada the Chat Bot is sharing this vision, apparently :-D

@dbarnesen interesting Thank you for sharing.

Hi, thanks for looping me in this conversation. 

Indeed as part of revamping the guest portal, we want to offer more flexibility to collect relevant info from the guest before they arrive, whether that’s arrival time, preferences, etc. 

We don’t have a timeline as there a few other priorities lined up - including more flexibility around payment details during online check-in. But it’s definitely our radar. 

@dbarnesen I understand how relevant that would be for the staff to know (i.e. staffing, housekeeping, preparing arrival) but I’d be curious to hear a bit more about the impact for your property & practical examples of how your team is using this info if you’re happy to share?

In the thread you also mention Digital Keys, I’d recommend checking out the Mews offering for this - and the upcoming live Q&A session if you’re interested. As you described, the key will be activated for the duration of the reservation, whether there is an early CI or late CO for example. And you also have the option to activate auto-check-in (with some pre-requisites) for the guest to be able to get to their room as soon as it is ready with no manual intervention needed! Looping in my colleague @James.taylor who leads the Digital Key developments. 

Hi @Olivia.Dingreville - I see i never replied to you about asking guests for arrival time, sorry.

 I’d be curious to hear a bit more about the impact for your property & practical examples of how your team is using this info if you’re happy to share?

There are many practical reasons why this is useful.

For guests: guests like that they can specify an arrival time, and they like that they can choose early checkin as an extra paid service. It is also an extra revenue stream. In our experience the guests who don’t know/don’t want to specify just leave it at the default checkin time.

For front desk: it avoids too many guests trying to check in early in busy periods; those that have specified early check in know that they have been prioritised. Those that arrive earlier than specified know that they may have to wait, but they are not unhappy about it because they know already that they didn’t choose this as an addition.

For very late checkins also it is really useful just to know this in advance - it avoids front desk wondering if the guest is coming, and helps for rota planning etc.

Housekeeping/operations: they know which spaces to prioritise for cleaning, in the arrival list or timeline they can see who is coming early.

It is also great to know for example when a guest has ordered extras like flowers/chocolates/champagne etc in the room, this can be planned according to their arrival time.

@dbarnesen thank you for sharing more insights!