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Asking guests for arrival time in Online Guest Services

  • 6 June 2024
  • 5 replies
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dbarnesen

We currently use a third party to handle online checkin and digital keys, one of the main reasons is that we find it useful to know approximately what time guests would like to check in, and this to be automatically reflected in the arrival time shown in Mews. It also gives the guest the opportunity to buy early check in as an extra.

Now that Mews is offering digital keys, I want to see if we can stop using and paying for the third party system and do everything in Mews, hopefully also giving a more seamless experience for the guest.

According to the Mews support chat it is possible to ask guests for arrival time in the Mews online check in, but I have never been able to find out how to do this.

Has anyone got this working directly in Mews?

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Best answer by Olivia.Dingreville 14 June 2024, 16:26

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www.detlillehotel.no

5 replies

Mariusz Siwkowski
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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

mauritsbots
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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?

Questions? Brainstorm? Contact me!
dbarnesen

@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

 

www.detlillehotel.no
Mariusz Siwkowski
Userlevel 5
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@dbarnesen interesting 😊 Thank you for sharing.

Olivia.Dingreville
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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. 

Olivia - Product @Mews

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