Marriott goes mobile with check-in and checkout
The Marriott Mobile app, which has already been downloaded over 2.8 million times, now allows guests to check-in and checkout at the touch of a button and is available at 348 of the luxury hotel brand’s 500 properties across the globe.
“By relentlessly focusing on the needs of the next generation of travellers who are mobile and global, Marriott Hotels is putting itself at the forefront of the hotel mobile revolution,” said Paul Cahill, senior vice president of brand management for Marriott Hotels.
“When we launched our Travel Brilliantly campaign last year, we made a promise to introduce innovations for our guests that provide a seamless and more customised experience throughout their entire journey.
“We’re excited to add mobile checkout to our portfolio of innovations as Marriott Hotels reimagines the future of travel."
Positive feedback
The new mobile service is exclusively for Marriott Rewards members. In the morning of their departure day, Marriott Rewards guests will receive a push notification on their Apple iPhones or Android devices, alerting them mobile checkout is available.
Upon completing mobile checkout, guests will then be prompted to provide an email address and their bill will be emailed to them, allowing the guests to bypass the front desk on their way out.
Since launching in July 2013, there have been more than 150,000 mobile check-ins and guests are reacting very positively. In feedback, they cite ‘convenience’ and ‘faster check-in’ among the hotel’s best qualities. All 500 of Marriott’s properties will offer the mobile check-in and checkout service later this year.
The group is also currently testing future mobile services that will lead to a digital, two-way conversation with their guests. At these ‘incubator hotels’, guests using the chat feature on their smartphones can make requests to hotel staff for things such as extra pillows, bath amenities, towels, valet parking and wake up calls, or anything else.
Special Feature: Hospitality Technology
Marriott joins a number of major hotel brands that are now embracing technology as a way of enhancing the guest experience. Earlier in the month, Starwood Hotels & Resorts unveiled new smartphone key technology which enables guests to bypass the front desk altogether; and just last week Jurys Inn Hotel Group began piloting mobile online check-in at its Islington hotel, with a view to rolling it out across all of its UK properties.
So there couldn’t be a better time for BigHospitality’s ‘Hospitality Technology’ Special Feature, which takes a closer look at all of this tech and more; ultimately concluding whether it brings a good return on investment for the business owner.
The four-part Special Feature – which includes a video tour of the super-high-tech CitizenM hotel in London’s Bankside, will be sent out in an exclusive newsletter next week. Sign up for free here.
