Do you remember a time when you were handed a metal key at the time of a hotel check-in?
If that were to happen now, it would be considered bizarre and ‘out of place’! Now, with technology, metal room keys have transformed into room key cards and registration books into sophisticated online systems.
The hospitality industry has, time and again, used technology to its advantage. In a world that’s driven by technological advancements, what else can we really expect?
Technology makes lives easier and productive. Can you remember the last time you paid your hotel bill in cash? Or the last time you manually checked out of different venues?
Going cashless? You can thank NFC technology for that.
NFC Technology and Hospitality
NFC (Near Field Communication) technology is a revolutionary facet of technology that’s transforming the hospitality industry, one step at a time. It’s widespread popularity has been driven in part by NFCs ability to function without an internal power supply.
Through NFC technology, information can be transferred over short distances seamlessly. This technology has become a boon to the hospitality industry, allowing businesses to offer a better customer service experience.
Five Ways Hospitality Can Benefit From NFC Technology
The hospitality industry is an umbrella industry, covering various major areas of business. The use of NFC Wearable Technology can act as a revenue generator and prove to be a great guest management solution in the hospitality industry.
Here are some of the ways NFC technology can benefit the hospitality industry:
Cashless Payments
Going cashless is the new norm now. You no longer have to struggle to find the exact change to pay for a service. Once your debit or credit card is connected, a simple tap will complete the transaction securely.
NFC has so many advantages over its competitors, that it’s almost unfair. Apps need to be downloaded and tediously navigated through, while bluetooth solutions take ages to process a single payment. Data shows that on average only 2-5% of guests download hotel apps. Reasons include not wanting the hassle of installing an app for a short stay, they do not have enough memory on their devices, or they are not able to do so on the company phone.
Across hundreds of retails industries, NFC has made waves as a natural, easy, secure, and quick payment method. Bit by bit, the hospitality industry is taking the steps to make payments and transactions in their own establishments a smooth, hassle-free process – and NFC is where it all starts.
Easy Account Logging
An important part of the hospitality experience is seamlessly linking points of sale and access to a customer’s room account.
Any business benefits greatly from making this process streamlined. In the case of the hospitality industry, it allows an establishment to have a solid, real-time log of all purchases and room access times – allowing a manager to better understand customer behaviour while streamlining the data logging process.
Room Keys
From metal keys to cards with magnetic strips, we’ve tried it all. NFC technology takes it a step further by eliminating the use of tangible objects to access rooms and facilities.
It isn’t just about digitizing a guest’s security, however. Every business has a bottom line, and NFC solutions are considerably easier and cheaper to install, monitor, and manufacture.
Take the alternate route of using NFC locks. Not only will you have to worry about the costs of software development, you’ll also have to install a new lock for every single room in a hotel – a cost that can shoot up to as much as €500 per unit.
This is definitely not ideal for establishments that often have over 100 rooms. Add to this the tedium of downloading and navigating through app-based security solutions, and you’ve got a pretty strong argument for NFC.
With NFC, opening doors are as easy as a single tap with the guests’ form factors. This technology will also help guests avoid the frustratingly long queues, making check-ins and check-outs a significantly smooth process.
A Serious Push Towards Sustainability
Travelers today are more sensitive to environmental causes than ever before. While tourism and hospitality have been considered as ‘wasteful’ industries in the past, modern solutions such as NFC allow for a sustainable, easy-to-implement change that helps reduce an establishment’s carbon footprint.
The old-school hotel experience is marked by an abundance of paper used just about everywhere – from posters to area maps, paper coupons, brochures, in-room guidebooks, and everything in between.
By incorporating NFC tags into a hotel, you can easily transmit all this information to customers’ devices with a single tap – massively reducing wastage while saving on printing costs.
You can even update this information on the fly – allowing customers to take advantage of new discounts and stay up-to-date on nearby events.
WiFi Access
Let’s face it – most of us wouldn’t survive without WiFi. Guests tend to give preference to businesses that offer a WiFi connection. Through NFC technology, tags can be configured to provide immediate WiFi access without the use of a password. Now that’s peak customer service.
The Takeaway:
The hotel industry has witnessed a massive spike through the use of NFC technology. This technology has the potential to transform the business front, generating more revenue and profit all while enriching the customer experience and ensuring satisfaction.
The question is: Will we let NFC technology transform our businesses?
The stats tell the story. According to current predictions, we expect to see over 1.8 billion NFC devices by 2024.
As user integration and NFC functionality becomes even more streamlined, the sky’s the limit for how well we can incorporate this tech into our lives – even while on vacation!
About PouchNATION
PouchNATION is asia’s leading all-in-one cashless and guest management solution for venues and events that digitize operations and increase guest spend using NFC wearable technology. Find out how your venue can benefit from our scalable and flexible solutions here.
