Hotel Online: Special Needs or Common Requests: How Virtual Queuing Improves the Guest Experience
Article Publish Date: August 2, 2022
Article Abstract:
Hotels go to great lengths to accommodate guests with special needs. During the reservation process, guests are asked about concerns such as wheelchair accessibility or a crib so that people have the amenities they need when they arrive. A quality hotel will do everything it can to ensure these guests’ additional needs are met.
However, there’s often a gap in this commitment to service: check-in. If a guest with special needs encounters a long wait when arriving at the hotel, the customer experience may immediately deteriorate. Someone struggling with a medical condition shouldn’t be stuck standing for a long time simply to get their roomkey. And a big family with little kids in a crowded lobby is chaos waiting to happen.
Virtual queuing offers a way to better accommodate special needs and ensure guests aren’t needlessly stressed during check-in, thereby creating a better experience for all guests.
Virtual queuing is most often associated with restaurants, retail service counters, DMVs, and other businesses in which customers might need to wait a long time before their turn comes up. It can also be applied to a hotel check-in setting, particularly at casino resorts, big convention hotels, or popular family destinations—anyplace where the lobby can become crowded when swarms of guests arrive.