it is huge ,” says Robert Cole , president of tech consultancy RockCheetah , Menomonee Falls , Wisconsin . “ Instead of the manager having to stop and go find someone ’ s phone number and call them , boom , you send them a text message , and they get it and can reply back . Maybe the text is in a format where it ’ s not really coming from the manager ’ s phone : It ’ s coming from an automated service where they just have to reply ‘ Y ’ or ‘ N ,’ and in the latter case it goes to number-two on the list .”
And while it ’ s true — some things do get occasionally lost in translation — experts say the pros still outweigh the cons . Spire Hospitality , Northbrook , Illinois , is yet another company that has implemented mobile technology for
Starwood iS among the early adopterS of keyleSS check-in programS .
internal communications and is already reaping the benefits , despite the minor drawbacks .
“ Utilizing the technology has made our operations and sales teams and corporate teams a lot more efficient ,” says Ginny Morrison , vice president of sales and marketing for Spire Hospitality . “ The flip side of that is sometimes maybe we can ’ t communicate as effectively because things get interpreted differently sometimes when you ’ re quickly trying to spit out a text . But things are faster . We can deliver higher quality results to our guests and still communicate quicker and more effectively .”
Training booster The shift toward mobile is boosting training efforts as well , according to industry sources . Hilton executives say they ’ ve seen positive results from using a mobile approach to training , particularly for its sales force , and has developed multiple incentives to drive usage . The company recently developed a program to “ gamify ” sales training through mobile-enabled business simulations . It includes an ongoing competition each month where winners receive gift cards and an ultimate winner will be awarded an iPad Air .
“ Mobile is ideal for on-the-go training and in short increments . For salespeople , it can be difficult to dedicate more than 10 to 15 minutes at a time to training , so mobile learning is invaluable ,” says Kimo Kippen , chief learning officer at Hilton . “ It is so intuitive that the training time is actually reduced . For example , training our staff on digital check-in with room selection required less than one hour on average per team member , which was delivered digitally and available through desktop , tablet and mobile .”
One potential pitfall , especially with a large multinational operator , could be language issues between various members of staff . To overcome such concerns , Thayer Lodging , for example , is utilizing a mobile communications package that integrates with its PMS and is available in multiple languages ; the user simply selects which language they are most comfortable with and the system performs the necessary translations . Other experts are also incorporating as many visual cues as possible .
“ We ensure that we cover all of the necessary languages . But for the colleagues working in the heart of house and traditional back of house , we also use more visual cues , like the use of icons ,” Bzdawka says . “ We ’ re trying to make it be more intuitively obvious , more visually focused , and less heavily burdened on words .”
Whose device is it , anyway ? There ’ s also the logistical issue of actually making sure employees have the mobile devices they need to harness these emerging methods , and ensuring the security of those devices in the workplace . It is most practical to permit a “ bring your own device ” ( BYOD ) policy for management and corporate executives , then offering company-provided devices to other staff members , even if that means being responsible for the maintenance and upkeep of those devices .
“ It really depends on the position . For certain positions we support a BYOD network , but there are policies and procedures for protection built around that ,” Bzdawka says . “ The majority are using company devices more than a BYOD . Your heart-of-house employees and hourly staff are more often than not using company devices .”
It is also important , according to experts , to ensure hotel-specific applications aren ’ t being used on mobile devices outside of the property . Providing company-owned mobile tech also helps with this concern , provided the devices are configured properly .
“ When we deploy application-specific devices for use with housekeeping and engineering , we own the device and they are used by the team members as company devices ,” Dickersbach says . “ We do not allow these applications to be run on anything else . For email and texting , it is a matter of policy that best suits the hotel .”
Bandwidth burden Of course , once a multitude of hotel staffers are all using mobile devices
52 HOTELS January / February 2015 www . hotelsmag . com