We have written a blog post previously regarding how touch screen technology has transformed the hotel industry.

Gone are the days when you are welcomed at the customer desk by a smiling fresh-faced human being to check you in or out and allocate you a hotel room number. Instead, nowadays guests and business people can expect to find a floor-standing kiosk that can do all the necessary tasks 24/7, at a cheaper rate.

Of course an employee is still needed to man the machine but this new technology speeds up the processes in the hotel and leisure industry and after all; time is money. So no longer do travellers have to wait in queues to be served which will ultimately increase their customer loyalty but business people can be on time to their meetings and appointments by using self-service units.

But as well as the conventional hotel tasks like checking-in, the sector also realises how important it is for guests to communicate with their loved-ones whilst on the road.

Social media has a huge part to play in everybody’s lives in the present times; over 250 million people use social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter on a daily basis.

As a result, it is no surprise to hear that hotels are adding electronic and Internet kiosk to help guests’ access social media during their trips.

Hardly anyone still phones home using a telephone to connect to their families and friends when away and hotels understand this. To keep up-to-date with their consumer needs’, hotels are creating comfortable, central electronic hubs within the building for the guests to hang out in and reach out.

The travellers will be able to use Skype to message home, Facebook to update their status, and Twitter to tweet their feelings; and business people will be able to use social media to inform their bosses back at the office or research part of their work.

In such a competitive market, it is key for such businesses to stay bang on trend with technology and consumer’s requirements to be successful.

Install a Touch screen kiosk in your hotel with Protouch; Europe’s number one manufacturer and distributor of touch screen technology.

As more hospitality companies implement some form of IT-based self-service, many are seeking to reduce costs, increase customer satisfaction, and possibly reach new customer segments. A new hospitality study from Cornell’s Center for Hospitality Research (CHR) points out that when self-service functions correctly, it does enhance guest satisfaction and improves hotels’ financial results.

The study, “Integrating Self-Service Kiosks in a Customer Service System,” is published by Tsz-Wai Lui and Gabriele Piccoli who compiled statistics from two hotel chains totalling 163 hotels to determine the ratio of automated check-ins and the ratio of failed check-ins, using lobby self-service kiosks. They matched those data with aggregate financial performance from Smith Travel Research.

The hospitality study found that installing self-service kiosks did improve the hotels’ financial results, but the improvement showed a time lag. Therefore, they caution hoteliers not to expect instant returns from adding self-service kiosks.

However, when something went wrong with the self-service check-in, the hotels in question saw a reduction in guests’ willingness to pay and willingness to return. For this reason, Lui and Piccoli urge careful rollout of self-service technology, along with substantial staff support for guests who are using computers to check-in.