Eurobuilding Hotels Group has launched the GuestHub app for its properties. After several years of development, the web-based mobile app supports guests from reservation to review and does not require any downloads to the phone.
GuestHub focuses on guest-request task management and guest messaging with the goal of helping hotels get better reviews, make more money on their rooms and streamline operations by reducing the workload on the staff. The EB Hotel Miami Airport is the first U.S. property to use GuestHub.
“As an independent brand, we needed technology even prior to the COVID-19 pandemic to help us operate better and stay ahead in guest satisfaction,” said Thomas Zarikian, owner of EB Hotel Miami Airport. “We don’t have a big brand behind us that would allow one too many slip-ups and still get demand for rooms. We need to impress our clients to stay ahead of the competition. Prior to GuestHub, there was no technology that met our comprehensive needs, or those available were simply too expensive and they required complicated integration with other apps or property technologies to do what we wanted them to do. So, Eurobuilding Hotels Group took it upon themselves to develop a single solution that helps its properties operate more efficiently and encourages employees to engage—after all, it’s not enough to just have an app; the staff must be willing to embrace it. The easier it is to adopt an app, the better the results. We found task orientation to be the key to engagement.”
Related: Volara, GuestHub partner for guestroom voice activation
GuestHub was designed to help increase sales and reduce costs, the company said. It increases onsite sales by engaging guests with relevant messaging prior to their arrival. Once onsite, it facilitates digital check-in and mobile key. It sends promotional messages to upsell service and make food and beverage or other service ordering process easier. When guests leave, it manages guest feedback, enabling the hotel to boost its online reputation and drive rates.
In addition, GuestHub works with existing property technologies, such as Bbot, Clairvoix, Cloudbeds, hapi, Hkeeper, Hotbot.ai, IDEM Hospitality, Infor, Oaky, Oracle Hospitality, Socialtables, StayMyWay, Volara, Webrezpro, Zeus, and Zoox Smart Data.
Since implementation, the hotel claims that GuestHub has delivered five critical results:
- It prevents guests from having to wait for requested items and services.
- It helps employees to do their jobs better by ensuring that no work orders fall through the cracks.
- It provides fluid communication between staff and guests, and triggers immediate responses based on guest experiences.
- It increases onsite sales by digitalizing the food-and-beverage ordering process and protects employees by eliminating direct contact with guests.
- It provides hoteliers with data and analytics on all guest requests and issues.
“GuestHub is the most complete web-based, task-oriented mobile app on the hotel market today,” said Carlos Vollbracht, product owner of GuestHub. “It was developed by active hoteliers; people who are actively managing hotels (vs. former hoteliers) to do what no single app can do as easily as GuestHub. This is important, because nothing beats the opportunity to fully test the technology before making it available to the industry. In today’s new normal, with employees failing to return to work after being laid off during the pandemic, hotels are being forced to operate with permanently smaller workforces while paying higher wages to attract new talent with little to no experience. Labor costs are going up, while the demand for rooms hasn’t fully recovered. Everyone is feeling the pinch. GuestHub provides a way to reduce hotel labor costs, streamline operational efficiency, and emerge as an employer of choice for those willing to remain loyal to hospitality.”
Since GuestHub was deployed at EB Hotel Miami, it has reduced the property’s operating expenses, said Carlos Vollbracht, product owner of GuestHub. “It also reduced dependency on the OTAs by enabling travelers to book directly through the app,” Vollbracht said. “Rather than searching aimlessly for the Holy Grail of operational apps to take them into the new year, hoteliers can simply and affordably embrace this proven solution developed by their peers in the trenches. GuestHub sets up in as little as five minutes, features true do-it-yourself configuration and customization, integrates with the hotel’s PMS and other solutions with just a click, and no training or set-up fees are required.”