There is currently a wide variety of solutions on the market for the digitalisation of hotel receptions, all with the aim of: facilitating guest arrival by eliminating waiting times at reception and the obligation to respect strict check-in and check-out times; streamlining work in the lodging by making the guest check-in process automatic; and, of course, saving on staff costs by automating tasks that can be completely systematised.
Among all the offers on the market, check-in machines or check-in kiosks are some of the alternatives. These self check-in kiosk options for hotels perform various functions to facilitate guest access to their room and to automate key handover. The guest makes the reservation, linked to a booking reference, and the hotel pre-assigns them a room. When the guest arrives at the establishment, they will have to enter the booking reference in the self check-in machine and to check-in in person, indicating their personal details, document number, country of origin, etc.
The machine will take a photo of the customer to verify their identity. The data and photo will be stored in the hotel database. Once the check-in and identification process is complete, the guest will proceed with the payment for the stay, which is usually done by credit card, as not all devices accept cash payments. After these three steps, the self-check-in machine will hand over the room keys or the corresponding card to the customer.
Despite the effectiveness of self check-in machines, they usually have a high investment cost. Moreover, establishments are not willing to give up the possibility of offering a complete and close experience from the moment the guest makes the reservation.
Smart lock for self-check-in
With Vikey’s smart locks and app, your guest’s mobile phone becomes the digital key to your lodging, simplifying their arrival and their entire stay. Your guests can access the establishment and their room using the digital key or the booking reference.
Vikey’s software generates a unique access code for each booking, which is valid only for the duration of the guest’s stay. Your client will be able to check-in online in advance, through a link that we will send them once the booking has been confirmed. They will enter their check-in details and proceed to verify their identity by uploading a photo of their ID card and of themselves.
After this step, from the check-in date, the digital key and the access code to open the main door of the establishment and their room will be available on their web application. We will guide your customer through the entire automatic check-in process, thanks to the intuitive interface of the web application, which is also available in 8 different languages.
You can ask your guest to pay in advance for the stay, for the tourist tax, which will be calculated automatically by Vikey, and for any extra services you may offer. All amounts will be automatically credited to your associated bank account. Vikey is the most complete solution on the market, since, thanks to its integration with the main OTAs, PMS and channel managers, bookings are synchronised with your control panel, thus centralising all bookings and guest data.
Fully personalised customer experience
From the web application you can fully personalise communication with your customers, by creating customised e-mail templates, to give them the information they need at all times.
You can also use the application to provide them with your contact details, so that they can contact you in case of any unexpected events, as well as with useful information about the lodging, such as the wi-fi password, directions to the lodging, photos and videos so that they can get to know the place where they are going to spend their holidays in advance.
They will have all the information they need to organise their trip at hand and just one click away, without losing the direct contact with you, which is what will make the difference.