There’s a silent hero in the hospitality industry. Tasks positively impact every area, and everyone can use them immediately. They are tiny, almost invisible, vital for smooth operations, helping hotels communicate effectively, and ensuring a delightful guest experience.
However, hoteliers and staff don’t use them because traditional hotel systems don’t offer them. Workarounds and alternative communication channels exist, but they may not be the best option to manage hotel communications.
This article will show how integrated tasks can help you master and stay ahead of every booking and special request for effective guest communication throughout the guest journey.
Turning passive reminders into active tasks
The Property Management System (PMS) is traditionally not known for its ability to simplify internal communication and communication channels. Hotel staff often rely on simple notes within the system, or even Post-its, to keep track of guest preferences and internal tasks, like hypoallergenic pillows.
The front desk typically creates a note and does it for most hotel-related tasks, like requests, payments, housekeeping, and other important areas for staff and guest communication.
But without any way to track task completion or assign responsibilities, the notes become passive reminders, not active tasks — and the errors and inefficiencies can disturb your operations and even impact your guest experience.
Despite the incredible organisational skills of hoteliers and staff who use traditional notes, there's still a fantastic opportunity in the hospitality industry to improve staff collaboration by turning tasks from passive to active.
With integrated task management in your PMS where staff can assign, track, and audit tasks, hoteliers can next-level their guest service delivery for things like:
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Organising extra services like airport transfers or in-room treats
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Preparing rooms based on specific rates
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Meeting guest's unique requirements
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Managing booking guarantees
… and everything in between.
Real-time notifications in your PMS ensure every guest request, whether a check-in or a unique need, triggers a to-do task for the right department.
Whether it's housekeeping, reservations, or guest relations, a member from the relevant team gets assigned and is responsible for ticking off the task as they complete it, improving the guest experience.
The guest journey from grand events to simple stays
Effective guest communication is crucial in enhancing the guest experience by ensuring timely and appropriate interactions. Effective task management is also vital when dealing with events and the demands of multiple guests. When that happens, you need a system that informs and alerts you about the important human touch. There are many occasions where internal tasks come in handy.
Let’s look at three common scenarios.
#1: Weddings
Large events are a great example where every detail, from room arrangement to table settings, is critical. Organising a wedding is like project management; the task list can be extensive. The bride wants the day of her dreams. Parents have their special wishes, and the wedding agent has specific expectations. But it’s more than handling these special requests...
Guest communication refers to the critical information exchange and interaction between hospitality businesses and guests across platforms, fostering relationships that encourage repeat business. Meeting and exceeding guest expectations is crucial to ensuring a memorable experience for everyone in the hotel industry.
While event management tools like Function Sheets can help, integrating to-do’s within a PMS gives you a universal organisation tool similar to popular platforms like Slack or Google Tasks for staff and guest communication.
From checking DJ availability to coordinating proposals and approvals with vendors, a PMS integrating to-do tasks into the hotel’s operational software ensures seamless communication and execution for all tasks while eliminating the need for multiple tools or systems.
#2: Holidays
Let’s consider a different scenario: a mid-sized hotel with 70 rooms. This hotel is fully booked, and New Year’s Eve is coming. Effective guest communication plays a crucial role as every guest may have specific daily requests.
They might arrive a day earlier or later, need an electrical car plug, or have unique food needs due to health or lifestyle choices.
Handling individual guest requirements like that, even on a normal day, requires the ultimate precision and organisation that only an integrated to-do system can provide.
By having your hotel system automatically create and assign these tasks to the right team, you can ensure that you meet every request to the satisfaction of every guest, enhancing overall guest satisfaction.
#3: Phone bookings and guest communications
Automated to-dos guide staff in creating better guest experiences through effective customer communications throughout the entire guest journey. For example, you get a phone booking and must remind the reservation desk to follow up on the guarantee.
A digital process can automate attempts to charge the guest’s credit card. If it fails, the system sends a notification and to-do for staff so the front desk can keep the sale.
On the days before arrival, the system can notify staff to confirm room arrangements to meet guest preferences like single or double occupancy.
If the guest checks in online, the staff is notified and hands over the room key upon arrival.
The power of automated tasks in delivering exceptional guest experiences
Like automated payments, automated tasks can also streamline hospitality industry operations by automatically sending requests like early check-ins or extra amenities to the appropriate departments.
With Clock PMS+, you can customise tasks and notifications for your perfect blend of general alerts and specific, actionable tasks to suit your hotel’s needs.
You can also use these tasks to inform staff about new rates and packages. For example, if a revenue manager introduces a new rate policy, they can directly assign tasks to the reservation team for precise rate implementation instead of relying on calls or emails.
This setup is also useful for training new staff, allowing them to become familiar with operations and maintain consistent guest service and experiences.
In the hospitality industry, it seems that the days of passive tasks are behind us — at least for hotels that want smoother operations and higher guest satisfaction.
Summary
Task management is the unsung hero in hotel PMSs within the hotel industry. Gone are the days when PMSs were seen as tools for overseeing physical properties — today’s hospitality is about optimising communication and coordination for guests and staff alike.
Imagine a system where a request for a new pillow notifies the housekeeping department and assigns a specific staff member to deliver it. Or when the same guest reports a wine spill, and the system instantly coordinates its cleaning with open communication channels.
Staff and guest communication plays a major role in hotel industry and hotel management success. While traditional PMSs with passive reminders have failed to turn these reminders into actionable, accountable tasks, solutions like Clock flawlessly integrate task management into the hotel system.
Today, hotel solutions prioritising task management and internal communication are critical in offering an exceptional guest experience.
