<H1>Hotels Automate Checkin</H1><H2>Unveil Kiosks, Airport Van Devices</H2><H3>By Linda Humphrey</H3>The automated front-desk clerk, ushered in by Hyatt a year ago, is beginning to check in guests at other chains.
Promus Corp., parent of the upscale Embassy Suites, midpriced Hampton Inn and extended-stay Homewood Suites chains, two months ago launched test kiosks at three hotels, one at each brand. Upcoming chains Wingate Inns and MainStay Suites-developed by HFS (Hospitality Franchise Systems) and Choice Hotels, respectively-will soon feature automated kiosks. And Westin Hotels plans to shorten front-desk lines with a hand-held checkin device on airport vans.
For hotels, this technology will speed the checkin process, thus enhancing service and reducing hotel manpower needs.
While most guests still are leery of the machines-all of which require advance reservations, dispense keys and print out directions to the room-industry insiders are betting they'll catch on, especially with business travelers.
"In five years, you won't see a hotel without one," said Choice president and chief operating officer Don Landry. "The frequent traveler will just zap over to the machine."
Choice's MainStay Suites, slated for a September debut, will become the first brand to forgo a front-desk clerk at night. Personnel will wander the property at all hours, however, and will be reachable via a lobby phone, Landry said.
No other Choice brand will relinquish the front-desk night clerk, Landry added, but many may downsize the night staff from two to one. As an extended-stay property, MainStay will draw less-frequent checkins.
Luxury hotels eventually will sign up as well, Landry predicted. "We sometimes mistake interaction with people as good service," he said. "My service is better at my bank when I use the ATM."
Promus' version goes a step further than Hyatt's, allowing guests to make some changes, such as length of stay, on-screen. Changing room type, however, requires interaction with a front-desk clerk.
So far, the kiosks have drawn 5 to 7 percent of guests, spread evenly across each brand, said Norman Cavin, director of marketing for Hampton Inn. Most guests have sped through the process in less than a minute.
Promus has just upgraded the program to accept a credit card other than the one used to make the reservation, as long as the guest inputs a confirmation number.
Promus plans eventually to break away from "this front-desk barrier," Cavin said, "bringing the staff out from behind the desk to interact with the guest on a one-to-one basis. The kiosk is an initial step toward that."
Hyatt's Touch and Go Instant Check-in machines (BTN, July 17, 1995), now totaling 18 in 16 hotels, surprisingly draw as many weekend as weekday guests, said director of rooms Chris Elam. Business travelers, however, appreciate the machines more, Elam added, "because they're the ones who are tired of talking to people and being told what to do."
Future enhancements could include point-to-point driving directions from the hotel to local attractions, as Hertz offers, Elam said.
Wingate Inns, which is set to premiere next month in Georgia and Tennessee, has built the checkin and checkout terminals right into the millwork of the front desk, facing the customer. A unique checkout feature will enable guests to rate the hotel, hitting buttons labeled excellent, good, poor and so on, which HFS will incorporate into its franchise quality checks, said Keith Pierce, Wingate's vice president of marketing. Wingate has racked up 90 license agreements and has broken ground on eight sites.
Westin, meanwhile, is devising an airport-van device in place of a kiosk.
"The poshest lobby in any hotel still looks bad from the back of a long checkin line," said Fred Kleisner, president and chief operating officer for Westin Hotels & Resorts. "The obvious first place that we've looked is our airport hotel locations. We have the complimentary van working around the clock to bring our customers to the hotel, so it makes sense to check those guests in on the van," he said.
Travelers with a Westin guest history will gain the service sometime next year, according to Kleisner. Westin's plan does not include kiosks because guests tracked by the chain's forthcoming res system will only need to sign their names at the front desk.
Van checkin also is "on the drawing board" at Hyatt, which is wading through logistics, Elam said.
"If you put another employee on the van, you've really inflated your costs," he said. "If you ask people to hand out room assignments on the van, you run the risk of someone standing up in the van. If you ask the van driver, sometimes they're not allowed to stop the van."
Although hotels are optimistic about checkin machines, guests still are a bit wary of them, at least so far.
Robert Mandelbaum, vice president and director of research for PKF consulting, said a survey his firm recently conducted in conjunction with the Hospitality Industry Technology Association found that guests are not fully using technology.
In fact, 75 percent of properties offering guest-operated devices-such as in-room beverage systems and movies on demand as well as checkin/checkout kiosks-reported that their guests did not use those devices very effectively.