Smart technology delivering exceptional guest experiences
for aparthotel Birmingham

Situated in the heart of the city aparthotel Birmingham offers guests perfect mix of style and modern luxury. The hotel aims to make every visit special. From stylish apartment interiors featuring a fully equipped kitchenette, smart TV and guest Wi-Fi, to personalised room set-ups and an on-site Nisa convenience store, aparthotel goes out of its way to make all guests feel at home.

In an industry where first impressions are everything, getting the guest experience right first time is extremely important. Choosing suppliers that share aparthotel’s focus on delivering outstanding customer experiences is high on the agenda for hotel management.

With the hotel relying heavily on smart technology to deliver customer value, it was clear an IT partner would need to share a customer-first mindset and be committed to delivering swift problem resolution. Issues affecting the aparthotel’s ability to deliver excellent customer service would need fixing as soon as possible. The ability for an MSP to be on-hand to resolve problems fast was top of the priority list.

The hotel owners had previously worked with Moremicro, so were keen to see what value the team could bring to their flagship hotel.

Working alongside management, Moremicro helped implement a selection of smart features that would elevate the guest experience.

It was decided not to install telephones in the guest rooms because experience had shown that guests rarely used the facility. When a guest did need to contact reception, it was to ask one of a number of standard questions. Instead, Moremicro implemented an AI-powered messaging service via WhatsApp that could provide instant answers to simple questions.

“Most of the time guests ask the same questions” explains Sukhvir Sandhu, Technical Director at Moremicro. “Nearly all queries can be handled within a few seconds by simply texting on their smart phones. No more waiting for the phone to be answered during busy periods. When the query can’t be resolved via the messaging service the guest is automatically transferred to reception.”

“We’ve got a million things to think of myself and the GM. We’ve got full responsibility of this building. If we can get problems resolved quickly its one less pressure on our shoulders.” – Andreea, Assistant General Manager.

In fact, the AI experience starts at the pre-booking stage on aparthotel’s website. Another situation when customers usually ask a standard set of questions. These are quickly handled by an AI driven chatbot, as well as handling queries about room availability. Moremicro lead the implementation of the system between website and the hotel’s management system.

Additional special touches include personalised welcome messages on the smart TVs and access to personal streaming services like Netflix, Amazon, YouTube, which are set to clear all guest data on checkout.  Understanding issues guests face, like forgetting to log out of online services in the rush to check out, help contribute to an exceptional customer experience.

“Guests don’t have to remember to log out when they are leaving. It gives them some peace of mind” says Andreea. “We get a lot of guests commenting on how great it is they can use their Netflix in their rooms”.

The hotel also runs multiple guest Wi-Fi networks which facilitate internet connectivity. With corporate clients comprising 40% of week-day stays, the ability to offer a separate network from which guests can access their company systems securely is a big benefit. On Moremicro’s recommendation the hotel also uses a dedicated high-speed fibre optic resilient line to ensure service continuity should the need arise.

With the business relying heavily on the smooth running of IT systems, the importance of always-on support was paramount.

“We’re a newly opened hotel so it’s extra important to ensure everyone has a good first impression. We’re pretty much fully booked, so I can’t afford to change rooms if something goes wrong. It needs fixing as soon as possible” says Andreea. “The response rate we get from Moremicro, even at weekends, is fantastic”.

Going that extra mile to give a great customer experience is an ethos shared by both aparthotel and Moremicro. Moremicro ensure the support team is accessible 24/7. One weekend it was discovered that a room had a problem with the smart TV, just hours before the guests were due to check-in. Andreea was able to bypass the usual ticket process and speak direct to the engineer on-call to get a quick resolution.

“We really value that when there’s an urgent matter, I can call support direct, and they will look into the problem” explains Andreea. However, bypassing the support ticket process is a rare occurrence as the management team recognise the value in formally logging queries.

“Logging tickets is a good thing to do as I can see what has been requested and how many times” explains Andreea as it helps her effectively manage internal user-related issues where necessary. “If someone forgets their password and has logged four tickets for the same thing over the past week, I can go to them and work on solving the issue at the source. It’s good we can fix it but more important to work on avoiding the problems arising”.

Sometimes a customer-centric approach means taking on responsibility for jobs outside of the original scope of work.

Sukhvir explains “when the IT handover to us was happening, the newly installed CCTV cameras still hadn’t been programmed. We knew this was critical to the security of the building, so as these things just need to get done, we completed the job for them”.

Ensuring their hotel stays up to date with the latest technology is one of the challenges for the future. However, there are already exciting developments on the horizon. The team are currently putting the finishing touches to a check-in kiosk, where guests will be able to check into their rooms, pay deposits and get their digital key cards from one place.