How Modern Unified Communications Elevate the Hospitality Industry

As hospitality leaders gear up for the busy summer season, plenty of technological tools are available to streamline operations and provide an overall improved and immersive guest experience.

Whether it’s enabling multimodal technology for frontline workers, AI-powered tools, or hybrid cloud solutions, investing in modern UC solutions is something every property manager should take time to consider.

Enabling Hospitality Staff with Modern Tech

Hospitality thrives on exceeding guest’s needs and expectations, and modern technology infrastructure plays an integral role in attaining that outcome. In today’s environment, guests expect quick, personalized, and effortless communication, which can put a lot of pressure on frontline hospitality employees.

Modern UC solutions allow properties to combine frontline, back office, and vertical workflows, ensuring the entire workforce is on the same page. Whether working on-site or remotely, multimodal technology allows staff to collaborate seamlessly on guest requests through the best medium for the situation – voice, video, chat, SMS, or a combination.

For example, an on-the-go property manager can carry a wireless DECT handset, which offers a reliable signal anywhere on a property. Fully integrated into the property’s communications solution, it ensures secure access to voice calls, interactive messaging, and critical alerts from colleagues at the front desk or an off-site contact center.

Frontline hospitality staff are essential to delivering memorable experiences. They often provide a guest’s first and last impression of a property. By giving them the right communication tools for their job, you empower them to do their best work while boosting the customer experience. This builds a property’s reputation as both a fulfilling place to work and an enjoyable place to stay.

AI and Unified Communications in Hospitality

Artificial intelligence (AI) is a popular topic today, but it is important to look beyond the hype and pinpoint its real-world value. That’s why it is essential to focus on opportunities to deliberately deploy AI to better serve guests. With modern UC solutions, this can be done through simple, integrated experiences built for the hospitality space.

Generative AI (GenAI) chatbots and voice bots can help streamline on-site customer service requests during busy and demanding times by handling simple but time-consuming tasks that would otherwise fall to frontline staff. If the bot cannot resolve the issue, an AI-powered agent assistant can smoothly transfer the call to a live agent along with call notes, ensuring the guest does not need to repeat information.

Besides streamlining workflows, the valuable data collected through AI interactions with customers can enhance the guest experience. For instance, when integrated into contact center platforms, AI can instantly transcribe and summarize calls and provide detailed call trends to supervisors. AI integration can also identify and track caller sentiment, which can be used to train staff for specific situations.

Augmenting UC solutions with AI is about more than finding efficiencies. It’s about quickly tapping into unique guest insights to deliver better personalization, ultimately leading to higher customer satisfaction.

Hybrid Cloud Solutions for Hospitality

For many properties, the decision between relying on legacy on-prem infrastructure that still delivers value and embracing the flexibility of the cloud is a real challenge. That is why hybrid cloud-based solutions are increasingly becoming the chosen route, as they are tailored and scaled to fit specific needs with size and budget in mind.

Hybrid cloud solutions are ideal for hoteliers who are not entirely ready to ditch their legacy infrastructure. They allow security and flexibility and offer a proven mix of private cloud, public cloud, and on-premises solutions. Hybrid cloud solutions are reliable and provide robust security features, data privacy, and regulatory compliance to ensure hospitality organizations protect themselves while streamlining communication. With the proper guidance from a trusted, vertical-focused UC provider, property managers can choose the best path for their needs.

Migrating to the cloud goes beyond a mere destination. It involves implementing solutions that offer maximum flexibility and ensuring that each property has the right communication tools to effectively support its customers, staff, and stakeholders now and in the future.

Let’s talk about new ways to elevate your property and serve guests better in your evolving marketplace. TCI hospitality experts are here to help: (703) 321-3030 or GetHelp@tcicomm.com.