A customized experience puts a hotel ahead of its competition nowadays. By using technology to determine that a guest is on property, and not researching before the reservation, allows hotelier to serve a unique, relevant and more engaged experience to the user. This new kind of relationship hotel-guest is proportionate by a technology called Fourth-Screen or Guest Portal.
It is the responsive version of the hotel website customized with content relevant mainly for the on-property guest, connected on their mobile devices within a certain radius of the hotel or to the hotel’s Wi-Fi. This guest portal content must contain data such as, check-in and check-out information, fast facts, map, calendar of events, FAQs, language sensitivity, and revenue generating opportunities like upgrades, latest special offers and dining options at the hotel.
You also can add this technology to PMS, allowing a direct communication channel with personalized content, such as revenues information and the ability to complete last-minute purchases prior to check-out. Some hotels are even experimenting with tying the fourth-screen to the guest room’s smart to have one single voice online and on television.
The sections of the current website must be restructured and organized considering the on-property guest technology to turn the experience more relevant and pleasurable. Besides, hotel avoids needing to make costly investments in new technologies, because this type of experience can be maintained through a hotel website’s Content Management System, allowing the property to easily make updates to their fourth-screen.
Therefore, property guest experience represents the fourth-screen in digital marketing. Hoteliers, increasingly, must recognize the value of providing a Guest Portal in terms of improving customer service and revenue potential. It is a practical way to push unique content to guests staying at the hotel and visiting the lobby, besides being easier and cheap. By serving a fourth-screen, or Guest Portal experience, any hotel can offer a better guest experience which in turn leads to higher review ratings, increased guest satisfaction and repeat bookings.