While guest experience is important to sustain your property's success and reputation, staff experience plays a huge part in retaining the best team members and ensuring those guests have an exceptional stay at your hotel. As many hospitality organizations still struggle with labor shortages, staff experience is more important than ever – to employees, properties, and guests.

We've been able to retain some of our stronger employees since the pandemic; how do we make sure they want to stay, and how do we attract others?

Today the hospitality industry has access to incredible technology solutions that automate tedious, manual tasks, and promote efficiency and productivity. Implementing solutions that put more selections in the guests' hands before they arrive and while on property, can help optimize the staff your property has on-hand and keep them doing what they enjoy – focusing on guest service.

Allowing the guest to review and select services and amenities, make restaurant reservations, schedule a spa appointment, or book a tee time – all when they book their hotel room and before they leave home – frees up staff for other responsibilities. If a resort has the right technology solutions working behind the scenes, these pre-stay guest reservations help predict staffing and inventory needs, automate scheduling, and better prepare the property for the guest's arrival – all benefits that lower employee stress levels and help them do their jobs more efficiently.

Once the guest is on property, mobile options like self check-in and digital key access allow guests to bypass the front desk without the need for a staff member to check them in and another to escort them to their rooms. From their rooms, guests can order lunch via a mobile device through online menus updated in real-time – without needing a staff member to take the call or process the payment.

Once they reach the pool, guests can order drinks from their mobile devices, and through location-specific QR codes, their beverages are delivered directly to them on the pool deck. With these technologies, what normally forced staff members to spend considerable time walking back and forth from guest to kitchen, and kitchen to guest over and over can be minimized. Staff can now spend more time with their guests, a positive experience for both.

Behind the scenes, staff communication tools are invaluable to the staff experience. Service requests can also be automated, sending alerts to the appropriate team members responsible for scheduling the maintenance or housekeeping services. Guests are then notified when the service is complete and when their room is ready. There is no longer a need for a staff member to take service calls and go through the long and arduous process of communicating back and forth with guests and available staff members to complete the service.

When hotels implement solutions that help automate tedious, manual tasks and contribute to lowering staff stress levels, it only improves staff experiences and, in turn, the experiences of guests. These solutions improve accuracy and speed of service, make employees’ jobs easier, and allow them more time in front of the guest.

Is Focusing on Guest Experience or Staff Experience More Important Right Now?

Ultimately, we all know the answer is not either one, but both. They directly affect each other, so it is important to keep both at the top of your property's list of priorities. We see solutions that focus on guest experience – and they are very important to a property's success – but don't forget the experiences of your staff. They keep your property running and ensure your guests are delighted with their stay and want to return. By focusing on enhancing the experiences of guests and staff, you will build guest loyalty while reducing staff turnover. The net effect is you will strengthen your bottom line, maximizing your return on experience.

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Agilysys innovative hospitality technology helps you delight guests and engage staff at every interaction while providing visibility into the entire guest journey.

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