a guide on how to enhance guest experience in hotels

Key Takeaways

  • 74% of guests are willing to pay an extra $1–$5 or up to 5% more for upgraded hotel technology. At the same time, 40% are willing to pay up to 15% more if it significantly enhances their stay.
  • 60% of hotel guests prefer using their smartphones as digital room keys, highlighting the growing demand for keyless entry solutions.
  • Smart hospitality market size is expected to grow from $29.65 billion in 2025 to $74.86 billion by 2029, driven by IoT and automation.
  • 68% of travelers consider climate change an emergency, and 75% are more committed to sustainable travel than the previous year, making green technology a competitive advantage.

85% of modern consumers expect companies to provide a personalized customer experience. Thus a customer-centric approach is one of the critical long-term trends that can greatly enhance business performance in hospitality. Delivering a first-class experience has always been essential for hospitality, as it allows businesses to transform one-time visitors into loyal clients that convert on an ongoing basis.

The latest UN Tourism report shows that around 1.4 billion people traveled internationally in 2024, bringing global tourism nearly back to where it was before the pandemic. The competition for customers is more intense than ever. So, embedding innovative hospitality solutions and advanced technologies can be the right way to make your services more exclusive and personalized, thus, attractive to large audiences.

In this article, Acropolium shares our profound 13-year experience, showcasing the best examples of improving the customer experience for hospitality. Read on to get recommendations on finding the best vendor for your hotel software development project!

Why Customer Experience Matters in Hospitality

Customer experience in hospitality industry operations directly influences guest satisfaction, loyalty, and a hotel’s reputation. A positive experience encourages guests to return, building long-term relationships and steady revenue. Online reviews and word-of-mouth play a crucial role, as potential visitors often rely on past guests’ feedback when choosing where to stay.

Metrics like Net Promoter Score (NPS) and Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT) help hotels measure and improve their service quality. A great experience also leads to higher spending, with satisfied guests more likely to book additional services like dining or spa treatments.

By integrating the latest tech trends into hotel workflows, businesses can deliver exceptional service. This way, you can attract guests willing to pay more for a superior stay with anything from smart housekeeping to personalized rooms, strengthening their reputation and market position.

How Does Hospitality Business Benefit from Tech

Guests are more than willing to pay extra for better tech. About 74% would spend an extra $1 to $5 or up to 5% of the room rate for upgraded technology. And if it really enhances their stay, nearly 40% are happy to pay between $11 and $15 or up to 15% more.

Before diving into the specific software solutions that can enhance client service, it’s essential to understand the potential of hospitality tech innovations for enterprises and your business. So, what are the gains of implementing different software across hospitality?

  • Enhanced operational efficiency and management workflows.

  • Reduced costs due to the process automation and increased employee productivity

  • Increased time efficiency with automated cleaning schedules and bookings.

  • Facilitated smooth staff engagement and communication through IoT modules.

  • Easier connectivity between the larger hotel chains with interconnected SaaS environments.

  • Improved guest personalization, from in-room adjustments to individual promotions and loyalty programs.

  • Better revenue management with data-driven insights derived from hotel management software.

  • Sustainability and cost savings as part of a greener, energy-efficient strategy.

  • Contactless and mobile-first experience that allows guests to be more flexible in terms of check-ins and check-outs.

Types of Hospitality & Travel Software

software to boost customer experience in hospitality industry tasks

Knowing the benefits of hospitality app development, let’s briefly cover the software solutions you can create to accelerate your business performance in terms of customer service and internal process operations.

At present, the most commonly used hospitality-focused software includes:

  • Booking management engines that simplify front desk workflows and make the room selection process easier for guests.

  • Customer relationship software (CRM) that analyzes guest behavior and presents insights on guest satisfaction.

  • Sales, marketing, and PR automation software to craft effective campaigns for target guests.

  • Workforce management software with AI-driven scheduling and performance analytics.

  • Inventory control software that helps to optimize resource management with the power of ML.

  • Supplier management software to monitor procurement and billing.

  • Revenue management software with AI-driven pricing and demand forecasting.

  • Data management software (visualization, modeling, forecasting, behavior analysis)

  • AI-powered chatbots and virtual concierge that free up hotel staff and provide faster, automated problem-solving to guests.

  • Smart room and IoT management systems for guests that want to fully customize their stay.

  • Contactless payment and mobile check-in solutions to ensure frictionless stays.

  • AI-driven reputation and review management software with smart analytical algorithms and better response strategies.

These are the basic software categories hospitality industries usually order from outsourcing software development companies. However, to maximize the efficiency of your software in terms of client experience, it’s essential to ensure the software developed can provide certain value to your guests.

Discover 10 Ways to Enhance Customer Experience

how to increase guest satisfaction in hotels with technology

Now that we’ve reviewed the potential of the tech solutions in hospitality and what types of hospitality & travel software can actually improve the guest experience for the businesses within the target industry.

Here, we’ll review the key technology fields that have been extensively used in hospitality or are currently being applied to maximize the client experience.

#1. Personalization Through Data & AI Chatbots

So far, AI has been widely valued for its ability to offer unique insights for marketing, customer experience, and business performance scopes. By 2026, the travel and hospitality market is estimated to surpass the $1.2 billion mark, according to the report by IndustryARC.

The significant concern about the implementation of AI is dedicated to financial management and security apparatus, though there are many instances of its implementation in booking solutions, pricing, and forecasting. It also has many use cases for journey planning, customer purchase management, virtual customer services, risk assessment, inventory and property management.

Apart from the common usage of AI and ML in voice assistance solutions, these technologies became extremely helpful for delivering a well-targeted and more personalized customer experience based on big data analytics, such as client behavior analysis, current industry trends, seasonality, and more.

Another decent example of AI in hospitality is AI robots, which are already making excellent, effective services to customers in providing information, front desk services, storage services, as well as check-in and check-out solutions.

#2. Voice Control & AI Assistants

how to improve customer service in hospitality industry with chatbots

Today, the voice control system has been widely adopted across various hospitality services. The ‘wake up’ and ‘sleep’ commands are just simple examples. They can also perform more specific tasks, such as monitoring real-time weather outdoors, upcoming events within your location, smart gadgets control, and many more.

One of the best real-case examples of voice assistance in hospitality is the Alexa for Hospitality service by Amazon. It can be linked to a wide range of smart devices to provide advanced control under the room gadgets and IoT solutions, such as lights, heating, and music.

Chatbot solutions also have been widely used across various industries due to the many opportunities they can offer for enterprises regardless of their size, business goals, or needs. In hospitality, chatbots are extensively implemented in customer service improvement.

They provide on-demand information concerning hotel services, local events and must-visit places, weather forecasts, and many other aspects which contribute to improving the customer experience and comfortable stay.

Moreover, chatbot-assistants significantly reduce the workload on human staff members, resolving the questions at the earliest stage and in the shortest time. In 2034, the global chatbot market size will reach $6,96 billion, growing at a healthy CAGR of 19.29% from 2024.

#3. Facial Recognition & Biometric Authentication

After the emergence of systems like Apple Touch ID and Face ID, Facebook DeepFace, and other related systems, recognition technology has become a subject of interest for thousands of hospitality entrepreneurs. The main reason? Its wide use potential for both clients and employees.

When dealing with large volumes of customers at once, entrepreneurs need a reliable solution for providing high-end, efficient services without compromising safety. Luckily, facial recognition systems can do that!

The key responsibility of the current recognition solutions is to provide automated verification or authorization processes along the customer journey. For instance, accessing the rooms, conducting a transaction, quick guest identification, automated check-ins and check-outs, and many more.

One such example is Marriott hotels in China, which offer an option of automated check-in through a kiosk. Once the guests’ faces are scanned, they receive a key card to their apartments. Simple and at minimal effort input!

#4. Mobile Check-In & Digital Room Keys

Mobile check-ins are probably one of the most widely applied areas that play a key role in the first impression customers make at the point of their arrival. These tech solutions enable smooth, hassle-free check-in registrations requiring minimum time and maximum comfort for the guests.

Depending on the specifics of your solution, the automated check-ins can be conducted through the self-service desks, or else completed directly from the smartphone app with your guests. The check-in process is pretty simple: after installing the hotel app on a smartphone, guests register in the system and book the desired apartment. Upon approval, the hotel will send a confirmation containing a personal identification code and the associated room number, which allows entering the property with the wireless key reader at the appointed time.

This practice has already become common for the big players in hospitality. We can now see it’s been adopted for small and mid-size hospitality institutions as well.

#5. Keyless Entry & Smart Locks

Gone are the days when you needed to always take a key with you to access the apartments. The keyless innovation, which used to be an exclusive option in big players such as Hilton and Marriott, has officially become an industry standard. A simplified, agile and easy-to-install keyless entry system can reduce the hustle and stress of stolen keys, not to mention the excess expenses for their restoration.

About 60% of guests want to use their phones as room keys. With keyless entry technology, both parties win: hospitality institutions can save up on time and costs, reduce security risks, automate the entry system, as well as monitor cleaning and occupancy remotely within a single platform.

On the other hand, digital keys and smart locks are more secure and hassle-free, and cannot be lost. In some cases, they can work without a smartphone or app, providing maximum flexibility to the guests. Additionally, a keyless system can help provide remote control, which first-class corporations across the current industry have already implemented.

#6. Contactless & Flexible Payment Options

Wireless payments have become increasingly popular within the traveling and tourism sectors due to their wide device compatibility, resource efficiency, improved security, and ease of use.

With this said, you can now see more and more hotels, resorts, restaurants, bars, and cafes offering wireless payment options. Thus, they enhance client loyalty, provide a better sense of safety and address security concerns to provide the best experience to each of their guests.

Some popular contactless payment systems for hotels are Apple Pay, Google Pay, contactless-enabled bank cards, QR codes, and even crypto wallets.

#7. Smart Concierge & Guest Experience Apps

If you’re a seasoned hospitality business owner, you’ve probably heard about the extensive deployment of the concierge app, an automated solution that is increasing in popularity these days. Basically, that’s a hotel management software that enables guests to interact with and purchase goods and services from the hotel.

These applications allow hotels (and other accommodation institutions working within the hospitality industry) to increase guest revenue by providing personalized services without increasing staff. In most cases, they’re multilingual.

Some of the most popular hotel concierge applications used today are ALICE Guest Services, Flexkeeping, Faundit, Infosys App, Alliants Concierge, Hotefy, and ATLIST Scheduling.

#8. Virtual & Augmented Reality (VR/AR)

AR and VR solutions have made the hospitality industry extremely accessible today. You’ll only need a smartphone and Internet access to leverage its advantages. Though compared to other solutions, it doesn’t feature those heavy investments as contactless payments, robotics, and chatbots at the moment; its market recap is expected to grow at a CAGR of 25.7% during the forecast period of 2024-2034.

Such an extensive demand for AR/VR technologies is mainly cultivated with extreme dependence on travel services by some of the countries, including Maldives, Aruba, Macao, Bahamas, Thailand, and others, in which these services sectors were making a considerable input in their GDP.

Augmented and virtual reality solutions open up a large potential for both hospitality businesses and their clients. Some of these technologies’ most notable use cases are AR-compatible wall maps, digital modeling of different accommodation options, exploring the local tourist points, and many more.

#9. Internet of Things (IoT) for Smart Hotels

Another trend widely adopted across the hospitality industry is IoT. A research report estimates a considerable growth of the smart hospitality market size from $29.65 billion in 2025 to a whopping $74.86 billion by 2029.

The key benefits of IoT gadgets in hospitality include the ability to streamline various services within the industry, including enhanced customer service, improved data security, timely reporting and troubleshooting of different issues, and more. Additionally, the smart devices implemented across the hospitality infrastructure can help significantly save costs and time through process automation while ensuring maximum comfort and personalized experience for your guests.

These future-proof solutions provided by IoT can enhance client loyalty, increase profitability without sacrificing the service quality and improve your business’s competitiveness in such a challenging market.

Today’s existing examples of IoT in hospitality are preventative maintenance IoT systems, autonomous indoor delivery robots, connected thermostats, and many more.

#10. Sustainability & Green Technology

Travelers are becoming more eco-conscious, with 68% calling climate change an emergency and 75% more committed to sustainable travel than a year ago. Many now prefer hotels that align with their values, making sustainability a key factor in their choices.

Energy-efficient systems, smart thermostats, and eco-friendly automation not only reduce a hotel’s environmental impact but also appeal to these guests. Investing in sustainability isn’t just good for the planet — it strengthens your business and supports the communities you serve.

According to the Sustainable Hospitality Alliance, hotels must cut carbon emissions per room by 66% by 2030 and 90% by 2050 to meet industry sustainability goals.

How to Choose a Reliable Vendor for Custom Hospitality Software Development

Having decided what hotel management software you need, it’s time to choose the development partner for your project. Here are some simple tips for getting your perfect team of developers on the first try!

  1. Set up your hospitality project’s clear needs and goals, identifying what product you need and how it can be developed.

  2. Understand the key criteria for the selection that will help you to evaluate the potential of your candidates. The common factors are the company’s industry focus, size, and tech expertise. Also, ensure they possess experience in the services you need (consulting, software development, or maintenance), relevant operation models (outsourcing, staff augmentation, outstaffing, etc.) and fit your budget.

  3. Review vendor listing to understand the experience of the past clients and projects the company has delivered. This can be easily done through Clutch, GoodFirms, Reviews.io, or any similar service like API integration or cloud migration.

  4. Study the company’s website to ensure it’s legitimate and features the best potential for your hospitality business.

  5. Analyze their portfolios, certifications, partnerships, memberships, and rewards to better understand whether the target vendor can deliver the required services and what outcome you can expect with the project delivery.

Why Choose Acropolium?

Acropolium is an experienced software development vendor with a long track of secure projects delivered for the hospitality industry. So far, our company has delivered nearly 45+ powerful applications for restaurants and hotels, hotel commerce platforms, and many other hospitality institutions.

We have vast experience in delivering personalized tech solutions for startups, small and mid-size hospitality businesses, and Fortune 500 companies.

One of the projects we’ve worked on is hotel management system development. The client sought a technology partner to create a cloud-based chain management solution with automated billing, document generation, and smooth integration with other tools.

Acropolium has successfully developed a custom solution that increased the number of integrations by 82%, boosting customer base by 9.7%.

Another great project was a custom property management system for a UK-based rental business. By integrating real-time booking sync, automated revenue management, and streamlined payment processing, we helped the client boost efficiency by 37%, cut administrative costs by 40%, and increase booking rates by 30%.

Level Up the Customer Experience in Your Hospitality Business with Acropolium

As you can see, there are a vast number of solutions that can improve customer service across different fields of the hospitality industry. From online reservations and automated check-ins to the IoT, AI, and ML, and specific CRM software solutions that can significantly improve the relationship with your guests and convert one-time visitors into loyal clients.

At Acropolium, we offer top-notch hospitality solutions development services. Having years of experience creating booking systems, restaurant POS tools, property management solutions, travel agencies software and delivery apps, we can create a solution of any functionality at the most reasonable time and cost.

Contact our team today to discover the full potential of developing custom hotel management software for your enterprise within our subscription-based cooperation model!

Sources of Information