Tapendium, a tool that enables hotel management systems to be uploaded onto tablets in each guest room, was launched in collaboration with Samsung to provide hotel guests to request for services including in-room dining and spa reservations, effectively eliminating the need to call service staff and reducing the risk of human error.
The system was trialled at Singapore’s The Fullerton Hotel and The Fullerton Bay Singapore in the first half of 2017. A year later, general maneger Cavaliere Giovanni Viterale is pleased with the effect the tool has had on team efficiency.
“From January to October 2017, we received a high guest satisfaction rating for the new in-room digital concierge service which also acts as an e-Compendium, replacing the in-room printed version and other printed collateral,” he said.
While the digital concierge is not a new solution in the hospitality world, its use in the meetings and events world could open up possibilities for a smoother, more efficient experience for hotel staff and delegates.
In the case of Tapendium, event planners can push specific messages to a subset of conference guests. For instance, if 35 rooms are booked for a conference at the hotel, messages pertaining to the event can be pushed out to those rooms only.
Better still, planners can eventually have access to the back end of the concierge system, which will remove hotel staff from the messaging chain altogether.
“We’re working with a company in Singapore now that can manage the whole booking experience for a conference – end-to-end. From there, we're just opening up an API link where [planners] can pre-populate content for the rooms that are relevant,” said Steve Wooding, CEO of Tapendium.
The first version of the system doesn’t yet allow for personalisation of data on each tablet, but in the future, Wooding hopes to be able to customise content for returning guests.
“We’ve got an integration coming very soon with hotel property management systems which means we can get that dialogue in the system to say: ‘Welcome back, Paul. Here’s your language of preference’,” he said.