Demonstrations and eBook available in Agilysys Booth #1039 at AHLA’s The Hospitality Show

Despite rising economic headwinds from elevated inflation in 2023, a 2023 EY report Hospitality Industry Looks Strong for 2023 – Despite Recession Fears predicts continued strong performance for the hospitality industry throughout 2023 while also cautioning, “The industry should continue to focus on efficiencies at the hotel and corporate levels, prioritizing customer experience, analytics and automation.”

In booth #1309 at the American Hotel & Lodging Association’s (AHLA’s) The Hospitality ShowJune 27-29 at the Venetian Resort in Las Vegas, Agilysys, Inc. (Nasdaq: AGYS),will demonstrate solutions that help hospitality organizations follow the EY advice to improve customer experience while also streamlining costs.

Technologies demonstrated will include Property Management Systems (PMS), Point-of-sale Systems (POS), Inventory and Procurement Systems (I&P) and numerous digital, mobile, self-service and analytics applications that elevate guest and staff experiences, enable properties to counterbalance staffing constraints, create insights that fuel continuous improvement and go beyond delivering return on investment (ROI) to add emotional and personal dividends to financial returns, maximizing return on experience (ROE).

The advantages of equipping people with technology will be demonstrated against the backdrop of six key hospitality moments, each of which is further explored in Agilysys’ exclusive report Joining People and Technology to Elevate Hospitality Return on Experience (ROE): 6 Key Moments to Get Right. Copies will be available in the Agilysys booth and can be downloaded here.

The six key moments properties must elevate each present an opportunity to strike the right balance between offering self-service through digital and mobile technology and providing in-person engagement with technology-equipped personnel.

• Key Hospitality Moment #1: Booking

The report advises hotels and resorts to pair technology and people to make booking comprehensive, flexible and personal. The booking process begins well before travelers leave their homes and presents the opportunity to elevate profitability and guest goodwill before arrival through personalized upgrades, amenity offers and mobile self-service among other capabilities.

Agilysys will demonstrate Agilysys Book, a commission-free, online, self-service booking solution that encourages upselling unlimited amenities such as room upgrades, spa treatments, golf tee times, dining reservations, activity appointments and other options. The solution enables properties to create integrated guest itineraries that make it easier for each guest to view and manage their complete schedule across all activities, amenities and reservation times during their visit.

• Key Hospitality Moment #2: Check-in

Making check-in fast and line-free is a top recommendation in the Agilysys report. Although some guests prefer the traditional check-in interactions that occur at a front desk, many others prefer self-service check-in through a kiosk or on a mobile phone so they can bypass the front desk altogether and go straight to their rooms. Agilysys will demonstrate how Agilysys PMS, Agilysys Express Mobile and Agilysys Express Kiosk solutions elevate check-in experiences through in-person and self-service options that enable fast, frictionless check-in and line-free experiences even when guest volume is high and staff is constrained.

• Key Hospitality Moment #3: Service

The Agilysys report emphasizes that guests expect hospitality services to be always-on, digitally requestable, and available when and where they prefer. Agilysys Service demonstrations will show how both guest and staff experiences are improved through mobile texting communication between guests and staff; real-time task reminders; and synchronized schedules for maintenance requests, housekeeping priorities and preventative service. Agilysys Service won the Gold Award for Best Productivity-Enhancement Technology from Global Gaming Business Magazine (2020). The honor recognizes the solution that most improves staff and operational efficiency while enhancing the guest experience.

• Key Hospitality Moment #4: Food & Beverage

Food and Beverage experiences represent a large portion of hospitality services, with consumer expectations centering on convenience, access and immediacy. Agilysys advises properties to keep Food and Beverage convenient, cashless and contactless to improve profit margins and overcome labor constraints.

Agilisys IG Kiosk will illustrate the always available food-and-beverage self-service that guests desire. This guest-facing food and beverage order-and-pay kiosk gives guests the freedom to browse and select visually depicted menu items, place orders and pay using a variety of payment options, all without requiring staff assistance. Agilysys IG OnDemand demonstrations will show the revenue uplift, guest satisfaction improvements and staff efficiency that derive from enabling guests to order and pay for food and beverage items on their mobile devices. Guests can place orders and receive delivery across a variety of property venues. They also can request self-pickup or delivery to their rooms or anywhere property wide. Agilysys IG PanOptic Kiosk will demonstrate the ultimate guest convenience provided through an AI-informed, intelligent self-checkout kiosk that eliminates tedious hand-scanning of individual items.  Instead, guests place multiple items on a tray to be optically recognized, priced and totaled for payment.

Agilysys Pay will demonstrate the advantages of using a secure payment processing platform that enables properties to choose to connect to their preferred payment gateways to ensure PCI-validated payment that adheres to the most current payment security requirements. Agilysys IG Quick Pay demonstrations will show the advantage of offering a touchless food & beverage payment application that enables guests to use their own mobile devices to pay for restaurant meals without assistance, freeing wait staff to serve more guests and enabling increased table turns by speeding checkouts.

• Key Hospitality Moment #5: Checkout

Just as it applies to check-in procedures, checkout and departure procedures must offer choice and convenience with lines and delays. The goal is to enable guests to be on their way without delay while still providing all the detailed folio information and proof of payment guests require. Agilysys PMS, Agilysys Express Mobile and Agilysys Express Kiosk demonstrations will illustrate both check-in and checkout ROE advantages.

• Key Hospitality Moment #6: Post Experience

Elevating post-departure guest interactions to make them personalized and compelling heightens positive reviews and encourages return visits during which guests are likely to do and spend more than they did during the initial visit. Now is the time to encourage returns by granting rewards for survey completions, positive comments and reviews on social sites, and referrals to friends and family. Promoting relevant upcoming specials or experiences your data shows the guest will enjoy and offering discount offers as a loyalty perk are solid revenue-boosting actions.

Agilysys Loyalty & Promotions demonstrations will show how to leverage guest preferences to tailor personalized offers that drive repeat stays, greater spend and stronger reviews. Agilysys Digital Marketing demonstrations will show how to use email and SMS marketing communications to strengthen relationships with personalized offers and content, gather guest feedback and analyze guest data to deepen understanding of guest preferences to shape promotions for future visits. Guest messages can be tailored to a guest’s history of experiences at the property to expand revenue opportunities. An intuitive, drag-and-drop message editor enables staff to quickly create mobile and desktop templates to deliver offers using the property’s branding. Agilysys Analyze demonstrations will show the advantages of leveraging real-time visibility into guest preferences, activity, spending and history. Integration with Agilysys InfoGenesis and Agilysys PMS facilitates identifying revenue and performance problems as well as opportunities. Easy-to-tailor dashboards simplify monitoring Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and identifying trends.

Rohith Kori, Agilysys Vice President, Solution Strategy, noted, “Equipping hospitality employees and guests with the right technology has become increasingly essential to meet increasing expectations for exceptional travel experiences. Whether a property chooses to assemble an end-to-end technology ecosystem from multiple vendors or chooses to partner with a provider able to deliver a comprehensive hospitality technology ecosystem, to run efficiently and profitably they must invest to provide experiences that are personalized, digital, mobile and convenient.”