Guestline, part of Access Group, has introduced a host of self-service options to its GuestStay offering, incorporating artificial intelligence (AI) to further reduce pressure on hotel staff while empowering guests.

The self-service portal from Guestline, part of the GuestStay product, enables guests to manage their hotel reservation with options to modify or update dates, rate plan or room type, and to pre-order additional products and services like breakfast or parking in advance of their stay. With greater automation embedded, AI identifies, categorises, and creates actionable requests in the Property Management System (PMS), saving valuable time administering each booking and ensuring guests’ needs are recognised and fulfilled more efficiently.

In addition to managing their stay, guests can secure a restaurant booking through ResDiary, a leading provider of bookings and table management software to clients in the hospitality sector and also part of Access Group, which is now fully integrated with the portal to offer a seamless experience for table reservations.

Chris Jones, Senior Product Manager at Guestline, said: “By empowering the guest to manage their own stay, our hotel partners are not only liberated from administrative tasks, they also benefit from faster access to more accurate first-party data, which can drive better efficiency and personalisation. With AI we can provide even further automation to support hotel teams. This means staff can focus on what’s most important – providing guests with a memorable, engaging experience. In trials, the self-service has proven particularly popular with corporate travellers who appreciate the ability to make amendments in a few clicks and to make specific requests ahead of their arrival.”

Through the guest self-service portal, hotels are able to surface more of their F&B offering and wider ancillary products and services throughout the digital guest journey to secure demand and drive increased TRevPAR while delivering an enhanced guest experience. This is especially relevant for online travel agent (OTA) bookings, where bookings are often room only.

Jones said: “As well as happier guests and refocused staff, hotels using the guest portal see increases in restaurant bookings thanks to the integration with ResDiary. We are already seeing properties with around 25% of their table bookings now coming via the GuestStay portal, with even more upsell options to the portal to drive additional revenue already in development.  At a time when room-only margins are tight, every little uplift on guest spend counts – and with staffing issues still prevailing in hospitality, reducing ‘zombie jobs’ and creating more autonomy for guests is a vital part of our vision for GuestStay and the portal.”

As well as guest self-service, the portal enables hoteliers to prompt guests to complete admin processes from their own devices in their own time, such as pre-arrival digital registration, checking their spend during stay, and settling their bill and checking out on the day of departure.

Hundreds of Guestline customers are already benefiting from these tools, with the company continuing to innovate and invest in improving guest communications. With digital registration completion averaging 31%, staff and guests alike enjoy much faster check-ins. By collecting up to 100% more real guest email addresses, hotels are also driving more repeat business through their direct channels rather than via online travel agencies (OTAs).

Additional functionality and features are planned for later in 2024, enabling hoteliers to further improve the visibility of its wider ancillary services and F&B offering and grow revenues through automating upsells and upgrades.