Long lines of tired, annoyed, and angry guests near the front or other parts of the lobby desk don’t create a good first impression of your hotel. In fact, such a scene may make the best-looking hotel lobby look like a bazaar that people would like to run away from. Such moments are annoying not just for your guests but also for your staff members, who feel lost in dealing with never-ending phone calls and in-person complaints.
So, all the parties would be better off if an alternative way of communication existed. The great news? It already exists! With a guest messaging software, you can get rid of the phone time, reduce or even eliminate the lines, and give your guests a direct and quick communication line right in their pocket.
Instead of the calls that guests often don’t answer, you can talk to them where they are and where they like to be: SMS, WhatsApp, Messenger, or any other digital platform. It’s faster, easier, smarter, more effective, plus, it looks modern and professional!
In this guide, we’re covering some of the best guest messaging platforms on the market. We’ll explore their main features and help you figure out which one might be the perfect fit for your property.
Top Software Options for Guest Messaging
Here are some of the best software platforms that hotels can use for guest messaging and beyond.
HotelSmarters
HotelSmarters provides smart solutions for guest experience, including guest messaging software. It comes with 200+ language integrations, covers 30+ countries served, and integrates 100+ platforms.
Key Features
- With HotelSmarters, you can deliver immediate answers and timely updates to your guests.
- The platform helps automate interactions, including check-in details, upgrade suggestions, and amenity requests.
- This solution ensures faster response times, as well as an increase in the number of purchases and upgrades.
- While it does use AI, it also ensures to maintain the human touch.
- Automated triggers help create regulations for pre-arrival and welcome messages, in-stay surveys, late check-outs, and more.
- With their unified inbox, you can manage all channels from one intuitive dashboard.
- You can chat with the guests without leaving the hotel app or kiosk.
- No need to download an app; you can talk with your guests on WhatsApp or SMS.
- Their GMS enables you to conduct upselling campaigns through SMS and messaging apps, which can increase your hotel’s revenues.
- From the HotelSmarts interface, you can offer room upgrades, late check-outs, spa services, and much more.
- HotelSmarts comes with a plug-and-play setup.
Canary Messaging
Canary Messaging enables you to communicate with your guests in the method they prefer the most: text messaging. You can benefit from automated responses powered by Canary AI without an app download.
Key Features
- You can just instruct when and what messages to send to your guests, and the platform will do it for you.
- It covers real-time communication channels that your guests already use, like SMS or WhatsApp. No more annoying phone calls (which are often as annoying for the guests as they are for the clients).
- Canary offers a unified inbox to group your guest communications (be they SMS, WhatsApp, OTAs, email, or anything else) in a single platform.
- It allows you to send personalized direct or broadcast messages that cover pre-arrival, check-in, in-stay, checkout, and post-stay.
- You don’t have to answer the same question over and over again, as Canary AI can respond to the most common questions by itself.
- Even if your number is a landline, you can still receive and send text messages from it with Canary.
- Their Turnkey Guest Messaging Solution can easily integrate with your PMS.
D-EDGE
D-EDGE offers smart technology and digital marketing solutions to hotels in different parts of the world to help them increase their revenues.
Key Features
- It allows you to talk to and with your hotel guests on their preferred platform, be it email, SMS, WhatsApp, or Messenger. The platform also helps put all your email, SMS, WhatsApp, and Messenger communications in one interface.
- It comes with AI tech that helps with smart reply suggestions, so you can respond faster but still keep it personalized. You can also segment your guest database to build more targeted campaigns.
- D-EDGE enables you to automate your campaigns so you don’t lose time on what’s redundant over and over again.
- The messages are customized to each guest’s stay, preferences, and behaviour.
- It automatically suggests services and extras according to the guest’s preferences and behavior.
- It helps digitalize check-in, check-out, and payment processes to speed up the journey. Guests can register their smartphone or tablet, with no waiting or any papers needed.
- It provides visibility into pending formalities, so your team knows which tasks to prioritize.
- With real-time satisfaction surveys, you can identify issues during the stay, not after. The platform also makes it easier to encourage guests to talk about their positive experiences on major review platforms.
- It provides consistent guidance from experts to analyse your campaigns’ performance.
Actabl
Actabl provides several hotel software solutions to help solve the common challenges that hotels face in the management processes.
Key Features
- This guest messaging software enables you to send direct, automated, or broadcast messages to cover timely updates, personalized interactions, and much more.
- It helps keep things personalized even if you don’t talk to your guests in person.
- It allows the hotel to keep a record of conversation history so that the staff doesn’t forget important details.
- You can send messages with predetermined criteria like pre-arrival dates and check-in times.
- It comes with dynamic templates, so you don’t have to craft every new message structure from scratch.
- With this platform, you can respond to inquiries, approve reservations, explore delivery preferences, order room service, send links or PDFs, and do much more from a single interface.
- It offers a two-way digital communication between staff and guests; as a result, requests are often quickly received, tracked, and completed.
- It makes it easier for guests to request add-on services or order room service, which can easily translate into more revenues and profits for the hotel.
- This guest messaging software allows you to create dedicated tickets within each conversation.
- You can track the progress and status of guest requests from start to finish, so nothing gets lost or forgotten.
The Real-World Benefits: Why You Need Guest Messaging Software?
But why do you need a guest messaging software? Here are some undeniable benefits:
- No More Waiting: When people are on a holiday, all they want is to relax and enjoy their time. The last thing they’d like to experience is annoying lines and unnecessary waiting. A guest messaging software can help you and your guests forget about what waiting is.
- Less Stress for Your Team: Remember the long lines near the front desk? The angry faces? The complaints? These will no longer hunt you if you use a guest messaging software. Your staff will be so much happier and grateful.
- From Conversations to Conversions: It’s easier and more effective to sell a room upgrade, a spa package, or a late check-out through a timely message than it is in person or with a call that no one answers.
- Stop Bad Reviews Before They Are Public: When a guest can quickly text you about a leaky faucet or a noisy neighbor, you can fix it immediately. This turns a potential one-star review into a story about your incredible service. You solve problems in private before they become public complaints.
Summing Up
What guest messaging software provides isn’t just an automated welcome text. It’s about building a reliable, quick, and effective channel for communication that both your guests and staff members like and enjoy using.
The “best” platform is the one that matches your hotel’s vibe and vision. Is yours a boutique hotel? Is it an expensive resort? Find something that matches your voice.
But now don’t just read about it. Pick your top two or three options from our list above and schedule a demo with them or book a free trial. You can’t find out what works best for you if you don’t try it out by yourself.
