SAN FRANCISCO—Commune Hotels & Resorts has launched its personalized guest communication program powered by CheckMate. The service, which enables conversations between guests and hotels through any mobile channel, requires no app download.
Guests at most Joie de Vivre and Thompson hotels can now check in, request an upgrade, get notified when their room is ready, report service issues, ask for restaurant recommendations, and order a car service, all by text. The rollout to Commune’s properties comes after the completion of a pilot program that demonstrated 75% of Commune guests engaged with their hotel via SMS at some point during their journey.
“In a world of immediacy, we were searching for a platform that would allow our team members to communicate with guests via text to provide more personalized service and deepen engagement,” said Niki Leondakis, CEO of Commune Hotels & Resorts. “CheckMate enables our team to care for and provide service to our guests via the same mobile devices they use when communicating with colleagues, friends and family. The convenience of not having to download an app for this service reinforces our goal of making life easier, not harder, for our customers.”
“I applaud Commune’s effort to release mobile communication from the confines of an app or loyalty enrollment requirements,” said Drew Patterson, co-founder and CEO of CheckMate. “And, as the pilot program and rave TripAdvisor reviews demonstrate, travelers respond positively to the service and on average rate their stay 20% higher than guests who did not use CheckMate’s service.”
Commune ran a four-month pilot program of the CheckMate platform across 25 of its hotels from April to July. More than 24,500 Commune guests used the CheckMate platform to communicate with their hotel during the pilot. The pilot program found that 75% of guests provided a mobile number and opted in to receive SMS communication before, during and after their stay; 13% of guests requested an upgrade; and 10% of guests provided structured feedback on service quality in real time. In terms of numbers, that translates to 24,548 guests that began digital conversations with staff before they arrived at their hotel. Of that number, 1,916 guests requested room upgrades and paid amenities, and 2,613 guests completed CheckMate’s in-stay feedback prompt, providing Commune visibility into guest satisfaction. From these conversations, Commune was able to identify 299 service recovery opportunities.