Hotel Guest Request Software for High Performing Teams [+Free Log]

Missing the mark on a guest request can mean the difference between a five-star online review and a damaging guest complaint. And in an era when online reviews can make the difference between fully-booked room blocks and empty hallways damaging your bottom line, it’s critical to impact guest satisfaction through positive guest experiences whenever possible. 

There was a time when guest requests were primarily tracked using phone calls, pen and paper, binder logs, and radio transmissions. But analog methods of tracking can not only lead to team confusion, excuses, miscommunication and missing information, they can mean missing a guest request altogether if things aren’t properly organized. 

That’s why many modern hotels have begun utilizing guest-request tracking software to receive, track, and log guest requests for easier management, faster response times, and improved tracking. Guest request solutions allow hotel teams to focus on what’s important: the guest. 

In this article, we’ll look at what guest request software is, why it’s important, and what features to look for. We’ll also demonstrate how solutions like Xenia can take your property operations to the next level. 

To continue your learning, check out our comprehensive Hotel Operations Management Guide.

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What is Hotel Guest Request Software

Guest request software allows hotel teams to receive or create, track, and manage the completion of guest requests via a digital system. Some guest request software is primarily utilized on a desktop computer at the front desk, while some solutions provide mobile applications for additional, on-the-go request management. 

Digital request tracking systems make it easy to assign tasks to staff, and some systems create an automatic log of guest requests for historical tracking. This makes it easy to review historical information around requests, analyze process times, and make improvements over time. It also provides a single source or truth for request information, so the team always knows where to find the tools and information they need to take care of guest requests swiftly. 

Why is Hotel Guest Request Software Important? 

In today’s modern hospitality landscape, guest request software is important in maintaining quality standards as well as meeting—and exceeding—guest expectations. Put simply: modern travelers expect modern levels of care, that’s why digital hospitality management solutions have become so popular, and important. 

But beyond this technology’s ability to bring your hotel into this modern era of hospitality management, implementing software like this really comes down to efficiency. Guest request management is an area of hotel operations that’s notorious for miscommunication, confusion, and slow response times. Most often, this is because the staff member who initially receives the request usually isn’t the same person to complete it. 

Typically a guest will call the front desk if they need something like additional towels or toiletries. The front desk agent who took the request then has to relay that message to the housekeeping team so that someone on the team can fulfill the request. Depending on how this information is passed along, details can be easily missed, there may be confusion about who’s ultimately responsible, or the request might be completely overlooked. 

For example, if the front desk agent writes the request down in a paper request log or notebook and then gets distracted by a guest checking in, covering the request book with more paperwork they need to complete or take care of for check in, the request might be forgotten until much later. In this case, the guest may end up calling the front desk again, upset that they’ve been waiting an hour for towels that never came. Or they may even give up and resolve to write a negative review about their experience when they leave the property. 

Guest request software solves these potential issues, keeping requests from slipping through the cracks and helping hotel teams better organize, prioritize, and track guest initiated tasks to improve efficiency and decrease response times. These solutions keep everyone aligned and on track with clear and accessible information that’s always in a designated place. 

What are features of good hotel guest request software?

At the very least, the guest request software you choose should allow you to track basic information such as guest details, request notes, room info, and assigned staff members. But a good guest request software ideally also provides ways to record start times and due dates so you can measure time to resolution and continually improve process times. Look for a solution that lets you sort requests into categories or add tags for easy and efficient planning. 

A software that contains additional messaging or collaborative features and tools can help further improve communication and clarity around not only requests, but other areas of hotel operations. And whatever software you select should maintain a lasting record of work and provide a means of escalating high-priority requests.  

Hotel Guest Request Case Study: Majlis Grand Mercure, Abu Dhabi

The Majlis Grand Mercure Hotel in Abu Dhabi has successfully utilized Xenia to streamline common tasks and procedures including guest requests. The hotel has used Xenia to speed up process times and improve overall guest satisfaction across the property. The Hotel’s IT Director, Mujib Rahaman says that guest satisfaction is their ultimate goal, and that “this dream comes true through Xenia,” explaining that the hotel has been able to reach their customer satisfaction goals faster too because the system is so easy to learn. 

General Manager Arshad Mahmood says, “It has helped the effort of different departments to get synchronized. And when it comes to complaint management it’s been a great help.” And not only has Xenia helped the property manage complaints and improve guest experience by improving response times. It’s also helped the team streamline their maintenance processes. 

Chief Engineer at the property, Lalan Cupta, explains that the hotel has 38 preventative maintenance systems in place, and prior to Xenia their team had to track down information and assign work over the phone. They had to sort through folders and paperwork to ensure that procedures were followed and to document processes. But now, with Xenia, the property is able to track all of their maintenance procedures and operations in one place and get a high level view of what’s going on with preventative maintenance at the property any time. 

Arshad says, “As a General Manager, I effortfully take care of operations, profit loss, and admin. Overall, all the directors and managers report to me. As a GM, I have to have happy guests here. And this is where Xenia comes in.”

How to use Xenia for hotel guest requests

Xenia is among some of the top solutions for guest request management. We offer teams a user-friendly hotel management solution with a robust yet simple-to-use suite of tools, including powerful guest request tracking features. 

Xenia offers both a desktop and mobile application to reach your entire frontline and make it easy for you to review and oversee tasks. Guests can submit their requests to your team and your staff can then  create a task for the request that includes the type of request, the location, start time, and more for easy tracking. From there, the software will send an alert to the employee assigned to the request. 

Once the assigned employee receives the task notification on their individual or provided mobile device, they can work through taking care of the request and mark it as complete in Xenia once they’ve finished. And as your team works through requests in the system, you can access Xenia’s reporting tools to analyze completed requests and outstanding issues, spot patterns, and make process improvements over time.  

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Here’s a quick step-by-step of what this possess could look like: 

1. A hotel guest calls the front desk to ask for three additional towels.
2. The on-duty front desk agent logs the request in Xenia, assigning an on-duty housekeeper and listing specific request info in the task, such as the number of towels requested and the guest’s name and room number. 
3. The on-duty housekeeper receives the request on their mobile device and sets out to take the towels to the designated room listed in the Xenia task. 
4. Once the towels are delivered, the assigned housekeeper marks the task as complete in the Xenia mobile app on their device.
5. The front desk agent who assigned the task can then receive a notification to see that the request has been completed, and they can make a guest callback if desired to ensure that everything was taken care of to the guest’s satisfaction. 
6. At the end of the month, management can review all guest request process times via Xenia’s analytics suite to see how these tasks are going and intervene if necessary. 

Other ways to use Xenia to improve hotel operations

Xenia goes beyond delivering powerful guest request tracking features—our solutions also provide a full suite of tools to help simplify, track, and manage every area of hotel operations. The software contains individual and group messaging, built-in analytics, checklists and inspection tools, maintenance features, and more. Check out the list below:

• Housekeeping Management
• Team Accountability
• Quality and Safety Inspections
• Team Communication
• Custom Checklist Builder
• SOP Template Library
• Preventive Maintenance Management
• Asset Tracking
• Work Order Management
• Lost and Found

Xenia checklists make it easy to create and enforce standard operating procedures and inspection protocols, simplifying quality assurance and brand standard adherence across individual properties and entire portfolios. The system’s PM and work order tools ensure your maintenance team has everything they need to track fixes on the go and log asset information for a clear understanding of asset health. Plus the software features all the internal communication features you could need to encourage collaboration, increase autonomy, and decrease miscommunication. Managers are able to message team members one on one, create chat groups for departments and teams, and even announce organization-wide news and updates via a public feed, anywhere, anytime. 

With Xenia, you and your team will be able to track and manage property assets and analyze detailed analytics reports on everything from inspections and maintenance to room cleanings and task assignments, allowing you to spot patterns quickly and make long-term improvements. And to top it all off, Xenia is fully flexible and customizable, so you can tailor your digital experience to fit the way you work. 

The icing on the cake? Our application is easy to learn and adopt, so you won’t spend weeks or months of extra time onboarding and training your staff in a new system. Click Here to begin your 30 Day Free Trial

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