Putting your Unused Hotel Space to Work

Guest expectations of your hotel services change rapidly, driven by a new world reality and the technology revolution.

If there are two key shifts in human behaviour that are impacting the hospitality industry, they are probably these. The adaptation of seamless, technology-driven services to facilitate daily life, and the need to limit physical human interaction in basic day-to-day activities. 

As more industries are revolutionising the way we move through the day, we are getting used to the unlimited amount of convenience that we are being offered. So much so that we start to expect this level of service everywhere we live, work or travel.

It is no news that this trend forces you to re-think the way you design the hotel experience for your guests. But this may pose some fundamental challenges. How do you meet this need for on-demand instant gratification when your business is not set up to deliver this? How do you create change and do it smart, efficient and most of all commercially viable?

Let’s take a typical hotel F&B service for example. Managing mini bars, vending machines and shops tends to be labour intensive and rarely profitable. On top of this they usually not offer guests the variety products they want, when they want them. They are a necessary hassle that more often leads to guest dissatisfaction then a top customer review.

One way of taking a step forward and addressing this situation is to look at outsourcing these activities. But at the risk of losing control over your guest experience and hurting the image of your brand. The good news is that there are alternatives. Taking an innovative approach and using smart technology to run and manage your hotel ‘shop’ could help to upgrade your F&B proposition. 

Wundermart has developed a tech-driven solution for retail activities in semi-public spaces. And currently shops that run successfully on the platform can be found in hotels in the Benelux, Germany and the UK. In a matter of weeks, an unmanned shop can be placed in an unused area of your hotel. Let’s take your lobby for example. Our smallest shop is built with modular elements and covers only 16m2 of space. Extending this with more fridges, shelves or even a coffee station is easy to do. 

The shop is designed to provide a hassle-free 24/7 shopping experience to guests. The assortment is data driven and products are sold through a grab and go principle where each purchase is paid for at a payment kiosk. This solves the problem of dedicating manpower to service your shopping guests. And at the same time eliminates waiting time and physical contact.

But while the shops’ design is state of the art, the smartest part of the solution is invisible. Each transaction kicks off a logistical set of events that leads to automatic reordering and restocking. No involvement from your staff is needed. An online dashboard gives real-time access to the financial performance of your shop and lets you make fact-based decisions on price, product and promotions. 

Converting your unused hotel space into revenue and at the same time delivering a smart retail service to guests requires no effort at all from your side. And with a shop that runs itself, you can get back to focus on what you do best.