What is a check-in kiosk?
A kiosk is a touch-screen device allowing passengers to do self-check-in and pay with credit or debit cards for free. Kiosks provide a valid boarding pass at the end. The primary function of a digital self-service kiosk is to allow customers to complete various common tasks on their own without the assistance of a dedicated employee. This can range from placing orders for food, to purchasing train or bus tickets, to depositing and withdrawing money from bank accounts.
How to do Kiosk Check-in?
Kiosk check-in is done providing the related booking information through kiosks. Kiosks are practical and easy-to-use devices designed for everybody and most airports have kiosks devices. With its multi language support, kiosk devices print your boarding pass step by step after filling in the required details. Kiosks are touch devices allowing passengers to check-in. Passengers can head straight to the boarding area after getting their boarding pass. Kiosk check-ins can be done through PNR code (booking code), e-ticket, boarding pass or passport. After logging in to the system, passengers can request additional services or select their seats. Passengers can directly head to the boarding area without waiting in line after kiosk check-in and baggage drop-off.
How it works:
- Begin check-in online or on the app.
- Select the number of bags to check and pay if needed.
- Download your boarding pass or print it at home.
- Scan your boarding pass at the kiosk for Express Bag Tags.
- Tag your bags and take them to Bag Drop.
About Check-In-Kiosk
- Ticket kiosk applications — You “check-in” to pick up your tickets or you purchase your tickets.
- Hoteling —where employees “check-in” to their office for the day
- Patient kiosk check-inwhere patients at the hospital or the clinic or rehab facility check-in
- Airline Check-in— one of the earliest applications and now expanded to Trusted Traveler, CLEAR and other services.
- Baggage drop off and pickup— now Airlines are using check-in kiosks for these functions.
- Telemedicine— combined with check-in these also provide medical examinations
Evernet – the leading brand of hotel self-check-in kiosk from Singapore www.evernet-kiosk.sg. It’s definitely a perfect choice to serve your hotels’ guests better.
Types of Check-In Kiosks:
Travel Check-In Kiosks
Check-in Kiosks have become increasingly common in a variety of different environments in recent years. Generally, the most familiar check in kiosks are the ones at the airport used for printing boarding passes and checking luggage. The automated services these kiosks provide, help keep lines shorter and travel time flow more efficiently. Checking in at the kiosk typically takes only a fraction of the time normally involved to check in with an attendant. Airline kiosks are very sophisticated and are equipped with numerous peripherals such as card readers, passport readers, and bar code scanners used for reading various state and country issued IDs. They are built to be very robust due to the high level of traffic the kiosk will see over its lifetime.
Healthcare Check-In Kiosks
Another popular check-in kiosk application is for patients visiting healthcare facilities. The kiosk allows them to process their insurance information, answer questions concerning their visit, digitally sign HIPAA disclosure documents and pay for their visit in most applications. Patients like using these kiosks compared to physically filling out forms with a pen and paper while nurses and front desk attendants like the kiosks for freeing up their time that would otherwise be used checking in patients. A really valuable feature of patient kiosks is helping to reduce the need for paper and initiate the electronic storage of documents from the very beginning.
Hotel and Hospitality Check-In Kiosks
Check in kiosks have also been popular in hotels for guests checking in. One such hotel is Yotel in Manhattan, which is a trendy new boutique style hotel that has automated their entire check in process. The kiosks are modern and sleek and easily allow guests to locate their reservation, put a credit card on file, and obtain a room key that is encoded and dispensed right from the kiosk. The check out process is equally as easy and the kiosk has an internal receptacle so guests can return their key and the hotel can use it again.
Queuing Kiosks
Queuing kiosks are widely used in places where clientele have to wait to be seen such as the DMV or the County Recorder’s Office.
Hotel Self Check-in Kiosk:
Knowing The Pros & Cons
There is no doubt that technology has made our lives more convenient by changing the way we do many things. It does change how many businesses operate nowadays, the hotels have no exception to it.
Looking at the hotel industry perception, the way guests check in to the hotel has changed as well. There is a surge that hoteliers finding reasonable contactless service technology ever since the Covid-19 pandemic took place. Hence, there is no surprise if the hotel self-check-in kiosk becomes a big trend in the hotel industry.
The Pros of Hotel Self Check-in Kiosk
Enhance guest experience
One of the major benefits of a check-in kiosk is that the hotel can prevent long queues at the reception counter. We have to admit that no one enjoys queuing. The manual sign-in form is no longer needed. Guests can simply check in using the hotel kiosk with their confirmed booking number, scan the IC or passport then get their room key. The existence of the hotel kiosks simplifies the entire check-in and out process while providing quicker services to the guests which in turn, increases customer satisfaction.
Increase revenue opportunities
Not only benefits the guests, but the ability to upsell hotel F&B, tour packages, and other extra services are also the green flag. Hotel management does not have to think about adding an extra headcount for promoting the hotel services. This can be easily done through hotel kiosk features. Hence, look for a kiosk vendor that provides the ability to upsell.
Reduce the headcount cost
While taking an extra headcount to provide 24/7 services at the reception counter is too costly, some of the hotels choose to have fixed check-in and check-out time. With the self-check-in kiosk, this is never an issue anymore. Imagine putting the self-service kiosk – a machine that works 24/7, assisting guest check-ins & outs and serving the walk-in guests.
The Cons of Hotel Self Check-in Kiosk
Even though technology is picking up, nevertheless, we can’t close our eyes to its disadvantages.
Lack of personal interaction and difficulty to use
While some of the guests are expecting a welcoming smile when entering the hotel lobby, it can be quite frustrating when it doesn’t meet their expectations. The less interaction will result in unhappy customers for those who love to have interaction, they might feel the hotel surrounding are a bit gloomy and have no human touch.
Besides that, not everyone embraces digitization. The self-service technology is user-friendly for those who are tech-savvy, but it will create confusion for those who do not have any idea about the self-service kiosk.
Malfunction and error
A machine is always a machine. The errors can occur anytime due to some reasons. It can be because of the loss of internet connection, the kiosk touch screen not responding, the system did not catch up with the bookings or it might be because of a user error.
How to overcome the downsides of self-check-in kiosks?
For the above reasons, that’s why some hotels are still retaining their hotels’ front desk officers, especially during office hours. This doesn’t mean it is necessary for the hotels to hire a receptionist that serves check-in and check-out guests only, but it is crucial to have an officer to stay at the hotel especially during office hours to back up if such issues happened.
Other than that, there are many ways that you may consider such as:
- Make sure the hotel kiosk vendor that you choose provides you with such technical service and customer contact support.
- While it is crucial to provide the best customer service to your guests, why not consider sending a welcoming message via WhatsApp before the check-in time and sharing the step-by-step video on how to check in by using the hotel kiosk.
- Create a good atmosphere in your hotel lobby for example:
- Put some quotes and attractive artwork
- Turn on the music
- Provide an “Instagram-able spot” for the guests to take photos
- Display the phone number that can be contacted 24/7 if any emergency happens.
Conclusion
It is widely agreed that hotels that embrace the benefits of check-in and check-out kiosks will gain an edge over their competitors. Of course, there are also some that still look at the traditional way of check-in. It is depending on what kind of service and customer experience the hotel wants to provide and how efficient hotel operations want to be.