Patience Tucker, CEO at wi-Q shares how they are helping hotels deliver seamless, contactless experiences while boosting F&B revenue and ancillary spend – all without the need for an app download.
For those unfamiliar with wi-Q, can you explain what the platform does and how it integrates into a hotel’s existing operations?
wi-Q is a solutions provider for hospitality, offering mobile ordering and payments, a digital Guest Directory, and self-service kiosks.
Hotels using wi-Q can invite their guests to scan a QR code to access F&B menus and to find out all the information they might need about their stay (along with bookings links for spa services, restaurant reservations and activities, etc).
Because wi-Q integrates with the POS and major payment providers, the guest can browse, filter, customise, order, and pay via their preferred method, or charge to their room.
The Guest Directory can also integrate with the hotel’s housekeeping management system, enabling guests to request free items – like an extra towel or a toothbrush – without needing to make a call.
What’s more, if your hotel hosts meetings and events, through wi-Q you can invite guests to preorder drinks and food in advance, enabling your team to be fully prepared and avoid any on-the-day disappointments.
Guest expectations around convenience and contactless service have evolved rapidly – how does wi-Q help hotels meet these demands while enhancing the overall guest experience?
It’s true that guests are so used to contactless service in every aspect of their lives that they expect that to continue when they stay in a hotel. So being able to scan a QR code in their room to order room service, or on the table in the bar or restaurant to order food and drink, gives them the fast, frictionless service they’re looking for. In hotels with bars and restaurants in outside areas, digital ordering can remove one of the biggest pain points for guests – trying to flag down a server at the pool/beach/in the garden.
From a commercial perspective, how can wi-Q support hotels in driving incremental revenue, whether through F&B, room service or ancillary spend?
There are many ways in which wi-Q helps hotels to drive guest spend.
For a start, our clients report an average increase in order volume of 35% purely by switching from printed menus to wi-Q.
When a guest is ordering food via wi-Q, the platform can suggest extra items that they may wish to add to their order, such as a side or a matching wine.
According to our clients, these contextual upsells lead to a rise in average order value of up to 30%. Also, the booking links provided in our digital Guest Directory prompt guests to arrange activities during their stay, further driving up spend.
What sets wi-Q apart from other digital ordering and guest engagement platforms currently on the market?
Firstly, because wi-Q is web-based, there’s no need for guests to download an app or endure the tedium of filling in lots of personal details to access a hotel’s F&B menus on their phone: they simply scan a QR code, browse, order, pay – and they’re done.
wi-Q can provide digital menus and the Guest Directory in over 27 languages, enabling hotels to truly meet the needs of their international guests.
Also, through our intuitive software, it’s extremely quick and easy for the hotel operator to make changes – whether it’s adding a special dish, or altering the pricing – anytime they want in the wi-Q back office.