Improving the check-in process

First impressions matter. And the reception area is where a hotel makes its first impression.

It’s where your guests first experience your property and could set the tone for their stay with you. 

But it’s also a place of admin. Guests need to check in to their rooms, find where they are a staying, and get directions to the restaurant, bar or gym.

There are several different ways of doing this. You still need your guests’ details – name, address, confirmation of booking, payment etc, etc. But how they share their information with you has changed.  

The personal touch or speedy automation?

It could be in the form of a self-serve tablet at a kiosk in your reception area, an app your guests can download ahead of their visit, or a traditional desk run by a member of staff who greets people as they arrive.

And then there’s checking out. Although by then you’re no longer making a first impression, now is a chance to leave a lasting memory, make sure everything was to taste and increase the chance of a repeat visit.

To help you create the perfect space, we wanted to know, do people prefer to check-in with a person or an automated process? 

More and more people are getting used to the idea of self-service in a variety of industries, from paying at a fuel pump to self-check out at the supermarket.  But do they want to? 

In an online survey of more than 2,000 adults in the UK, carried out by Yonder on behalf of Elavon, we asked that very question.

The survey asked if they strongly agreed, slightly agreed or neither agreed nor disagreed to the statements: when staying at a hotel, I prefer doing the check-in with a member of staff, or; when staying at a hotel, I prefer doing contactless check-in via an automated kiosk.

The answers reveal the majority of travellers want that personal touch when checking-in, with 65% of adults wanting to be greeted by a member of staff. 

But almost one in five adults (18%) prefer an automated kiosk. A similar proportion (17%) didn’t prefer one over the other.

Dave Wheatcroft, Head of Hospitality at Elavon Europe, said this will reflect the split in leisure and business travellers.

Business or leisure?

“Think about the type of traveller:

“As a business traveller you look for efficiency. The guest is the type of person who has just got off a train or plane, they are tired and potentially only in the hotel for a night. They don’t want to be told about a new exhibition at a nearby art gallery or what's going on locally. They just want to get to their room and go to bed or to a meeting.

“That’s where the automation comes in. You just want to get your key as a business traveller and get up to your room.

“As a leisure traveller you probably do want to engage with a person and have that discussion about when the restaurant is open, information about what’s on in the area or local recommendations for a drink.”

We also asked UK adults if they liked checking out with a person or with an automated kiosk.

Here we found more people are in favour of automation but there’s still an overall preference for a person. Half said they preferred to check out with a member of staff and almost a third (30%) opting for an automated kiosk. The other 20% either had no preference or didn’t know.

Source: Yonder conducted an online sample of 2,082 UK adults 18+ in November 2024. Data is weighted to be representative of the population of the UK. Targets for quotas and weights are taken from the PAMCO survey, a random probability survey conducted annually with 35,000 adults. Yonder is a founding member of the British Polling Council and abides by its rules. 

Question: For each pair of opposing statements, please indicate which one you agree with most.

Statement a) I prefer doing it face-to-face with a member of staff. 

Statement b) I prefer dropping my keys/card via an automated kiosk