NEC Pushes for Self-Service Kiosks in Hospitality Industry

NEC is trying to make the case for self-service kiosks in the hospitality industry. In doing so, the company emphasized the particular utility of its own Self Check-in solution, and detailed some more general advantages of self-service technology for hotel guests and staff alike.

So what are those advantages? At the most basic level, self-service kiosks can speed up the check-in process for hotel guests while simultaneously reducing the administrative burden on the front desk staff. The kiosks get rid of long lines and allow guests to get to their rooms more quickly, and let employees provide more personalized customer service since they no longer need to spend as much time on paperwork.

The kiosks can also make it easier to track guest preferences. People can purchase add-ons like breakfast and room service without feeling like they’re being upsold on a product they don’t need, and mistakes become less likely when people handle their own information. Contactless kiosks, meanwhile, minimize the number of shared physical touchpoints in the wake of COVID-19. The faster check-in times promote social distancing because there are fewer people queuing in the lobby at any given time.

NEC’s Self Check-in kiosks can verify a guest’s identity with a QR code, or with facial recognition. The system supports multiple languages and custom logos, and can be fully integrated with a venue’s Property Management System and back-end digital infrastructure. Those between the ages of 33 and 44 were most likely to use a self-service kiosks, citing faster service (61 percent) and greater privacy (58 percent) as some of the biggest benefits of the technology.

The interest in the hospitality industry is consistent with NEC’s push for contactless self-service technology in other sectors. The company recently trialed its new Face Express system at two airports in Japan, while its Front Desk Assistant uses similar facial recognition and QR tech to track the comings and goings of people in a corporate environment. NEC’s top-rated facial recognition technology is able to identify people who are wearing masks.

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May 18, 2021 – by Eric Weiss