Consumers and hospitality outlets are at odds when it comes to the importance of interacting on social media and how smartphones can improve service quality, according to research from hospitality technology provider Omnico Group.
Consumer priorities
When asked about how they plan to use smartphones in hospitality outlets, only 13% of consumers say they would use it for social media interactions. Consumers ranked speed up ordering (31%), speed up payment (30%) and receive special offers/vouchers (35%) as the top uses for their smartphones.
Hospitality priorities
Conversely, business leaders have different priorities for mobile technology deployment, with the top areas being social media interaction outside the experience (87%), engagement during the experience (78%), and real-time customer feedback (78%).
Speeding up service delivery and payment were their least prioritised uses of mobile technology.
Agreement on advance booking
Consumer and hospitality leaders are in agreement on one aspect of the future of mobile however, in its use for booking a table in advance. Business leaders cited booking & reservations as the most important future use of mobile (73%) whilst consumers ranked it the second most important use of their mobile in future (33%), with special offers coming out top.
Consumers want improved experience + great deals
“While social media is an important channel for dealing with customer service issues, it seems that it’s not something where hospitality businesses can join the conversation at the table,” commented Matthew Cox, Hospitality Division at Omnico Group. “Consumers are more concerned with how technology can improve their actual experience and getting great deals, while business leaders were ranking these bottom of their priorities for investment.
“While priorities differ, it’s clear that smartphones have an important role to play in delivering loyalty schemes and speeding up payment at the point of sale.”
These results follow two surveys of over 5,000 UK consumers and 173 business leaders, conducted by Peach Factory on behalf of global hospitality technology provider Omnico Group. The results come as part of an investigation into attitudes to smartphone use in the UK, amongst the UK’s hospitality business leaders and consumers.
Consumers – how they’d like to use their mobile in future
| Use of mobile in future | Would like to use in future |
| Receiving special offers/vouchers | 35% |
| Making a booking | 33% |
| Speed up ordering | 31% |
| Speed up payment | 30% |
| Give feedback | 28% |
| Browsing the menu | 28% |
| Read reviews (e.g. Trip Advisor) | 22% |
| Interact with the outlet on social media | 13% |
Business leaders – future functions for mobile ranked as ‘Not Important’
| Use of mobile in future | Not important |
| Speeding up ordering | 46% |
| Speeding up payment | 39% |
| Delivering targeted offers | 26% |
| Enhancing the overall customer experience | 23% |
| Booking & reservations | 22% |
| Real time customer feedback | 22% |
| Influencing guests earlier in the customer journey | 22% |
| Social media engagement with customers outside the guest visit | 13% |
About Omnico
Omnico delivers queue-busting mobile point of sale (PoS) technology with leading hospitality chains, including YO! Sushi. By supplying YO! Sushi with mobile PoS, Omnico helped to increase order efficiency & tracking as well as streamline the payment process by 30 seconds per customer. Mobile PoS has the potential to cut waiting time in hospitality chains and ensure customers aren’t left hanging and, by extension, abandon their table.
For more information about Omnico, please visit the company’s website www.omnicogroup.com or follow @omnicogroup on Twitter.
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