Curating local recommendations from people in the business of delivering customer satisfaction – hospitality is wittingly taking back the recommendation crown by implementing technology that delivers the best that "local" has to offer. From old world gems just off the tourist trail on the Mediterranean coastline to New York city's finest insider tips, hotel brands worldwide – such as Accor's Novotel brand based out of Paris with 25k recommendations to date – have properties adding their city's hot-spots and businesses to the Recommendation Network, a growing matrix backed by hospitality technology firm Monscierge.
"There's been a lot of controversy recently over crowdsourced review-sites, but when a hotel recommends a venue – they have to stand by their advice in full-knowledge that they'll see you when upon return. It's not anonymous, it's not motivated by advertising revenues and it's in the hotel's interest that you enjoy everything about your stay." Kacey Butcher, Chief Business Development Officer, Monscierge. "The Recommendation Network goes around the crowdsourced model and puts the task of quality recommending back in the hands of the people whose livelihood depend on that recommendation being a rewarding experience."
The Monscierge Connect product line enables hotels in each city to add their recommendations to apps made available through iOS, Android, and virtual concierge devices placed in high traffic hotel areas. Once a person has the hotel app downloaded to their phone, these live recommendations can be accessed and shared from anywhere. Guests are planning trips from their phone before arriving at their destination – and taking the "connection" to this hotel and this city with them when they leave to retrieve for other people or future trips. Butcher further comments, "The concierge and staff of a hotel know their city, and they know the satisfaction of a recommendation will affect the bottom line. Major global hospitality brands putting their stamp of approval on a merchant – it's a win for everyone."
Monscierge, recently awarded a patent for providing recommendations to hospitality customers (US PTO 8,676,663), expanded the reach of its localized data and with content now available in 14 languages for both iOS and Android platforms, potentially making great strides towards alleviating international language barriers that exist in hotel-to-guest relations. While some hotels try to keep on board staff who can speak a specific language they find is often needed for their property locale, this becomes tedious to manage with hospitality staff turnover rates. Having a hotel-branded means of communication readily available for non-English speaking guests further cements the hotel's loyalty at giving the ultimate guest service.
