How BLE/iBeacon Solutions Can Help Hotels & Resorts?

It is fair to mention that iBeacon technology is one of the most useful technological advancements. It can be seamlessly used without worrying about the size, space, and type of industry. Multiple prolific industries like hospitality, transport, education, banking, automobile, etc. can also use it as an effective data transmission tool.

BLE technology found in beacon devices unlocks new possibilities for hotels and resorts when integrated with various technologies like geo-fence. A custom hotel mobile app combined with beacons can open up a range of new possibilities to enhance the guest or customer experience, streamline the processes, skips formalities, and increase the overall productivity of the staff. A full-fledged beacon app can be considered as a personal concierge itself. Let us see the applications that can be made a real possibility with the use of Beacon technology.

iBeacon Applications for Hotel Industry

1) Advanced Check-ins

All the top hotels and resorts would like to give their customers a sense of royalty and enhanced experience from the moment they lay their first footsteps into the property. This is where the beacon app could be a brilliant and game-changing option to avoid the chaos in the waiting queue for check-ins.

With the help of beacon devices, the incoming customers will receive a ‘check-in’ push notification. The content of the push notification can be customized by the admins of the app based on what they want their customers to receive. The content could include the process of check-in with details, the reservation, asks for the confirmation and the guest will be checked in digitally.

Guests could be instantly requested to download the custom beacon-powered hotel application, using the hotel wi-fi, where they can fetch their details at the time of booking the room. This gives the guest a hassle-free experience.

2) Indoor Navigation

The beacon devices, when combined together, can act as an indoor or outdoor positioning system. It contains transmitters to notify relevant information to iBeacon-enabled smart devices. It is a kind of location device and uses proximity technology, but its main advantage over GPS technology is: It can work well in the absence of Wi-Fi and Internet networks. Android/iOS/Windows devices with Bluetooth 4.0 and above also can readily show Beacons’ notifications. In other words, iBeacon-ready devices show notifications to the users about any product from some distance even if there is no network inside the hotel premises.

After many trials, it was confirmed that GPS was not very effective for indoor navigation. But beacons are proven to be the most precise indoor mapping and navigation tools. The beacon will navigate the guest to the desired location without any help needed from the hotel staff. The best thing is that it is highly interactive, where a guest’s attention can be directed to specific exhibits within the hotel or resort premises.

3) Keyless Room Access

We talked about the automated check-in earlier. Recalling that process, every guest who checked in via a beacon-based application would receive a digital key over the smartphones. That is shared through a centralized software solution for the hotels and resorts.

Through that digital key, the guest can get access to the room without any keys, delivering a complete digital experience. The iBeacon detects the guest’s phone when in close vicinity and unlocks the room’s door upon entering the digital key again. Cool, isn’t it?

4) Smart Security System for Small Kids

Parents with small children find it hectic to enjoy their leisure time while staying in resorts. Have you or your family experienced that? Well not anymore if the beacon-based security system is in place.

Parents can use this smart beacon-based app to track their children on large properties. The kids are given some form of beacon-powered wearables. Parents can set a specific range and can get alerts whenever the kid or kids crosses it. Hence, everyone in the family can enjoy their activities on the vacation.

Even for the hotel management and the team, this beacon-powered solution can help to keep the track of the guests in various high-risk situations such as fire and can send the rescue team to the location where they are stuck.

5) Proximity Marketing, Storytelling, and Gamification

BLE or beacon technology, when combined with AR technology, can play a huge role in creating an emotional bond with the guests. By engaging guests in a fascinating digital experience that will tell stories related to the history and highlights of the hotel or the resort over the years.

Beacon devices also help in proximity marketing as well as in upselling and cross-selling of their products and services. Beacon devices are placed near the boundary walls so whenever someone will pass, a push notification about the offers and the information regarding the hotel can be broadcasted over the smartphone. It increases the chances of engagement and conversions too.

6) Effortless Payments & Checkouts

The custom mobile app will allow the guests to set and confirm the checkout time by a push notification. Even while checking out, the guests would not have to inform any of the hotel staff for the checkout because the beacon will sense and the checkout will be done. A notification will be sent to both hotel and the guest to say goodbyes.

Even the whole payment process is digitalized using beacon technology. With the automated multiple options to pay digitally, the guests can pay through the various payment modes at their convenience.

Why Choose IndiaNIC for Beacon App Development?

IndiaNIC has been providing robust and scalable Beacon-based solutions to various industries. The solutions our mobile experts develop can be customized based on the various business requirements. The IoT engineers at IndiaNIC are having 5+ years of experience in working with various sensors and connected devices and have delivered real-world innovations to businesses.

Integration of iBeacon SDK

A team of IoT engineers and mobile app developers at IndiaNIC will help you integrate iBeacon SDK into your existing or new system for your hotel business.

Our experts will help you build a web-based admin from where you can create, edit, or manage the content you wish to broadcast through iBeacons. It will also help you in managing and sending push notifications as well as various analytics (behavioral, operational, etc.) for making future strategies in marketing and inventory management.

Get in touch with our team if you wish to discuss a similar project idea.