Grand Hyatt Tennessee Customer Testimonial
The last two years have placed so many challenges on individuals and businesses globally. But in these difficult times it provides people and businesses opportunities to try new things, test themselves and seek out opportunities within the chaos. That is exactly what Hyatt Tennessee has done with MENUU.
Restaurants and hotels were some of the worst hit industries due to the Covid pandemic, but it did afford them a chance to re-evaluate what kind of business they wanted to be. When these difficulties arise and your regular business is disrupted, opportunity knocks to assess things and see if new ideas can be implemented. Alex Bautista and his colleagues in the Food & Beverage division at Hyatt Tennessee thought the time was right to trial some new technology for their room service offering.
As technology becomes more pervasive in our society and literacy with technology is ever increasing across all age demographics, even simple things like room service can reach new heights. Not only in providing an easier, more accessible experience for your customers, but to improve operations, efficiency, response times and ultimately revenue.
Grand Hyatt Nashville followed the same system almost all other hotels used. Customers ring down from their room, a member of the front of house would take their order, enter it into the system and pass that onto the Food & Beverage team to fulfil the order. However, as Hyatt always monitors the latest trends and how technology impacts the hotel industry and its customers, and with over 590 guest rooms in the Grand Hyatt Hotel, Alex says adopting this room service technology was very important.
He says “we wanted to implement MENUU to upgrade our system and get with the times, things are more technology based and Hyatt wants to offer it’s more tech savvy guests this option”.
A key benefit in Hyatt’s adoption of MENUU is cutting out the reception desk, with all orders coming through MENUU and sent directly to the Hyatt Food & Beverage team. With modifiers, meal deals, discounts, allergies and dietary information displayed through MENUU, customers have everything required to order online via their own device, without the need to pick up a phone. The menu is also fully responsive depending on what device the customer is using, allowing them to have a fantastic experience whether using their mobile phone, tablet or laptop.
Alex adds, “we have essentially cut out the middleman if you will. Instead of our front of house team dealing with food orders and the nuances that come with it, it comes directly to our team”. This now allows Hyatt’s front of house team to stay focused on what they do, and allow guests to place orders at any time, day or night, without the need to speak to anyone and Hyatt’s specialist F&B team can fulfil the order.
In the first 3 months of adopting the MENUU Room Service system, Alex says they have already seen 50% of guests utilizing it, “we tell guests about it at check in, and we have seen 50% of guests using it so far”. With Covid restrictions lessening and the industry starting to get back to normal and more and more guests staying in hotels, this adoption rate will surely continue to grow into 2022.
When asked what the biggest benefit to the business is, Alex immediately responded, “real-time editing”. He explains - “Real-time editing makes our jobs so much easier. Being able to quickly and easily edit menu items, reduce the menu and keep everything up to date instantaneously has been hugely beneficial”. This removes the need to reprint menus, inform guests over the phone if something is unavailable, forcing them to pick something else quickly or deciding against ordering anything at all.
MENUU has full menu automations. This allows hotels like Hyatt to have their room service menu automatically change what's available to customers based on the time of the day or the day of the week. Midweek and weekend specials appear and disappear as needed, breakfast, brunch, lunch and dinner options seamlessly present themselves to customers during their availability.
MENUU’s intelligent upselling feature allows for multiple upselling opportunities during a guests buying journey. From something as simple as a sauce, a side of fries or a bottle of champagne, this feature cycles through upsell offerings, depending on what the customer has already added to their cart. This feature alone can increase average customer spend 26%-73%, depending on the items available.
MENUU’s free loyalty program allows hotels to reward regular guests with promotions and rewards accrued through their continued use of the room service feature. With MENUU’s new Consumer Insights capabilities, you can tailor the rewards based on the customer or guests buying habits, spend and preferences. A very powerful tool, empowering hotels to provide a unique and tailored experience and delighting their guests.
Hyatt Tennessee are starting to see business return to normal now after Pandemic restrictions begin to ease. With the restaurant and its full menu soon to be on offer again Alex says he can really see the benefits of MENUU becoming more pronounced post covid with full service resuming.
