Onboarding new team members can be difficult, especially in the transient hospitality industry. Whether it's rookie mistakes, managing change, or ensuring clarity in each role and its expectations, there is always something to be on the lookout for with every new team member. 

It would be much easier if there were a system to help streamline the onboarding process. It turns out there is—digital messaging! Digital messaging systems can help shake those first task nerves for the new employee—and the manager. Here are a few ways messaging platforms are making onboarding easier.

1. Built-in “cheat sheet”

In the first few days of working at the hotel, a new front desk agent has a lot to keep track of—everything from learning new colleagues’ names to navigating a new PMS system. Add guests and their unpredictable requests into the mix, and the first few days on the job can easily become overwhelming. Luckily, texting and digital messaging can take off some of the burden when it comes to handling guest requests. The best systems on the market will provide ways to store answers to commonly-asked questions, as well as provide a centralized place for documents like maps to local attractions or menus of local restaurants. This capability gives new team members the confidence to respond to the vast majority of guest inquiries from the get-go with just the click of a button.

2. It’s not cheating when it’s a colleague’s answers you’re looking at 

Yes, everyone’s third grade teacher taught them not to look at their neighbor’s answers. But this should be far less discouraged when it comes to new front desk and PBX team members learning from more tenured teammates. Wouldn’t it be great if new hires could record how the most senior team members respond to guests and just play back their response to the next guest? With texting and digital messaging, this is not only possible, but the guest would have no clue it’s happening. With all past conversations stored in a dashboard, new team members can simply search guest history to look for similar guest requests, copy and paste the answer their colleague wrote, adjust it as necessary, and send it off!

3. Phone anxiety is real

How many new team members are afraid to pick up the phone in their first few days? They don’t know the pool hours or the estimated time to the airport from the hotel, let alone what to say to an upset guest. When communicating through texting and other digital channels, team members can take a few extra minutes to answer any incoming message, allowing them to absorb the message, determine the best answer, and respond in a thoughtful way. If the message does happen to come from a less-than-satisfied customer, a written complaint is less jarring than a guest yelling into a phone. Communication via texting and digital messaging takes away the most stressful parts of guest interactions for new team members, buying them time to learn the answers and the skills they need to handle guests interactions in whatever form they may come in.

4. Guests never hear “I don’t know” 

Because a guest is not standing in front of the desk or waiting on the line for an answer, texting and digital messaging gives hotel teams the opportunity to strategize or talk through a request before providing a response. If a new team member doesn’t know the answer immediately, they never have to tell the guest “I don’t know” or “let me ask me manager”, they can simply ask a manager or a fellow team member and then respond when they are ready. The interaction from the guest’s perspective is seamless and efficient. Similarly, if the newbie is at the front desk alone, they can digitally handoff that conversation to a manager or colleague to answer from wherever they are in the hotel. Again, the guest never sees the shuffle and simply gets an informative, helpful response to whatever request they might have.

5. Capture moments for feedback and high fives

Just as it does with a personal phone with friends and family, texting and digital conversation provides a running history of interactions between hotel staff members and guests. Not only does this make it easy for team members to look to other conversations for guidance as previously mentioned, but it also allows managers to capture guest interactions for quality assurance. With just a glance at a daily conversation digest, managers can review how guests requests are handled and provide high fives or constructive feedback as needed. 

Kipsu offers a guest messaging solution that was built hand-in-hand with global hospitality leaders. More than 8,800 hotels across all brands, service levels, and geographies use Kipsu every day to delight guests and streamline their operations. Interested in learning more? Schedule time with a Kipsu expert today.