News Put priceless guest data into the hands of key employees with Cloud Express.

Favorite Things is a series of posts by Inntopia employees about their favorite parts of the systems and services we offer. Some are big, some are small, some are simple, and some are complex. Enjoy a veritable cornucopia of hidden gems by visiting the Favorite Things archives.

It all started about a year and a half ago, when we were asked by a client to create a “Front desk agent check-in assistant” that would allow their front desk staff to get a useful snapshot of a guest, based on the CRM database we had built for them, as they were checking in. This is the kind of product request we love, because it was a novel idea that had the potential to change the way the industry works. (No pressure, right?) I was lucky enough to be the Product Owner through this project, working closely with clients, contractors, leadership, and our dev team to see this from start to finish.

Meet Cloud Express

The Purpose of Cloud Express is to be a non-intrusive, streamlined advisor to help recognize and welcome guests, understand their behaviors, confirm their preferences and requests, and obtain important contact information. The end user of Cloud Express is mainly on the hotel operations side of things, ranging form a front desk agent to a housekeeper to a hotel manager. A user can open Cloud Express straight from the PMS, from the Inntopia CRS, or the Marketing Cloud Interactive Arrivals Report. There are five key benefits.

#1 Easy to Access
Cloud Express is easy to get to and ready when needed. It can be accessed from your PMS, the Inntopia Commerce CRS, or the Interactive arrivals report in Marketing Cloud.

#2 Update on the Fly
If an operations person catches an error during their interaction with a guest, they can update that guest’s profile right in Cloud Express. The updated guest info can be seen throughout Marketing Cloud, including in the arrivals report and in the customer profile. It makes for a much quicker way to capture guest data, thus helping create complete guest profiles.

#3 Guest Data in Everyone’s Hands
This data is not commonly given to operations folks. Cloud Express allows users to know more about the guest and deliver on great experiences, as well as know how to turn around bad experiences.

#4 Full Responsive
Cloud Express can be used on any device meaning it can be in the hands of more people within the hotel.

#5 It was made in the USA!
USA, USA, USA!

One of Many

Of all these pieces, remember that Cloud Express is just one small part of our data ecosystem and that they all can talk to each other, making it a simple singular place to update something or get needed data.

So, tell everyone you know! Get your best guest data – the stuff your marketing team works so hard to collect and curate – into the hands of the operations folks that can use it to make a real difference in your guests’ experiences.