'More time for customers thanks to efficient ordering system'

Sustainability, hospitality and digitalisation: three key success factors for a future-proof hotel industry. Lightspeed Commerce's advanced checkout and payment platform also leaves nothing to chance in taking the guest experience to an even higher level. Hotelvak spoke to Emine Youssef, Regional Manager Benelux Hospitality.

Guests find sustainability increasingly important. And therefore find it unacceptable, for example, if a hotel invariably wastes a lot of food, for example because the stock of a certain product is far too large. On top of that, thoughtless stock management can have a huge negative impact on a hospitality company's profit margin. "Thanks to menu engineering software and automatic stock management - like Lightspeed's - waste can be avoided," says Emine. "So that you never stock too much, but also not too little food and drink."

What is also out of date are printers that spit out paper at the assembly line. Lightspeed has found a solution to that too, Emine continues. "Instead of printers in the kitchen, we now offer kitchen displays: touchscreens on which employees can perfectly see which orders have been placed. This makes paper wastage a thing of the past."

Lightspeed's POS system also offers advantages when it comes to hospitality. "In fact, the data from our POS system can be used to gain insight into guest preferences," says Emine. "For example, if a particular guest orders a Caesar salad every visit, that is visible in the system to all restaurant staff. If a staff member sees that guest and says, 'Good day sir, would you like a Caesar salad again today?' - it immediately makes that guest feel welcome, even though he may never have seen that particular staff member before. Another great advantage of our system is that the serving staff can immediately forward an order on an iPad or mobile phone to the kitchen and do not - as in the past - have to go back and forth to the kitchen all the time. Not only does this work much more efficiently, but it also gives the staff much more time for the guests."

Emine gives another striking example where digitisation and hospitality go hand in hand: "Guests can scan a QR code in their hotel room at any hour of the day, after which they are immediately shown which dishes can be ordered from the kitchen at that moment. And voilá, with a simple press of a button, the desired dish is delivered to your room half an hour later. We have found that hotel rooms using this low-threshold room service from Lightspeed book up to 30 per cent more sales." 

To find out how to turn a guest into a repeat guest, Lightspeed recently introduced a new service: Advanced Insights. "In addition to order data, this system also uses guest payment data, though the guest remains anonymous," Emine clarifies. "This way, you get data on your guests' consumption behaviour and it becomes clear which dishes make a guest return to your establishment. Ideal for finding out which dishes on the menu are the most popular and profitable."

At a time when the hospitality industry is struggling, Lightspeed is also proving itself to be socially responsible. Emine clarifies that this doesn't stop at words alone: "Companies that are clients of ours for at least six months can claim Lightspeed Capital: an advance that they repay the moment they actually turn over turnover. This offers a solution, for example, for companies that are going to renovate but cannot turn over a turnover in the meantime."