Goibibo Doubles Down on Contactless Check-in Services: Here’s everything you need to know
How often have you longed to skip the long check-in process at the hotel reception and dive straight into your room? How many times have you dreamt of checking-in as soon as you reach your destination or even while you are on your way to the hotel? The answer would sure be ‘many a times’.
Thanks to the pandemic, the travel industry has successfully managed to digitise high touch-points at the hotel and to begin with - check-ins that usually involved spending minutes at the front desk producing and verifying ID proofs, signing check-in documents etc. has now moved ‘Online’. Introducing ‘Contactless or paperless check-ins’ that allows you to cut down your waiting time at the concierge and head straight to your room to relax or at the beach café for a refreshing drink!
At goibibo, our tech experts are working around the clock to enhance the experience for travellers. They are working to ensure that the overall hotel stay experience gets elevated while providing safe and contactless way for people to be out and about in the new normal.
But ‘digital check-ins’ on the goibibo platform did not happen in 2020 when the world was hit by one of the biggest challenges, instead goibibo had taken its first step towards paperless priority check-in through QR codes and pre-validation of ID proofs back in early 2018 – putting an end to last minute ID validations, room allocation process and the long wait at the hotel reception. Two years hence, and with an enhanced and tech-rich, document-less check-in process that helps optimise time for the traveller and improves efficiency at the hotelier’s end, goibibo, today, offers Contactless check-ins at 2500+ hotels (and counting) across the country.
So, here’s how goibibo’s bookers and non-bookers can make the most of the ‘Contactless check-in’ offering available on the app.
goibibo bookers -
Step 1: Bookers can now submit ID proofs and other validation documents online post making the payment or via My Trips –upcoming trip section on the app.
Step 2: Once the documents are submitted the hotelier verifies and approves or rejects the documents.
Step 3: If approved, upon reaching the hotel, the customer will be able to check-in by sharing her/his contact number or booking ID at the front desk –avoiding the tedious exercise of producing and verifying ID proofs while waiting anxiously to check-in into the room.
For non-bookers -
These are the travellers who make impromptu plans and directly reach the hotel (we have all been there, done that!) -
Step 1: First step, do not worry and breathe! goibibo has it all sorted 😊.
Step 2: Open goibibo’s app and click on the ‘Scan & Go Contactless’ icon.
Step 3: Travellers can upload soft copies of the documents on the app after scanning the QR code and wait for the hotelier to approve the documents.
Step 4: Once approved, the traveller can proceed to her/his room.
With its core objective to bring down the entire check-in process to just a few taps on the app, the ‘Contactless check-in’ feature promises to offer additional benefits to both, the hotelier and the traveller. Hoteliers can now generate their own unique QR code for collecting guest documents and payments, sharing Wi-Fi details and food menu, and most importantly, allowing non-goibibo bookers to make an easy and hassle-free Contactless check-in through the app.
At the backend, the micro service architecture (diagram below) configures information gathering and sharing framework, payment collection and notification settings securely for the hotelier — moving majority of the manual work done by the front-desk staff, seamlessly online.
In parallel, the traveller benefits from a seamless travel booking experience as she/he can now search, book, pay, check-in and explore F&B options at the hotel on a single platform.
In the wake of the pandemic, the hospitality sector is turning towards embracing new safety measures. And, Contactless check-ins is one such step towards prioritising safety of travellers — a concept that is here to stay for its ease and simplicity!
Shout out to Rahul Goyal, Naveen Setia, Rahul Jethwa, Amit Kumar, Harsh Jasoliya, Saravanan S, Madhur Garg, Sharat Hegde & Tanisha Sabherwal and the entire team at goibibo behind ‘Contactless check-ins’ for our partners and customers.
