ARCADIA, Calif., Nov. 02, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Guests are returning to hotels as the COVID-19 pandemic wanes. However, hotels still face labor shortages, meaning many hotels are overwhelmed with tasks and guest requests. Wrkspot provides a solution that solves that problem for hotels of all sizes.
Wrkspot is the developer of a software solution to help streamline hotel operations and resolve labor challenges, replacing clipboards, walkie-talkies and spreadsheets with a single digital tool that combines human resources information systems (HRIS) and operations management.
Last week, hospitality data analysts STR reported that demand for hotel rooms in September 2022 was just 6% less than pre-pandemic levels, making it the fifth consecutive month of global demand at more than 90% of pre-pandemic levels.
Meanwhile, a survey this summer by the American Hotel & Lodging Association found that nearly all (97%) of respondents were experiencing staffing shortages, while almost half (49%) experienced severe staffing shortages. And Bloomberg reported in July that more than half of hospitality workers will not go back to their former jobs.
That combination indicates that hotels need a way to work more efficiently, said Raja Epsilon, founder and CEO of WrkSpot. "WrkSpot gives hoteliers the ability to do more with less - fewer people, which is a big concern in this labor market, as well as less time and fewer tools. Running all of your operations on one platform means that your data is connected, communication is faster & easier, and you don't spend time translating information from one system to another - no double or even triple-work."
Even today, Epsilon said, hotels are run largely on paper and pencil and by people who are walking the property or using walkie-talkies. That makes for an inefficient process that is vulnerable to errors and duplication of effort.
"Say a housekeeper goes home sick or doesn't show up at all. Now those rooms have to be reassigned," Epsilon said. "That means someone has to go out and walk the halls to find housekeepers who are already at work and give them additional rooms. That someone is then not able to focus on the job they're supposed to be doing, and there are the endless distractions that become possible as soon as you stop focusing on your task."
Walkie-talkies provide immediate communication, but without privacy, and without the precision of written communication, which leads to mistakes. "All of that means a room may not be cleaned or towels may be delivered to room 214, instead of 241," Epsilon said. "Those aren't tragedies, but the cost adds up."
A digital solution also generates and stores operational data instantly, instead of by requiring input from paper records. That provides hotel managers with access to information they can use to be smarter about how they run their business, he explained.
WrkSpot also streamlines hotel operations by putting all of the back-of-the-house operations systems in a single tool, adding value by combining different elements of the management system. That means staff do not need to train on and juggle multiple systems, transferring information from one tool to another.
"For example, when someone's information goes into WrkSpot during the hiring and onboarding process, it's attached to that person when the general manager is building schedules," Epsilon said. "That means all of the required information is there to create a payroll file. That same person also uploads their completed paperwork to their record and gets training assignments, including videos from a library the hotel creates, all in WrkSpot."
Wrkspot customers also can take advantage of integrations like the new Choice PMS and HotelKey PMS integrations that improve the pace of housekeeping assignments and adjust in real-time as guests check out. It also has deep functionality, such as automated communication that alerts managers when an employee is about to move into overtime, and chat that translates between languages, so there is no delay or confusion between employees who speak different languages.
Together, Wrkspot adds up to cost savings at a time when hotels face thinner margins, as business rebounds and overtime costs may spike. Epsilon said that Wrkspot users report time saved in communication and in scheduling people down for routine tasks, as well as in more efficient scheduling of housekeeping and maintenance requests, and tracking which rooms have already been serviced. Managers also have more visibility into scheduling and clock-in/out, ensuring scheduling matches budget.
"We also see much faster guest request response, because everyone can see that a request is being taken care of and who it's assigned to, so you don't have multiple people on the same request and the person closest to that guest can take care of the problem quickly," Epsilon said. "That means better guest satisfaction, which leads to better reviews, which leads to higher bookings."
Wrkspot also assists managers with hotel portfolio management, enabling them to see both individual hotels as well as patterns across properties. "If you are examining employee attrition rates, you can look at trends by department and other criteria, then dig into individual hotels to see if the problem is driven by one or two properties or is a portfolio-wide trend," Epsilon said. "Seeing that kind of pattern without juggling spreadsheets and files is worth a lot."
WrkSpot goes beyond problem-specific solutions to handle the entirety of hotel operations, including labor management, in one integrated solution. It also provides a training platform and document management system, both of which are integral to digital transformation for hotels. "I think of it as helping hoteliers solve problems they don't yet know that they have," Epsilon said.
To learn more about how Wrkspot integrates and streamlines all aspects of hospitality management, visit wrkspot.com.
About Wrkspot
WrkSpot, founded in 2017, is the developer of a revolutionary software suite for hotel portfolio management that integrates HRIS, operations management and communication in a single app. By managing and engaging staff, controlling costs and streamlining operations, and improving compliance and safety, WrkSpot allows hotel managers to avoid being bogged down by the unavoidable details of hotel operations.
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