A Case Study to a Five-Star Hotel in Singapore
How a Five-Star Hotel Implements and Gets The Benefit from a Walkie-Talkie App
About
Our client is a 5-star luxury hotel resort that offers beachfront view and island life experience for all family members within proximity to the lively city center of Singapore. With 400 employees under the management, the hotel needed a fast and reliable communication tool to ensure the operational activities ran smoothly, especially when emergency situations arose. The app they previously used was impractical as it took several steps to start communicating. Speed was also an issue that often caused misunderstanding in group communications. All of this resulted in arduous work and communication that affected the operational efficiency and service quality.
The Challenges
Keeping communication fast and practical, especially when emergency cases occur is not an easy thing to do with 400 employees. The majority of the staffs are not tech-savvy, which means they lack the ability to adapt to high-tech devices, let alone to use it on a day-to-day basis.
Finding a device that looks representable and has versatile functions can be challenging as well. Specific devices usually look bulky, and they are not multipurpose function-wise. Carrying multiple devices around is also not advisable as it potentially causes distractions to the workers, thus affects the quality of the service.
The old app they used was quite representable and versatile since it was mobile device-based. However, there are many steps to do before users can start sending their messages. So, it wasn’t the best option for emergency cases. The app’s high latency was also an issue, particularly in group communications, since the delayed messages caused a lot of misunderstandings and miscommunications.
The Goal
To get a communication tool that is fast and easy to use, which will support a fluid communication between all employees for smooth operational activities. It needs to be representable as the hotel is a well-respected 5-star hotel chain.
The Solution
Smart Walkie offered the perfect solution for the hotel’s needs with Smart Walkie Talkie device that includes VoicePing, the walkie talkie app installed.
Smart Walkie Talkie device has a sleek design and a professional look that enhances the hotel staffs’ appearances which answered the hotel’s need for a representative device.
And since it is using the Android operating system, users can download other Android-based applications related to the job, such as WhatsApp and FCS. Compared to before, when each person carried one walkie-talkie, one pager, and one individual phone, this was a major improvement as it was way more practical. Users can get all the functions they needed to perform the job by carrying around one single device only.
Smart Walkie’s default walkie talkie app, VoicePing was used in replace to the old impractical walkie talkie app. VoicePing provided what the hotel wanted:
Simplicity
VoicePing’s simple user interface makes navigation easier for users to switch between channels. It also allows users to start sending messages in a simple step. With the use of a headset, they can even perform the above activities without touching the device screen at all.
Furthermore, VoicePing’s ease of use has made communication between personnel run smoothly. In emergency cases that required fast response, it always performed well and never failed the hotel’s expectation.
Low-Latency
The previous walkie talkie app that the hotel used often caused miscommunication and inconvenience to the users due to its high latency. Messages were received a couple of seconds after they were delivered that caused some miscommunications happened during emergency cases due to the late messages received by the other parties.
VoicePing has a very low latency, so it’s more convenient and reliable for emergency use. Having a very low latency means there is still a delay, but it’s hardly noticeable. Hence, it is still tolerable and doesn’t impact the communication flow.
Group Communication
Group communication has been made easy with the use of VoicePing. It is very simple to create a group and adding members to it. It is also very easy to set the group communication to match the users’ needs. For example, if the user is in a meeting, he/she can mute the group so that it won’t interrupt him/her during a meeting. To unmute it, user can easily do so by sending a message to the group. User can then scroll the chat room and replay any missed messages to stay in the loop. It is extremely useful for managers and above since joining many group conversations is required for them.
The VoicePing Impact
The implementation of VoicePing has given a positive impact not only on how communication is being done but to the operation activities as well. It has impacted the work efficiency to some extent that it wouldn’t be possible otherwise. For example, since every conversation is recorded, doing personnel checking routine at the beginning of each shift became way easier. The old way with pen and paper to put a check on every checked device was impractical. With VoicePing, since every conversation is recorded, it’s unnecessary for the Supervisor or Manager to do it manually using pen and paper. It has simplified the process and eliminated the use of unnecessary tools.
Emergency Response Team (ERT)
The hotel has a team comprised of appointed personnel from all departments, called the Emergency Response Team (ERT). As implied by the name, this team is in charge for direct responses to all emergency cases happen in the hotel. It could be cases, such as a fire in the kitchen, people sink in the swimming pool, or children separated from their parents.
With the previous walkie talkie app, there were some miscommunications happened due to its high latency. The management felt it was disruptive as it was related to time-sensitive matters that are potentially harmful to the guests and the hotel at large.
With VoicePing, it’s claimed by the hotel’s IT Manager that emergency cases have been handled very well. VoicePing’s performance was never disappointing, especially in emergency issues where time was very crucial.
About VoicePing
VoicePing is a communication app built by Smart Walkie Pte. Ltd., an award-winning telecommunication company based in Singapore. It enables users to use their mobile devices to communicate instantly as they do on a radio walkie talkie. The app has been downloaded thousand times on Google PlayStore and aside from the Android and iOS version, it also has a desktop version. With VoicePing, in-office staffs and field workers can communicate seamlessly.