Allen Smith, president and CEO of the group, said: “Developed based on guest insights and extensive testing, the Four Seasons App is user-friendly and feature-rich, with the services guests have told us they most desire, such as checking in and out with ease.”
Four Seasons Recommends allows guests - and non-guests - to see what each concierge suggests for the location, such as museums or restaurants outside the hotel, and it’s hoped the app will also serve as a useful resource for those not booked to stay.
Content in Recommends can also be searched for by “Mood for”, such as shopping, kids, types of cuisines - and even “craft beer” or “rainy day” in London, with a description of each suggestion and detail on how far each is from the hotel.
Four Seasons Park Lane in London has as many as 450 local recommendations programmed in, which are constantly reviewed and refreshed by the concierge department and the hotel’s concierge can also be called straight from each screened suggestion.
“The app is like a concierge in your pocket,” said Andrew Andrew Pirret, the group’s mobile app operations lead. “We wanted to have an all-inclusive approach from the perspective of non-guests also being able to access the informational available - plus, it’s been a collaborative approach from the perspective of each hotel’s team putting all the information together for the app.”
He said guests today wanted the convenience and speed provided by an app, but also backed by high service levels when they need it.
But he added Four Seasons was not planning yet to allow the facility for guests to use the app to access their rooms, as Starwood has done for some of its brands.
“We know some hotels have taken it further, but we’re not ready to open doors yet using the app and a smartphone,” said Pirret. “But we are evolving the app all the time and we will use all customer feedback to do that and let them tell us what they want it to be capable of.”
Currently 69 properties are live with content on the app across Americas and EMEA and only a small percentage will not have full functionality, either due to remote location or other unique circumstances, the group said.
Properties in Budapest, Florence, Lisbon, Milan and Palm Beach will not offer the “Four Seasons Recommends” feature at the moment as those properties have their own existing apps which serve up this kind of content, but the goal is to decommission those particular apps.
Users sign up to the app with a few simple registration steps and can then view their bookings, order room service, request amenities for the room, make other reservations within the hotel, book luggage pickup and airport transfers or simply order a timed wake-up call.
They can check-in 24 hours in advance and request notification of when the room becomes available for them, as well as being able to check-out via the app.
If checked-in via the app, the team of doormen at each hotel are then on hand to give the guest their key as soon as they arrive so they do not necessarily have to go through lobby check-in.
The app also has built-in geo location service to give in-language maps with time/distance indicators and a save-and-share feature helps with itinerary planning.
Four Seasons has had to develop new back-of-house workflow software and other internal systems in order to ensure a seamless experience for guests upon roll-out of the app.
“One of the major benefits for us as hotel operators is being able to capture arrival times so we can be prepared as guests join us - we currently only really know 25% of guests arrival times,” Pirret said. “Another major efficiency benefit is in the area of room service, as staff can now get an instant, clearly communicated order, with less
margin for error.”
Launching first in Europe and the US, a Chinese version of the app will follow in August and additional languages such as Arabic will launch soon also.
Pirret said the group would be looking to expand the functionality to make it more appealing and usable for the new Apple Watch by Q4 this year; social is likely to be integrated next year he said.
The app is available for download from Google Play, the Apple iTunes Store or the Amazon App Store to any mobile device.
