Stages/

Categories

Goals

Key point/s

Sample Questions

Warm up and set context

Introduce members

Introduce ourselves and tell them why we are here doing what we are doing

• Hello! This is Soong En, Jolie, Ilham and I am Gavin. We are all final year students in NUS and we are working on our Final Year Project alongside Stanford graduate students as part of the Global Engineering Design Innovation Programme
• Our focus is to reimagine the check-in experience for luxury hotels

Build rapport

Small talk about their experience working in (hotel name), their role, changes in the hotel industry post-COVID and current/ emerging luxury hotel trends

• How many years have you been working here/ in this line?
• What are your day to day tasks?
• We heard that (hotel) has recently rolled out (new initiatives), how has that been so far?

Frame the session

IMPORTANT

Clarify that we are here to learn about experiences of both staff working in the hotel and guests staying at the hotel

Mention roles of group

Let them know that 2 of us will be asking questions while the other 2 will be taking down notes

Note: Try to quote phrases directly

Broad Narratives

Holistic questions and slowly easing them into specific topics

Instead of jumping straight into categories, get them talking holistically first

Understand thoughts and perspectives of the hotel industry as a whole

Understand the Current Hotel Check-in Flow

• Can you walk me through the typical guest check-in process?

• What do you feel makes (hotel)’s check-in different from any other luxury hotel?
• Any difficulties for large group check-ins?

Operational perspectives

Gain insights about this category

Start from storytelling prompts

Reinforce with bullet questions to fill gaps

Find out what hotel management software (and database systems) they use

• Can you walk us through what happens on a busy Friday evening when many guests happen at once?
• What happens behind the scenes as a guest’s room is being prepared and assigned?
• Bring us through how you will handle guest special requests? Are they new requests or tracked from previous stay?

Nudge into cross-department coordination and tools

Identify coordination with housekeeping and other teams

• What does backend coordination between front desk, housekeeping and concierge look like?

• What are some systems you rely on that guests don’t see but that make a huge difference for you?

Nudge into Common practices and their approach

Understand common practices and standards when fulfilling requests

• Identify the personalization and service touches staff provide in-person

• How much freedom do staff have to handle guest requests? Is there a budget for each guest

Customer interactions and Challenges

Gain insights about this category

Shift into the guest perspective slowly

Continue with storytelling prompts

Reinforce with bullet questions to fill gaps

Understand typical ways staff engage with guests during the check-in process

• If you think of the last guest you know who was really delighted during check-in: what did your team do?
• Now think of the last time a guest was frustrated during check-in - what happened, and how was it resolved?
• Of all the stages of a hotel-check in experience, which is typically the one where most issues arise?

Identify the personalization and service touches staff provide in-person

• Could you tell us more about your loyalty program? How has it been received by guests / is it beneficial?

Identify challenges faced by guests during the check-in process

Any pain-points or emotional factors

Probe into more pressing challenges without asking directly

• If you could fix one thing about the check-in process, what would it be?

Technology Acceptance

Gain insights about this category

Position ourselves to be curious and ask about current technology that the hotel uses

Either backend or guest-facing

• What tools or systems do you or your colleagues use most in your daily work? Do you all enjoy using them?
• Can you recall the last time a new system was introduced? How did the team react?

Delve into Backend Technologies (if any)

Let them share about it first

Prompt afterwards with bullet questions

• Why is there such a big difference in input information for kiosk vs frontdesk check-in?
• Asabloy
• Rfid code for key

Delve in Guest-Facing Technologies (if any)

Let them share about it first

Prompt afterwards with bullet questions

• We noticed more hotels are experimenting with kiosks, mobile keys and digital concierges - has your hotel implemented any such guest-facing tech?
  
• (If the above is true) How have the guests responded to such tech being introduced so far?
  
• What is your hotel’s stance towards increased automation or technological development when it comes to hotel check-in flows?
  

• In your view, how do you keep the human touch while introducing more automation?

Learn about the hotel’s stance on adopting new technology

Considerations or any framework/ matrices that they use for decision making

Organisation culture and support for adopting new technologies

Future plans for adopting any emerging technologies

Next steps, wrap up and conclusion

Show appreciation for time taken off busy schedule

Thank them and have abit more of small talk to wrap things up

ask if they would be keen to have more meetings or to engage us in any other capacity

• Looking ahead, what changes do you think will define the luxury check-in experience in the next 5-10 years?
• If students like us could design ONE thing that would really help you and your guests, what should we focus on?
• What would be your advice to reimagine check-in experience? How would you do it?

Maintain relationship and contact

IMPORTANT TO KEEP THE CONNECTION

Ask if they are willing to stay in contact for future meetings and potential collaboration for any pilot projects

Or ask to refer us to respective departments for follow-ups

Token of appreciation

Give prepared gift, show genuinity

Goodbye

Thank them again for their support and cheers to future collaborations