Wanderlust is in the air. And travellers are on the move – while some are heading to the hills to grab some fresh air, some others are driving down to the closest beach to soak in the sun. Some are chasing a quiet space to work and others are dreaming about their long overdue vacay with family and friends, among a lot more travel aspirations.
As India travels again, we promise to make our spaces safer. And to do so, we have rolled out ‘Contactless Check-in’, an initiative to enable guests with a faster and safer check-in experience, wherever, whenever. To spread the word on this initiative, we also launched quirky and fun 360-degree campaign featuring real and reel life hero – Sonu Sood, who we are very proud to call our very own, our asset owner and brand ambassador.
As we know it, the hospitality industry is a high-touch one, full of greetings, gestures, and human connections. For us, Contactless Check-in stemmed from this very reality. Considering the risks associated with physical contact in today’s world, we worked on eliminating processes that could be digitised. We mapped the entire customer journey – right from the moment guests walk through the door and check into their room. Through this exercise, we realised that the check-in process in particular was long and full of exchanges, including ID verification, handing over of keys, or plain old chit-chat. Today, safety is the customer’s top priority while travelling. With Contactless Check-in, guests can choose to check-in on the OYO app from anywhere, right after the booking, consequently, eliminating the need for a physical check-in process on arrival. Once guests arrive at the hotel, they will only need to pick the sanitised key card at the reception desk, allowing them to directly head to their room. This simplified process enables social distancing and reduces the risk of infections while checking in.
The campaign film revolves around the concept ‘phone pe check-in, chaabi picking, seedha walk in’ and features a couple checking into an OYO hotel from different locations including their house, a restaurant, a fair/amusement park, among others. Further, the film features Sonu Sood as our Manager of the Year, who sanitises the key card and places it in a designated circle at the reception desk, while astonished guests show up, who are thrilled to witness the contactless check-in process. Both the concept of the campaign and script of the film were written by OYO’s in-house global brand team, with support from UBIK Films on production. The campaign will go live across a mix of offline and online channels, including print ads in English and Hindi languages, radio, roadblock banners on desktop and app, ROS banners, WhatsApp, YouTube and social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn).
Speaking on the initiative, Shreerang Godbole, SVP & Chief Service Officer, OYO Hotels & Homes said, “In the past couple of months, we’re seeing travel coming back across geographies. For us, this means strengthening our efforts to provide a safe and secure experience for all our guests, partners and employees. Traditionally, the hospitality industry involves a lot of human contact. However, given the current reality, digitisation of physical processes is not just an option or add-on, it’s a necessity. The insight behind this campaign was to simplify processes and eliminate steps that can be carried out in a socially distanced manner. We, therefore, mapped the entire customer journey right from the moment the guest walks through our doors and digitised maximum processes, considerably reducing the need for physical contact. We enabled technology where we could, encouraging digital payments, making the app and website booking process simpler by enabling a three-click process, launched SBYE to give peace of mind to guests and now, we’re offering Contactless Check-in. We’re confident that with our efforts to ensure their safety, guests will have a pleasant experience while staying an an OYO.”
Commenting on the campaign, Mayur Hola, Head of Global Brand, OYO Hotels & Homes said, “As a tech and data driven company, the pandemic has pushed us to hustle and innovate big time. As travellers step out again, we’re focussed on offering safer, tech enabled experiences for everyone who chooses to stay with us. With Contactless Check-in, we’re enabling a socially distanced check-in experience for all – our partners, employees and guests. This campaign interacts with our consumers in our usual fun and quirky manner, while ensuring the message is loud and clear – check-in safely from wherever, whenever.”
He adds, “Enabling the common man is what we do at OYO. We’re glad to have found a partner like Sonu Sood who shares the same ideals. And with our efforts plus Sonu’s credibility, we’re confident of earning even more trust from our guests.”
We also recently launched Sanitised Before Your Eyes, an on-request initiative through which guests can request the hotel’s on-ground staff to sanitise high touch spots or frequently touched surfaces right in front of their eyes. The sanitisation process will be carried out either through an aerosol disinfectant or by using a Spray Handy Sanitiser Machine.
