Leaving something behind can be a major pain point for hotel guests. Since the recovery process is often the last impression they have of their visit, it can have a lasting impact on their overall experience and satisfaction levels. Therefore it is important hotels place the same importance on the level of service delivered with lost and found as they do at the front desk.
Modern Retail had the pleasure of speaking with Chargerback Lost and Found Solutions, the leading provider of cloud-based lost and found software. Founded in 2010, Chargerback’s state of the art software is deployed globally with some of the most well recognized brands in the hospitality industry. Chargerback was recently awarded the Tech Revolution of the Year award at the Hotel 360 tradeshow and is an excellent example of a technology solution that has streamlined operations in an area where processes are often inefficient and cumbersome.
Brian Colodny, President and CFO of Chargerback explains the risk involved with a manual approach to managing lost and found, the efficiencies created for both your guests and your staff with an online solution.
Brian explained the importance of creating an efficient and pain-free lost and found recovery process in hotels; “Lost and found is often not viewed as an issue until it becomes one and lost and found is often times the last impression a hotel will leave on the guest. A great stay can be ruined by a child’s stuffed animal being left behind and no efficient way to have that item returned, if at all. Aside from that, the numbers speak for themselves. A few years ago we commissioned a study by Wakefield Research in which we found that nearly 75% of hotel guests said that a positive or negative lost and found experience could influence their decision to stay there again.”
The demand for this service continues to grow, benefiting hotels as they are able to facilitate a growing demand, from younger generations in particular. Brian explained: “Millennials are the fastest growing generation of the traveling population. While it might just be a stereotype, many don’t want to pick up a phone and talk to someone, at least not at first. Chargerback provides each of our partners a link to the online lost item reporting form for them to place on their website or other social media platforms. The guest will list the item or items they believe they left behind, and it will go directly into the hotel’s Chargerback account and alert them someone has reported a lost item. This also creates a more efficient process for the hotel as they no longer need to spend valuable work time on the phone with a past guest taking down all of their information.”