Vienna-based Schani Hotels Group reports that its switch to AI-driven property management system Like Magic has resulted in a growth of usage among guests from 8% to 80% — a 900% increase.
Like Magic’s platform brings a booking engine, guest platform, employee interface and monitoring tools all into one place, creating a centre of operations for hotel management. It also unlocks a fully digital guest journey if this is what is desired.
Schani Hotels adopted the employee and guest tool Like Magic in 2023. Alongside an increase in guests, the company states it has also increased efficiency by 30% and improved staff retention.
The platform allows hotel staff to run operations using a "traffic light" system of notifications and recommended actions, making customer service and property management more automated.
Guests can also perform 80% of their daily tasks from one system. They can self-serve, requiring no human help to check in and order food, additional linen or pillows, and can create a keyless room key that only requires their mobile phone. Calls to the front desk have also fallen by around 50%.
The improved guest experience has also resulted in improved reviews, rising from 4 stars out of 5 to 5 stars on average. This has been boosted by a change in the dynamic between staff and guests, as the system allows time for more personalised and interactive service.
Like Magic recognises returning guests so that staff can build a robust guest record and anticipate their preferences.
Before Like Magic, guest communication was conducted via email only. The shift to digital means that 52% of all guests choose Whatsapp as a communications channel, while 70% of those using email are doing so on a mobile phone.
The Schani team also made its operations more sustainable by ending the automatic daily cleaning of rooms. Guests can request a daily clean free of charge but fewer than 20% of guests do so, cutting costs and reducing consumption of energy, water and chemicals.
Schani donates money for every day each room doesn’t get cleaned to an association that supports carbon-neutral projects around the globe.
Like Magic CEO Markus Feller commented: “The assumption is often that technology removes the need for staff, but the Schani team is demonstrating how it can simply allow you to refocus a hospitality business to improve the value proposition for guests.”
