> Sonder's properties often have no staff and rely on door codes for guest entry.
I encountered this recently.
The reception desk had a large portrait monitor with a person videoconferenced in from a remote location. You talked to the display. She walked you through scanning credit card using a reader installed below the screen and printing out room access code.
It was doable, but seemed like a strange dysfunctional future had arrived.
The business model is you hire a live in “manager”, often times a recent immigrant, in quotes because they don’t manage anything, but they are called that so they don’t qualify for overtime.
Then you pay them $50k or so per year, might even be for a married couple, and the kiosk helps them get sleep by avoiding interruptions overnight. But they’re still there in case of fire or police emergency to provide access and keys and whatnot.
The person on the kiosk is obviously in India/Colombia/Philippines/etc where labor is cheaper and they can handle multiple hotels at once.
Personally, I avoid those types of hotels, but don’t know if it will be as much of a choice in the future. I so like online checkin with Hilton’s app and using my phone as a key, so I rarely see the front desk anyway.
I've seen this at a couple banks now. Including my local credit union. One person in the lobby that is really just a helper to point you in the right direction. All the 'tellers' are videoconference machines. Basically an ATM with an ID scanner and videoconference setup. For the moment the teller you talk to is still a real teller with the credit union, just at their main branch, but give it time.
They took away the one reason I had for maintaining my credit union membership.
Since Covid, many budget hotels (think Premier Inn or Travelodge in the UK), have moved to an unstaffed kiosk model. Tap in your reservation number, confirm your name, take a blank keycard, tap it on the NFC writer, and away you go.
The restaurant / bar is still staffed, so they can help with any issues that arise, and there's live chat on their app/website. Does a staffed reception (whether in-person or remote) actually add much value?
I encountered this recently.
The reception desk had a large portrait monitor with a person videoconferenced in from a remote location. You talked to the display. She walked you through scanning credit card using a reader installed below the screen and printing out room access code.
It was doable, but seemed like a strange dysfunctional future had arrived.