While once virtually impossible to imagine, hotels without any on-site staff are becoming more common. Technology can increasingly enable everything from an automated check-in and check-out process to a platform where various services can be called in as the need arises.
In the southern Maine town of Kittery, the new Foreside Inn boutique hotel will operate under a 24/7 digital concierge service. Guests with a booked reservation open the door to one of the 24 rooms through their access code while workers will be available remotely through text, email, or phone at any hour that the guest contacts them.
The hotel’s management is positioning this type of service as creating the ability to “‘provide a stress-free and effortless stay” and offer “a surprising level of luxury at an exceptional value.”
Rooms during the summer months start at $260 per night.
Foreside Inn in Maine opens with fully virtual check-in and concierge
Kittery is both the southernmost and oldest town in Maine with a permanent population of just over 11,400 people. It is located across the Piscataqua River from Portsmouth in New Hampshire and often serves as a stop for those exploring the New England coast and local food scene.
With traffic numbers to this part of Maine and New Hampshire remaining highly seasonal, the remote concierge service is a natural option for a part of the country that will see significantly more isolated visitors at some points of the year. Cleaning staff also get called on site based on booking patterns to prepare for guests’ arrivals and clean the rooms after they check out.
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Previously, entirely staff-free models have largely been reserved to airport hotels and certain youth hostels with an entirely digitalized “check-in, check-out model.”
In recent years, more and more high-end chains have also been offering digital check-in. The city of Dubai has been working with hospitality technology provider Houdini to eventually roll it out to all of the 820 hotels within the city.
The same company provides the technology for staff-free check-in at Nobu hotels around the world but in each case the goal is to minimize staff rather than eliminate them entirely; employees are on hand to greet guests and help out with any questions that may arise on site.
Foreside Inn
Staff-free hotels have started popping up in these cities
The fully digital hospitality experience seems to be seeing the most uptake in New England.
In the New Hampshire city of Portsmouth, just a bridge away from the Foreside Inn in Kittery, the historic Treadwell Mansion built in 1818 has also eliminated the traditional front desk for a staff-free experience.
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Guests who booked one of the 38 apartment-style hotel rooms inside the converted mansion open the door through an access code created through a partnership with Mews digital access platform that then blocks the room once the reservation is over should the guest not extend the reservation or check out.
This type of staff-free experience is hugely beneficial to hotel operators as it significantly reduces the number of needed staff while, even in the luxury sphere, guest preferences will vary: Some prefer a faster and sleeker check-in process while others still like the human touch of being welcomed and greeted as special guests.
