Hotel Check-In Counters Now Becoming Things from the Past

Traditional hotel check-in counters are hurriedly on their way out. Hotel chains are replacing them with smaller desks or individual pods that take less space and let employees provide more personable service.

The pods are individually manned stations equipped with a computer and a room key programmer. Many Embassy Suites, Hyatt and Westin hotels now feature such pods. Wyndham, which recently hired designer Michael Graves to redo its hotels, will introduce them in late 2007.

How hotel guests wait for service varies. Some hotels maintain a single-file line while others have a separate line at each pod. Other chains, such as Holiday Inn, Hotel Indigo and Marriott, are borrowing a chapter from the retail sector and are testing or installing check-in desks that look and function like cashiers’ desks at the Gap.

The industry is seeing more Gen-X and Gen-Y customers –travelers in their 20s or 30s- who are used to more informal interactions in commercial activities. With employees now freed from the long counters of the past, they can now deal more naturally with guests, some experts say.

With employees no longer stationed at one part of the lobby, they can perform multiple tasks at the same time, conducting other jobs as they arise.

Hotel chains have been aggressively transforming lobbies into more communal spaces, where guests will linger and spend more time and money on food and beverages. By reducing the amount of space taken up by the check-in area, hotels can enlarge other revenue-producing areas.