While the COVID-19 crisis has created unique challenges for the hospitality industry worldwide, it has also brought the industry together in a whole new way.
When hotel technology providers saw their clients struggling due to low demand or mandatory closures, many took initiatives to support hotels by offering their services for free in the coming months or extending trial periods for new clients.
Oaky, an automated pre-arrival upselling tool, is one of them. And apart from offering their own tool for free, they’ve also put together a list of 20+ courses and software hotels can use free of charge during the crisis (links to all the resources mentioned in this article can be found there).
Let’s see what they found!
Free Tech Tools for Hotels
- Oaky – Upselling Platform
- SiteMinder
- HiJiffy
- STAAH
- Hotel Direct Booster
- Hotelchamp
- Bookboost
- Atomize
- Quick Text
- Experience Hotel – CRM
- ChartOk
- opensmjle
- Asksuite
Free Courses for Hoteliers
- The Fundamentals of Revenue Management
- Managing Marketing in the Hospitality and Tourism Industry
- LinkedIn Learning Resources
- Hotel Website Copy Training
- Coronavirus Awareness Course by eHotelier Academy
Free Resources to Keep Your Spirits Up
- The Science of Wellbeing by Yale
- Headspace
Free Hotel Tech Tools
Yes, many hotels are going through a trying and difficult time right now. But despite its many challenges, this crisis has also brought hotels a unique opportunity – the chance to try some on the industry’s best and most innovative tech tools and services for free. Now, hoteliers who want to take advantage of this period of slow business can choose from a long list of SaaS providers offering extended trial phases and free set-up.
Oaky
What it is
A winner of the 2020 Hotel Tech Awards, Oaky’s pre-arrival upselling platform helps hotels improve the guest experience and increase ancillary revenue through targeted upselling emails. With Oaky, hotels can boost the average spend per guest and let them create a unique and customised stay.
What they are offering
Free set-up and use of the platform for 90 days from a go-live-date of your choice
SiteMinder
What it is
SiteMinder’s suite of solutions includes business insights, a booking engine, a channel manager and website design tools. Offering all this within one tool, allows SiteMinder to help hotels get the best possible results in today’s fast-paced online market.
What they are offering
30-day free trial and discounts for starting a new 12-month contract. They’ve also created an extensive COVID-19 toolkit.
HiJiffy
What it is
HiJiffy provides a communication tool and an AI-powered chatbot which lets hotels streamline their guest interactions across various social media channels, email and OTA chats. By using HiJiffy, hotels can significantly decrease their response time to their guests’ questions and inquiries.
What they are offering
Free trial until June 1st, 2020
STAAH
What it is
STAAH offers hotels a variety of tools including a booking engine, a channel manager, a gift voucher engine, a website builder, CRM and marketing support. This combination enables hotels to make the most of their online distribution and generate more direct bookings.
What they are offering
Free use of the InstantSite website builder and three months of free hosting if you sign up for STAAH’s Instant Channel Manager before June 30, 2020
Hotel Direct Booster
What it is
Communicating directly with website visitors can help hotels increase direct bookings. Hotel Direct Booster offers a simple and effective tool to do just that. Its live website chat allows guests to ask questions and staff can reply in real time, provide immediate support and even offer special deals to encourage bookings.
What they are offering
Free use of their live chat feature for 30 days
Hotelchamp
What it is
Hotelchamp’s smart digital insight and conversion platform offers revenue management and marketing teams actionable insights and data they can use to improve their online distribution, drive more direct bookings and increase revenue.
What they are offering
Free access to Hotelchamp’s demand tracker for 90 days
Bookboost
What it is
Bookboost allows hotels to interact with website visitors in real time while they are exploring the site. Since the tool integrates with popular messaging apps, communication with guests before, during and after their stay becomes smooth and efficient.
What they are offering
Free use of the Unified Inbox guest messaging platform and free video trainings until June 30th, 2020
Quicktext
What it is
Quicktext’s AI-powered chatbot can respond to questions immediately, while guests are on the hotel’s website. This can free up staff from having to answer the same FAQs repeatedly and it can be used to request guest feedback at any time during the stay.
What they are offering
A permanently available freemium version of Quicktext will go live for Oaky customers this summer. Reach out to your customer success rep at Oaky now, and they’ll let you know as soon as this integration is available.
Atomize
What it is
Atomize’s RMS offers automated, real-time rate updates and pricing suggestions for single rooms and groups. Hotels can leverage this tool to make the most of market changes and to get ahead of their competition when business returns after the crisis.
What they are offering
Free set-up and use of the RMS until the hotel reaches 50% of its pre-crisis average occupancy percentage again
Experience Hotel – CRM
What it is
The Experience Hotel CRM helps hotels keep an eye on the online reputation. It also allows properties to stay in touch with guests via personalised email campaigns.
What they offer
Send up to three free custom email campaigns to all guests in the next three months
ChartOk
What it is
ChartOk makes hotel operations more efficient by creating an easy-to-use digital workspace where all staff interactions are tracked and recorded. That way no tasks fall through the cracks and follow-up becomes quick and easy.
What they are offering
Sign up before May 15, 2020, and use the ChartOk Hotel Operations Software for free for 3 months
Opensmjle
What it is
Opensmjle specialises in supporting hotels in creating a strong online brand presence. Services they offer include building optimised websites, photography and videography, as well as other digital services.
What they are offering
Free set-up and hosting of a responsive SaaS hotel website until October 1, 2020, and discounts on other services
Asksuite
What it is
A Hotel Tech Award 2020 winner, Asksuite allows hotels to boost their direct bookings through an
innovative live website chat and AI-powered chatbot. It also streamlines internal communication by centralising the management of all hotel service channels. In response to the COVID-19 crisis, Asksuite has added a new feature which helps hotels address today’s most common questions.
What they are offering
Free use of Asksuite for the rest of 2020
What it is
To support small businesses, Facebook, one of the world’s largest social networks, is making ad credits and cash grants available.
What they are offering
$100 million in cash grants and ad credits for up to 30,000 small businesses
Free Courses for Hoteliers
Hoteliers wanting to make use of their property’s downtime to learn a new skill or deepen an existing one can now take advantage of excellent, free online courses. Available topics range from front office operations and revenue management to social media marketing for hotels and P&L analysis.
The list of free courses below includes topics hoteliers could benefit from in this situation but there are plenty more out there to discover.
The Fundamentals of Revenue Management
What it is
This Coursera course explains the basics of revenue management and is ideal for everything breaking into this domain or those who want to revisit the fundamentals.
What they are offering
Free 4-week self-study course on revenue management
Managing Marketing in the Hospitality and Tourism Industry
What it is
To get ahead of the competition when markets start picking up again, hoteliers can go through this free edX course on marketing. Now is the time to decide how to promote your hotel when demand returns.
What they are offering
Free 6-week self-study course on hotel marketing
Typsy Online Hospitality Learning
What it is
Typsy is an online learning platform for the hospitality industry. Its library of training videos covers every department from front office and F&B to housekeeping, marketing and revenue. Their format allows hotel staff to learn at their own pace and constantly improve their knowledge and performance.
What they are offering
Free access to Typsy’s video courses and online materials until September 30, 2020
Hotel Website Copy 101 by Juliana Hahn
What it is
Learn how to find and fix the four most common copywriting mistakes hotels make on their websites. These simple steps will help hoteliers get their site in great shape for when business picks up.
What they are offering
Free 30-minute hotel website copywriting training
LinkedIn Resources
What it is
On LinkedIn, the largest online professional network, you can find a selection of free courses on topics ranging from financial management to marketing. To support businesses during the current crisis, extra resources have been added.
What they are offering
A variety of free courses to help you get through this difficult time
eHotelier Academy
What is it?
eHotelier offers hospitality professionals a library of online learning resources. This includes ebooks and courses created by industry professionals and associations from around the world on topics from revenue management and marketing to F&B concepts and efficient hotel operations.
What they are offering
Free Coronavirus Awareness Course, a short but comprehensive course on how to prevent, control and manage coronavirus (COVID-19) incidents in hotels.
Keep Your Spirits Up with these Free Resources and Apps
For those who want to keep their spirits up, avoid getting too many new grey hairs or simply use this time to focus on things other than work, the following courses and apps are interesting.
The Science of Well-Being by Yale University
What it is
Yale University has made its most popular online course available for free on Coursera. Participants can learn more about the science behind happiness and what they can do in their everyday lives to be happier in the long run.
What they are offering
Free 20-hour self-study course
Headspace
What it is
One of today’s top meditation apps, Headspace offers guided meditations on topics ranging from creativity and stress to happiness, anxiety and productivity. Their walking meditations and sleep stories are ideal for those who want to try something other than a traditional sitting meditation.
What they are offering
Find out more about Headspace on their website.
Of course, none of these tools can bring back lost business. But hopefully, they can help hotels make the most of this unique time and come out stronger and better than before.
As more hotel tech providers are coming up with great new offers every week, Oaky’s team will regularly update this article on the Oaky blog, where all these resources are linked, too. That way hoteliers will always have access to the latest list of resources to browse and test.
Have input for the article? Reach out to marieke@oaky.com
