An exclusive one-on-one with Liam Walsh from Monscierge - 'Further information you will find in your room', what a meaningful phrase!

We remember hand typed lists of landmarks, restaurants and events, dogeared and loosely filed in a hackneyed folder, and with adresses from restaurants that had been closed decades ago and events that vanished before the close of the century...

But this is the past, although it is still here and now in many places. In fact there are a lot of hotels who swear by the digital transformation, but still do rely on paper in guest information.

Of course this is not a strategy, perhaps they just never heard of Monscierge. But the chance is getting smaller: Monscierge, expert for digital guest information, is literally conquering the world. Only within a few years the US company has won more than one thousand customers in 60 countries. Monscierge says they are 'Connecting Hospitality to Guests'. By enormous touch screened devices in the lobbyand hotel mobile apps to use on-property or off.

"It still fascinates me watching people using my product" Liam Walsh from Monscierge says with a smile.

During his presentation at ITB 2014 the Irish recalls a day in a client's hotel when a couple was intensely looking for an adequate dinner place at the screen of Monscierge's guest information system.

„The Lady wanted to check various locations, the man just saw the picture of a steak and impatiently said something like: 'That's where we want to go!'" It looked all too delicious to him.

Monscierge is riding a wave, and like many great ideas, it is not only elaborate, but also useful. Accor's Novotel brand is one of the more recent clients Monscierge has worked with.

Now their virtual concierge is assisting in 200 properties already. Monscierge's lobby device consists of a touch screen in a elegant framework, operated in the cloud. The content is travel information such as flight, weather and city transportation, along with hotel amenity descriptions and the hotel's very own local recommendations for restaurants and city attractions.

But of course it is more: The information is smart; for example guest can link a restaurant tip to the map and find out how long's to walk there from the hotel, they can research when the next northbound train will leave, and they may do add their contribution by pressing the „recommendation button" to a piece of content. „In fact they use the recommendation button more than everything else", Walsh says. What contents in particular the system will offer is up to the client's decision – even internet access is an option.

To help the hotel management concentrate on their basic business, Monscierge produces and provides the initial content. The staff then can easily update and change content through the Connect CMS product, which then shows up immediately on all the hotel's virtual concierge devices and in the mobile application.

Monscierge also offer apps to give guests information via their mobiles in 13 languages. They are also the first to offer a global real-time flight information app that synchronizes automatically by location.

On average we save guests about 2 hours of research."  The good news:  Monscierge's product line is extremely user friendly, so hotel staff adoption is not over a long period of time.

About Monscierge

Monscierge is an international software company specializing in innovative hospitality solutions. Since 2009, our global team has been developing a system called Connect to facilitate elegant connections between the guest, hotel properties and their brands. Connect solutions encompass modern platforms such as mobile, tablet, large-format touchscreen devices and a central web-based platform to manage all content. We have also developed custom solutions to address specific needs. With installations in over 30 countries, Monscierge is dedicated to improving guest experiences and hotel staff efficiency around the world by facilitating an experience that will inspire customer loyalty. 

This is strictly an exclusive feature, reprints of this article in any shape or form without prior written approval from 4Hoteliers.com is not permitted.

Roland Wildberg is Travel Writer and Correspondent based in Berlin, Germany. He started as an Editor for the National daily 'Die Welt' (tourism section), later on switched to a freelanced career and nowadays mainly publishes on the Web.

Observing the hospitality industry has always fascinated him as it looks like the perfect combination of sleeping and writing – work-live-balance at its best.