Ali’i Resorts LLC is a short term vacation rental company with 185 condos under management located across the beautiful island of Maui in Hawaii. Long considered one of America’s favorite vacation spots, Ali’i Resorts never had any issues filing their rental spaces until the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The nice part about being located in Maui is we’ve never had to sell people on why they should come stay with us. The island sells itself and people want to vacation here, so keeping our condos full was never a problem,” said Sam Chesick, Assistant Director of Operations at Ali’i Resorts. “However, like pretty much everywhere else, we had to shut down when COVID hit.”
After a brief hiatus, Chesick and the rest of his team were eager to re-open their properties, but this had to be done in a way that kept both guests and staff as safe and healthy as possible given the new normal of dealing with ongoing waves and mutations of COVID.
To accomplish this goal, Chesick began searching for tools that would enable Ali’i to once again fill their rental properties without the need for employees and guests to interact face-to-face.
Shortly thereafter, Chesick discovered Canary’s mobile-friendly Contactless Check-In and Checkout solutions and realized that they were exactly the tools he and his team needed.
“Before the pandemic, a member of our staff used to greet every guest at the property they rented to complete the check-in process and welcome them to the island,” said Chesick. “When we re-opened, we first moved to a fully contactless model using Canary to keep everyone safe. However, as time passed and we all settled into the new normal, we’ve since moved to a hybrid model in which we offer either a fully contactless check-in if the guest prefers it or they can complete their check-in through Canary and still have a member of our team meet them upon arrival to say ‘aloha’ and provide a brief walkthrough,” he continued.
The Assistant Director pointed to a couple of key benefits that come with presenting these options that did not exist before implementing Canary’s Contactless Check-In and Checkout solutions.
First, guests now have the ability to choose whether or not to meet with a member of the Ali’i team, which means they have more ability to curate their overall guest experience.
Second, and more importantly, guests that do wish to have an in-person walkthrough at their rented property don’t have to deal with any business paperwork during the meet-and-greet.
“The big benefit for our guests now is that when they arrive at a property, they’ve already handled all of the administrative tasks during the Contactless Check-In process,” said Chesick. “It’s a much friendlier and more welcoming experience for our guests to show up at their vacation rental and have a member of our team tell them all the great things about where they’re staying and the surrounding area without the need to sign paperwork.”
In addition to the benefits Canary’s Contactless Check-In solution has delivered, Contactless Checkout has made it easier than ever for the Ali’i management team to receive feedback from guests and guide those who have had great experiences to provide a positive review directly on Google.
“We were very pleased to learn that Canary’s Checkout solution enabled us to set up our own customized guest feedback form in which visitors provide a 1- to 5-star rating for our team internally,'' said Chesick. “When guests provide a score of 3 or below, we consider that a constructive review and our team knows to reach out to the guest post-stay to see what could have been improved and how our team can better respond to their needs next time. This helps us improve guest loyalty and retention because the person that left the review knows they’ve been heard and we take their concerns seriously. Anyone who leaves a 4-star review or above is directed immediately through the Canary Checkout interface to share their positive experience on Google. We’ve seen our average star rating increase from 3.5 to 4.6 on Google since implementing Canary’s Checkout solution.”
Chesick and his team at Ali’i Resorts were very pleased to find that Canary’s Contactless Check-In and Checkout solutions provided a wide array of benefits to their team beyond simply helping them deal with the difficulties presented by COVID-19.
“Canary helped us in so many ways,” said the Assistant Director of Operations. “We were able to provide a more curated experience to our guests, improve the overall in-stay experience, capture more positive reviews on Google, identify and reach out to those who provided constructive feedback, and on top of everything the system is so easy to use and doesn’t require any new apps or hardware for the guests or our team,” he stated.
“I highly recommend Canary to anyone working in the hospitality industry. The products are fantastic and the results are even better.”
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