The Challenge
A leading hotel chain managing 10 properties was facing challenges with its check-in process. Traditionally, the check-in procedure would take guests an average of 5 to 7 minutes. This not only caused queues and bottlenecks at peak times but also reduced overall guest satisfaction. With the rise of digital natives expecting faster and more convenient services, the brand sought a technology-driven solution to enhance the guest experience while streamlining operations.
The Solution
Adyantrix stepped in to devise a comprehensive solution aimed at drastically cutting the check-in time. We developed an advanced Guest Experience App, employing state-of-the-art technology to revolutionise the hotel's check-in process.
Our team initiated the project with in-depth research and consultations with hotel stakeholders to understand operational intricacies and guest expectations. The app was designed to allow guests to check-in with minimal human interaction, enabling them to use their smartphones for the process. Key features included pre-check-in confirmation, digital room key integration, and in-app guest services.
Moreover, our development team ensured seamless integration with existing property management systems. By leveraging cloud infrastructure and robust back-end architecture, the app also supported real-time data synchronisation across all ten properties, ensuring that each check-in was relayed instantaneously to relevant departments such as housekeeping and reception.
Key Results
Upon deployment, the Guest Experience App reduced the average check-in time to an impressive 88 seconds. This achievement significantly minimised reception area congestion and elevated the overall guest experience. Within the first three months of its launch, the app saw a 60% adoption rate among returning guests and contributed to a 25% increase in positive guest feedback scores related to the check-in process.
Additionally, operational efficiency improved across all properties, with staff being able to allocate more time to personalised guest interactions rather than administrative tasks. The app also unlocked new opportunities for upselling additional services directly through the platform, further contributing to an estimated 12% increase in ancillary revenue.
Through strategic technological intervention, Adyantrix transformed the check-in procedure for this hotel chain, reinforcing its commitment to innovation and superior guest service. The collaboration not only enhanced guest satisfaction but set a benchmark within the hospitality industry for adopting cutting-edge, customer-centric solutions.
Technical Approach
The Guest Experience App was built as a cross-platform mobile application using React Native, ensuring a consistent codebase for both iOS and Android whilst allowing platform-specific UI components where native behaviour was expected by guests. A Node.js back-end, hosted on AWS, handled all business logic, authentication, and integration orchestration.
The most technically complex component was the digital room key integration. The hotel chain had two different door lock hardware systems across its 10 properties — ASSA ABLOY VingCard and Dormakaba Ambiance — requiring integration with both manufacturers' mobile SDK frameworks. This was abstracted behind a unified key-issuance microservice that accepted a standardised room assignment payload and routed the key generation request to the appropriate hardware SDK based on property configuration, ensuring the app's guest-facing experience remained identical regardless of the underlying lock system.
Property Management System (PMS) integration was achieved via a real-time event bus (AWS EventBridge), with adapters built for the client's Oracle OPERA PMS. Key integration events included:
- Reservation confirmation: Triggering pre-check-in notification to the guest app 24 hours before arrival.
- Room ready signal: Pushed by housekeeping via a lightweight companion tablet app, immediately enabling the guest's digital room key within the main app.
- Check-out: Automatically deactivating the digital key and pushing a checkout confirmation with folio summary.
Guest identity verification — required for compliance with UK hospitality regulations — was handled via an in-app document scan using the Onfido SDK, which performed automated passport and driving licence verification with liveness detection, satisfying the legal requirement to record guest identity at check-in without requiring a physical document handover at the front desk.
Implementation Highlights
The project ran across six months from discovery to full 10-property rollout, with a phased deployment strategy that allowed real-world feedback to inform later property launches.
Discovery and stakeholder alignment: Three weeks of structured interviews with front-desk staff, housekeeping supervisors, and revenue managers surfaced operational requirements that a purely technical brief would have missed. Notably, housekeeping staff flagged that knowing a guest had completed mobile check-in — but was not yet in the room — would allow them to complete occupied-room service at quieter periods. This insight led to the addition of a housekeeping dashboard module that had not been in the original scope, and which became one of the most valued features post-launch.
Pilot property deployment: The app was deployed first at the chain's highest-volume London property, deliberately chosen because its peak-period front desk pressure would stress-test the system more rigorously than a quieter site. Two weeks of parallel operation — with the app available but the traditional desk process unchanged — generated 1,400 completed mobile check-ins, revealing two performance issues (key issuance latency under high concurrency, and an edge case in the OPERA integration that duplicated room assignment events) that were resolved before broader rollout.
Phased 10-property rollout: Remaining properties were launched in three waves of three, allowing the support team to onboard staff and resolve property-specific integration edge cases without being overwhelmed. Each property's OPERA instance had slightly different configuration from historical customisation, requiring individual integration testing even though the core adapter was standardised.
Measurable Outcomes
The move from a 5–7 minute manual check-in to an 88-second digital process had operational consequences that extended well beyond the immediate guest experience metrics:
- Front-desk staffing reoptimisation: With mobile check-in handling the administrative component of arrival, properties were able to redeploy one front-desk agent per shift to a dedicated "guest experience" role focused on concierge-style interactions. Three properties trialled this model and reported a further 8% uplift in Net Promoter Score attributable specifically to the quality of face-to-face staff interactions — suggesting the technology enabled a higher-value human interaction rather than simply replacing it.
- Ancillary revenue: The in-app upsell module — offering room upgrades, restaurant reservations, and spa bookings at the pre-check-in notification stage — generated an average of £18.40 additional revenue per mobile check-in across the pilot property in its first full month. Scaled across the adoption rate, this contributed to the 12% ancillary revenue increase reported in the headline results.
- No-show and late arrival management: The app's real-time arrival tracking (guests opting in to share location on approach) gave the front desk visibility of imminent arrivals 15 minutes before physical arrival, enabling housekeeping to prioritise room readiness and reducing the proportion of guests encountering a "room not ready" situation at arrival by 31%.
Lessons Learned
Several aspects of this project shaped our approach to hospitality technology integrations:
- Hardware fragmentation is the hidden complexity. The dual door lock system was not disclosed in the initial brief; it was discovered during the technical discovery phase. Had this been uncovered after development began, it would have caused significant rework. Thorough hardware and system inventorying at every property before scoping is now a non-negotiable step in our hospitality project methodology.
- Staff adoption determines guest adoption. Where front-desk staff actively mentioned the app to arriving guests and offered to guide them through the first use, adoption rates were measurably higher. Properties where staff framing was neutral or inconsistent showed adoption rates 15–20 percentage points lower in the first month. Investing in staff engagement and incentive programmes during rollout is as important as the technical deployment itself.
- Compliance requirements deserve early legal input. The guest identity verification requirement under the Immigration (Hotel Records) Order 1972 was initially underestimated in complexity. Engaging a legal adviser familiar with hospitality compliance in week two of the project — rather than at the point of solution design — would have saved two weeks of rework in the verification flow design.
Speak with our Mobile App Development team at Adyantrix to find out how we can support your next project.
Work with Adyantrix
If you are looking to tackle a similar challenge, Adyantrix has the expertise to help across the full project lifecycle. Our mobile app development practice covers iOS and Android apps built with React Native. Our custom software development practice covers tailored applications built to your exact workflows. Our IT consulting practice covers technology strategy, architecture review, and digital transformation advisory. Our data engineering practice covers pipeline design, streaming, and data infrastructure. Get in touch to discuss your requirements — no commitment required.
