In a world where you can arrange for a black car service via a text and pay for bills in the same fashion, why not text your hotel the next time you find yourself out of fresh towels? That’s the idea behind Zingle, a personal texting service that is now partnering with select hotels to close the gap between receiving requests made by guests and fulfilling them. And the best part? Unlike your spouse or friend, the hotel promises to answer your text—in less than four minutes.
“This service is sure to resonate, especially for the Millennial for whom e-mail is passe and text is everything,” says Chekitan Dev, marketing professor at Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration and author of Hospitality Branding.
Since Zingle was founded in 2009, about 400 hotels have used it for their parking service, allowing guests the convenience of texting when they want their cars brought out from the parking garage. This new concierge concept has only grown since then, fulfilling a variety of requests from supplying water cups for pets to arranging to attend a sporting event nearby.
Pioneering the trend is The Four Seasons Philadelphia and three Loews properties—two in Orlando and one in Nashville—who have started pilot programs that register one’s phone number to a personal “service on demand” profile the moment they check in. “You will then be able to text any request, whether you are inside or outside the hotel, for your entire stay,” explains an article by USA Today.
As long as your phone is charged, the possibilities are endless.
