E-Signature for Hospitality Helps Drive Better Customer Experiences

A positive customer experience is the bread and butter of the hospitality industry. Ensuring customers receive top notch service is among the main reasons businesses are utilizing modern technologies in their day-to-day operations. They’re also using modern tools to save time and money, grow revenue and maintain a competitive advantage.

Electronic signatures are a simple way to satisfy expectations for customers eating out, traveling for pleasure or business, or engaging in recreational activities. Here are some top ways the hospitality industry is using DocuSign eSignature to get ahead.

Managing online transactions 

Make it easy for customers to provide the necessary information to complete their order or request service. A DocuSign PowerForm offers an easy way to create a self-service online document for electronic signature without writing any code. It’s a unique, secure URL created from a template that you can link to from your website or distribute as a secure link via email. DocuSign templates allow you to save and reuse the repeatable information for commonly used forms, such as a catering contract, to make it easier each time you have to send an order form to a new customer. And with DocuSign Payments, your customers can sign and pay in a single step. Common use cases for online transactions within the hospitality industry include:

• Banquet event orders (BEOs) 
• Catering contracts 
• Event contracts
• Invoicing and payments

Maintenance work orders

If you’re running a hotel or restaurant, ensuring equipment and facilities are in good working order can be half the battle. When it comes to submit maintenance requests, businesses are saving time with DocuSign to authorize, estimate, track and pay for work orders. Hotels, restaurants and others within the hospital industry are using DocuSign for:

• Work orders
• Hiring contractors
• Food safety compliance forms
• Health and safety compliance forms
• Building leases and acquisition agreements
• Purchase and work orders

Improving guest experience 

Ensuring customers are enjoying their stay, meal or experience is of paramount importance to hospitality companies. DocuSign can help by streamlining common processes such as the signing of:

• Liability waivers:  If you’re running an excursion business where there’s a risk of clients being injured, you’ll understand the importance of ensuring liability forms are signed ahead of the guided adventure.
• Electronic waivers and health declarations: Provide customers with a contactless and improved experience by going digital with such forms, which are supported by electronic signature software. Best-in-class audit trails and automated workflows simplify processes and help mitigate risk to the business as well.
• Health screening forms: Organizations that require guests to submit health screening forms ahead of an event, activity or stay are using bulk send to send the same form to multiple people at once.  
• Loyalty program agreements: Reward your best customers seamlessly with electronic signature technology that allows them to easily opt into such programs.

Increasing resiliency and flexibility 

Hospitality is an industry that is always at the mercy of rapidly shifting consumer behavior and wallets. Becoming a nimble business that can quickly recognize impending disruption (from airline issues disrupting travel plans to corporate travel freezes) and adapt appropriately to maintain customer satisfaction will be what sets winners apart from the rest.

DocuSign can help your organization become more agile by:

• Making it easy to complete change orders and customer requests from practically anywhere
• Eliminating paper processes that introduce waiting periods and risk lost sales
• Accessing guest data at the right time to deliver on their expectations
• On-boarding new hospitality partners and beating competitors to market with new offerings 

Improving guest experience: A study found that  72 percent of satisfied customers would share their experience with six or more people, while 13 percent of disgruntled customers will blast the company to at least 15 people. Negative customer experiences can be especially damaging during the age of Yelp and other online rating platforms.

Today’s customers expect digital experiences, and don’t want to waste time completing paper forms. Hotels and other travel hubs are getting customers off on the right foot by using DocuSign eSignature to register them quickly and securely. We’re also helping businesses build customer loyalty with an automated reward program that includes generating terms and conditions and bulk sending of change notifications.

Learn more about DocuSign eSignature or sign up for a free DocuSign trial.