Are your visitors carrying around heavy baggage due to a lack of storage options? Do you have a cloakroom, but always end up having a big queue at your venue? Does your staff have to turn guests away at the door for carrying restricted items?
Smart Visitor & Guest Lockers are the best solutions to providing a safe and convenient storage option at your facilities; with visitor lockers, you can solve these issues while securing a steady revenue stream.
In this blog, we will look at how smart visitor lockers can enhance the visitor experience at tourist attractions, show you some real-world examples to understand the ROI and provide information on how guest lockers can help solve persistent challenges while also generating revenue.
- Why Technology is Crucial to Enhance the Visitor Experience in Tourism
- What are Visitor Lockers?
- How do Rental Visitor Lockers Work?
- How can Guest Lockers Benefit Events and Tourist Attractions?
- How to Implement Smart Visitor Lockers at Events and Tourist Attractions
- When to Expect ROI with Visitor Lockers
- Vpod’s Smart Visitor Locker Solution
- Final Thoughts
Why Technology is Crucial to Enhance the Visitor Experience in Tourism
The term ‘smart tourism’ refers to the ways in which smart technology can help achieve more efficient resource management, competitive advantages, and better options for sustainability.
These days, most industries understand the benefits of smart technology and have used it to improve operations like payment methods, booking systems, interactive activities and more. In 2019, the EU started a Smart Tourism Initiative to recognise “outstanding achievements by European cities as tourism destinations”, rewarding innovation within sustainability, accessibility, and digitalisation – so, safe to say that smart technology is proven to be useful for tourism.
When it comes to enhancing the visitor experience, innovations such as QR codes, self-service information kiosks, and smart storage spaces yield immediate results by shortening waiting times, increasing accessibility, and allowing for a higher degree of personal freedom for guests – but that is not all.
Through digital monitoring, organisations can stay up-to-date and informed on visitors and their needs, and by combining these insights with industry knowledge, managers can predict changes in customers’ behaviour and prepare proper solutions in advance.
One smart solution that has become increasingly popular for places like hotels, theme parks, convention centres and other places of tourism, is Smart Locker technology.
What are Smart Visitor Lockers?
Smart lockers are a solution that uses technology to improve security, accessibility, and the overall experience of using a storage locker. This can also be applied to Visitor Lockers, where tourists, visitors, and guests can rent a unit to store their personal belongings, such as heavy luggage, valuables, and possible restricted items, before entering their chosen destination.
How do Rental Visitor Lockers Work?
Visitor lockers are essential for any facility that receives a high volume of visitors and want to provide good customer service.
Normally, you would need staff overlooking the booking and payment process, ensuring that all lockers are properly locked and secured and that all keys are returned correctly. However, with smart visitor lockers, the process is a lot simpler, as guests can book their storage locker online in advance, or on-site through the smart locker interface.
Here’s how to use the visitor lockers:
Smart guest lockers provide guests with a keyless and contactless experience where they won’t have to worry about break-ins or lost keys.
How can Visitor Lockers Benefit Events & Tourist Attractions?
With guest lockers, you can make sure that all visitors have access to safe storage so they can have an enjoyable time at the attraction. By ensuring that your services are the best they can be, your guests are more likely to be satisfied, which ultimately drives positive business.
Benefits for Visitors
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Highly convenient
Smart lockers offer guests a place to store belongings and charge their electronics if they need them. They have full access to their items at any time throughout their visit, which means they can move freely and without the worry of misplacing or forgetting personal belongings.
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No queues or waiting times
Guests can book their lockers on-site or online beforehand. No need to spend time searching for a free locker or waiting in line to book one; simply book and pay online.
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Easy to use
All you need to book a visitor locker is a smartphone. With a few taps on the screen, guests can pay and store their belongings in minutes.
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Reduced risk of theft
Smart visitor lockers use online access control, which eliminates the need for physical keys. Without having to keep track of a key that can easily be dropped or misplaced, guests can rest assured knowing that they are the only people who can open their guest locker.
Benefits for Managers
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Digital and remote monitoring
Electronic lockers use software to enable simple and centralised smart locker management. Managers can assign different functions and gain real-time user insights and reports that are easily accessed for audit remotely. Additionally, if any error occurs or a door is forced open, the system sends out instant alerts so the appropriate actions can be taken.
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No more lost keys! Cost- and space-saving
With self-service guest lockers, you save the cost of supervising staff, and with electronic access control, you save the cost and effort of handling countless lost keys each month. Furthermore, smart lockers are customisable, which means you can create locker banks that fit your space in the best way possible, saving both floor space, time and money.
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Flexible revenue
The rental price is completely up to you and can be changed daily depending on events, locker size, or expected customer base. No matter if guests pay online or at the lockers, you can set the price as you see fit.
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Set your own rules
You can configure your visitor lockers to best fit your needs; limit the number of lockers you can rent per guest, set lockers to release after 8 hours, and choose which authentication system to use (such as QR, PIN or RFID). Whatever fits you and your operations best.
How to Implement Visitor Lockers at Events & Tourist Attractions
Visitor lockers are typically located near the entrance for the sake of easy access for guests. Like any smart technology, the biggest advantage of smart locker technology is not just a matter of convenience, but also the way technology can be made to seamlessly fit into everyday life.
Smart visitor lockers are a great solution to optimising and simplifying storage rental at your event or tourist attraction. Whether your guests are there for a short visit or all-day admission, these lockers can be placed anywhere to make the experience as convenient as possible.
When to Expect ROI with Visitor Lockers
In general, visitor lockers can see an ROI from 2-12 months, depending on several factors:
- Number of lockers
- Number of visitors
- Chosen price of the rental
Investing in more lockers requires a large up-front payment but can earn back more money if visitors use them consistently. On the other hand, for a smaller venue, purchasing fewer lockers for a smaller customer base can be just as profitable in the long run.
To put it into perspective, here are some real-life examples:
As you can see, the expected ROI depends a lot on how you choose to utilise the locker system, and how you believe they can best work to benefit both the business and the customers.
Vpod’s Smart Visitor Locker Solution
Vpod’s rental public lockers for visitors is a solution that actually makes money – a secure and accessible storage solution that guests can easily reserve and book online from their laptop or mobile phone.
Easy integrations
Vpod’s cloud-based locker software can integrate with any systems you already use, including different payment providers, to fit into your workflows.
Bespoke manufacturing
Our event lockers offer competitive advantages by saving money on storage space and energy. With our in-house manufacturing, you can design your locker banks to fit your brand and buy the exact number of units and sizes you need.
End-to-end encryption
All user data is encrypted and unreadable by unauthorised persons. This way, we make sure that it is always safe to use our locker systems.
Final Thoughts
Whether your plans include going to a zoo, a theme park, a concert or other interesting events, most people know how stressful it can be to pack for a vacation or a day off. This is why visitor lockers are an important part of good concierge service at any event or tourist attraction: having guest lockers available by the entrance or at the visitor centre adds to the positive experience.
With smart locker technology, the process of renting a visitor locker is both simple and accessible – all you need is a smartphone and an email address to reserve, pay and access the storage space.
Vpod’s smart rental lockers are a smart locker solution that can adapt to your needs and grow with your organisation. Our visitor lockers not only provide easy and secure storage space for your guests, but they also generate direct and flexible revenue that goes straight to you.
Vpod’s expert team is always ready to offer advice on how to find the best locker solution for your needs. If you want to learn about Vpod’s smart visitor lockers, you can read more
