Zoom Virtual Receptionist transforms check-in process at Olive Living Properties

Olive Living, a co-living asset brand from Embassy Group, India’s leading real estate developer, targets young working professionals and students across India. From fabulous furnishings to state-of-the-art technology-driven amenities, Olive properties have wellness centers, cafes, relaxing breakout lounges, communal open kitchens, a screening cinema, gaming rooms, music and karaoke rooms, laundromats, convenience stores, co-working areas, and rooftop terraces. They provide smart living solutions optimized for rest, work, and play, fully equipped for people who enjoy hassle-free living.

Check-in guests remotely

The property rental and co-living markets were some of the hardest hit during the COVID-19 pandemic. With a huge number of properties, Olive Living was looking for a solution that could help staff interact with their customers remotely during the pandemic with centralized support from the head office. 

Explains Kahraman Yigit, Co-Founder & CEO, Olive Living, “We were looking at a solution which could help us scale up and manage check-ins remotely from a central location. This is because most properties have one or two check-ins during the night, and some locations do not have the volumes to justify the required number of front office staff or receptionists to service customers.”

Accordingly, the team started looking for solutions that could help remotely check customers into its properties, especially during night shifts. 

After evaluating a number of solutions, the Olive Living team zoomed in on Zoom Rooms Virtual Receptionist. Much like Zoom Meetings brings HD video to mobile, laptop, and desktop devices, Zoom Rooms solutions video-enable a variety of meeting areas, such as hotel lobbies, conference rooms, offices, and other spaces. 

How it works

When a guest enters a lobby, he or she goes to the Zoom kiosk and starts conversing with a virtual receptionist that can be located onsite or remotely. The virtual receptionist checks in the guest and processes payment, then remotely allow the guest to enter the office or hotel or provide instructions to obtain a physical key on the premises from on-site security. 

Says Kahraman Yigit, “We have been using the Zoom Virtual Receptionist solution to check in and interact with guests across multiple properties. It is also being used to greet, interact with, and receive feedback from guests on arrival.”

Olive Living is also testing digital door locks on its properties. The receptionist would send access codes over a WhatsApp chatbot or email at the time of check-in for a completely contactless experience.

The big advantage of being virtual  

Today, Olive Living is able to provide a contactless entry experience for its guests with this Virtual Receptionist solution. Consistent with the experience that has made Zoom so popular, the Virtual Receptionist solution is easy to use, efficient, and seamlessly integrates with existing infrastructure. For implementation, Olive Living was supported by Zoom’s hardware partner, DTEN, to provide compatible devices and required hardware for implementation of Zoom’s Virtual Receptionist.

Guests can be checked-in virtually from any location. Similarly, virtual receptionists can work from anywhere. “The usage of the Zoom Virtual Receptionist solution can help us create a huge improvement in scalability and efficiency as a single receptionist can check in multiple guests at different locations,” states Kahraman Yigit. Olive Living has used it at two locations so far and has received positive feedback from guests. 

The Zoom Virtual Receptionist solution has given Olive Living another big competitive advantage – the ability to collect and analyze customer feedback at a central location and improve services.

Says Kahraman Yigit, “Customer experience is something you can only experience. Using the kiosk, we can monitor the customer conversations that take place and analyze them to improve our overall experience given to the guest.”

Zoom has an AI-enabled notetaker that can help Olive Living transcribe customer conversations, which can be further analyzed. By diving into these conversations, Olive Living can decipher the biggest pain points of its guests in certain properties and use it to continually improve its services. 

Creating a new benchmark

Olive Living sees itself as a new-age hospitality company and wants to set the benchmark for customer experience at its properties. As the company expands its presence, Zoom’s Virtual Receptionist solution can give it economies of scale. 

“Today, we can remotely manage many properties from a single location without having to hire as many front office or reception staff to man eight-hour shifts. We can also iron out discrepancies, such as late checkout or early check-in, without having a physical person to oversee everything,” says Kahraman Yigit. “The efficiency gains are huge as a single person can substitute for many front desk staff,” he added. 

This also gives Olive Living the opportunity to experiment with remote properties and use this solution to improve the economics of running a property by operating multiple properties on one screen at its headquarters. Olive Living will now look to deploy this at scale, improve its situational awareness, and increase operational efficiency.