How CIVILIAN Hotel Uses Canary to Eliminate Lobby Lines in a Small Space

OPERATIONS

CIVILIAN Hotel, a 203-room boutique lifestyle hotel in New York City's Theater District, replaced an unreliable kiosk and paper-based processes with Canary. Today, most guests check in via Mobile Check-In or the Self-Service Kiosk, keeping the hotel's compact lobby free of lines.

Why it matters: With a small lobby, a lean front office team and high occupancy, every front desk bottleneck at CIVILIAN is visible to guests. Canary's self-service check-in, Digital Authorizations and Guest Messaging free up both lobby space and staff time, while guests who want a personal welcome can still get one at the desk.

CIVILIAN uses Canary's Mobile Check-In and Self-Service Kiosk so guests can check in and get their keys before or on arrival; Digital Authorizations to collect third-party payment authorizations through a secure link instead of scanning and faxing; and Guest Messaging to text guests who haven't arrived yet and broadcast restaurant promotions or schedule changes to every in-house guest at once.

Top 3 Core Objectives: CIVILIAN needed to keep its compact lobby clear during high-occupancy check-in rushes, simplify third-party billing for business travelers and cut down on phone calls with guests.

Reliable self-service check-in: The hotel's original kiosk failed so often that staff redirected guests back to the front desk. The team needed a kiosk that worked consistently.
Clear the lobby: With a small lobby, weekday check-in rushes and weekend checkout waves, CIVILIAN needed to keep guests moving so the space never felt crowded.
Paper-free authorizations: Third-party payment authorizations for business travelers relied on scanning and faxing. The team wanted a faster, more secure process.

Innovators Mentioned

CIVILIAN Hotel

Canary Technologies

Lisa Rodolico

Front Office Assistant and Manager

CIVILIAN Hotel

"Canary's Self-Service Kiosk is extremely reliable, and it handles most of our check-ins now. The team loves it too, now no one wants to use anything else."

Lisa Rodolico

Front Office Assistant and Manager

👍 Front Office Assistant and Manager Lisa Rodolico said that Canary's Self-Service Kiosk reliably handles most of CIVILIAN's check-ins.:

"Canary's Self-Service Kiosk is extremely reliable, and it handles most of our check-ins now. The team loves it too, now no one wants to use anything else."

⚖️ The selection process: During their research process, Lisa Rodolico evaluated Canary Technologies's product differentiators, customer support, and holistic value as a strategic partner and ultimately decided that Canary Technologies was the best fit solution:

Front Office Assistant and Manager Lisa Rodolico said, about their decision: "I had faith in it, because I used Canary at my old property and could vouch for its reliability."

📈 The results: Canary's Self-Service Kiosk now handles most of CIVILIAN's check-ins, the lobby stays clear even at high occupancy, and third-party authorizations take guests about five minutes instead of a scan-and-fax process.

Most guests complete Mobile Check-In before arrival, and about half of the rest choose one of the hotel's two kiosks on their own.
Third-party payment authorizations are collected through a secure link in under five minutes, replacing scanning and faxing.
Broadcast messages reach every in-house guest at once, so staff no longer call every room to share restaurant promotions or live music.