In the world of hospitality, meeting and exceeding guest expectations is the gold standard.
A great guest experience starts from a guest’s first interaction with your business and carries through all the way to check out and even beyond. With predictions indicating that by 2023 over 700 million bookings will be made online, now more than ever, it’s important that businesses are not only exceeding expectations through their face-to-face service but also providing a strong digital user journey too.
Below, we highlight simple ways technology can help you to provide a more customer-centric experience and work to achieve (and maintain) that gold standard:
-
Mobile-first approach
While creating and maintaining a cross-platform experience for guests is important, priorities have shifted and long gone is the tradition for guests to call up and book a hotel room. Everything has evolved to move online and so should you.
Making a lasting impression digitally can be challenging and sadly, any minor mishap or delay during the booking process likely means a customer will move on and book in somewhere else.
With mobile phones now a primary device and mobile searches exceeding desktop searches on Google, having a mobile-first approach to your website design and your booking engine can help you keep an identical look and feel across all devices, improve the guest experience and maximise your bookings.
-
Personalise the booking journey
Using AI tools, such as the allora.ai booking engine, is a great way to offer guests targeted content at the booking stage that’s specific to their needs and interests. As well as allowing you to share any available offers based on your current knowledge, you can make their visit to your website easier, personal and infinitely more pleasurable.
-
Reducing bounce rates
With the use of AI and revenue technology, hoteliers can quickly identify when a guest is going to abort a transaction through their website. With the aid of this technology, you can implement anti-abandonment techniques to create custom messages to keep guests engaged and on your site and help them to secure the all-important booking.
-
Create personalised packages
Not everyone books their stay first time, every time. So, it’s important to have a system that can identify and remember their search criteria and allow them to jump back in, exactly where they left off.
These repeat visits are a great opportunity to offer additional packages that are relevant to their interests to help them decide that your hotel is THE ONE.
-
Automating check-in
A self-service check-in or mobile check-in can transform the quality of service offered to guests. Guests can easily reserve rooms at the click of a button with little human interaction or possible interruption.
By using real-time optimisation, employees can relay information across different departments, efficiently opening up their time to focus on other tasks.
Not only does this level of automation increase guest satisfaction, but it’s also beneficial to recording accurate customer data, as guests input this information themselves. Work smarter, not harder as they say.
-
Personalised stays
According to the National Technology Readiness Survey (NTRS), three-quarters of guests find it important that their travel experience is personalised to their needs. So, many hotels are already adapting to this by allowing their guests to personalise their stays. This could look like using mobile devices as hotel keys, or perhaps being able to adjust the thermostat in their rooms through a hotel app.
-
High-tech amenities
Technology doesn’t need to stop at mobile or the booking system; hotels can also introduce high-tech amenities in and around the hotel to enhance the guests’ experience. Such as having fast Wi-Fi, a digital concierge or quality entertainment services on demand, 24/7.
In summary
Personalizing the guest experience is no longer a ‘nice to have’ but a prerequisite for hotels and travelers alike, ensuring that your guests’ journey is to the highest standard. This is what will help you to stand out from the rest and see that gold standard come into view.
With the use of technology, you can streamline your processes, ensure a guest offering that’s convenient, personalised and straightforward as well as identify new opportunities to better your guests’ stay. Ultimately, you have the opportunity to improve profitability, whilst keeping your customer at the forefront. Everybody wins.
