Whatever happened to hotel brand loyalty? Recent years have seen a substantial increase in guests critically researching offers and prices to make more informed purchasing decisions.
NB: This is an article from GuestCentric
In fact, according to research from Qubit, over 80% of customers would be open to switching loyalties if they found a brand that better catered to their needs. In this blog, we will look at why personalization is important, and how hotels can personalize the guest experience and encourage loyalty.
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Why Personalizing the Guest Experience is Essential for Hotels in today’s Day and Age
Following two years of restricted travel, pent-up demand is booming. This presents an excellent opportunity for hotels to reach guests and capitalize on the demand. Sounds easy right? Well, it’s a little more complicated than that. Remember, guests have much higher expectations now that the world has reopened, and your hotel cannot afford to disappoint them.
More than ever, guests now value increased flexibility and exceptional customer service. Not only will they remember and revisit their best pre-covid travel experiences, they will also remember which hotels catered to their needs when unexpected restrictions forced them to cancel or postpone their bookings.
All in all, hotels cannot miss the opportunity to engage returning guests. With limited staff, hoteliers must use technology and automation to fill in the gaps and handle tasks that were previously handled by teams of employees. Most importantly, hotels must develop personal connections with guests at all stages of the journey, tailoring their stay to fit their needs and desires.
And as hotels recover financially, It also helps that personalized marketing has been shown to lift hotel revenue by up to 10%, according to Revinate. In short, knowing how and when to engage with a potential customer is crucial if you want to see return on investment (ROI).
4 Steps for Hotels to Implement Guest Personalization
Unlike ‘mass marketing’, ‘personalized marketing’ requires every hotel’s marketing department and operational staff to look at the specific needs of each guest and provide a tailored offer.
Of course, this will mean more commitment and attention to detail. But if you stop to think for a minute, personalized marketing can also allow you to build a long-term relationship with your guests and bolster your hotel’s brand image.
Below are 4 simple steps to help you personalize the guest experience:
1. Be Where your Prospect Guests are and Join their Conversations
One great way to personalize the guest experience is to engage with travelers who are talking about your destination and their travel plans on social media. A good starting point would be to filter the relevant conversations of travelers who are planning trips – the people who are actually commenting on something that went well or didn’t go well. This will give you insight into how you can better personalize the guest experience from the moment they book a room to check-out.
