The goal for any hospitality business is to maximise revenue.
NB: This is an article from Bookboost
However, that is challenging to achieve, especially with the constantly evolving customer expectations. 89% of businesses compete mostly on customer experience and an organisation which invests in enhancing their customer experience has revenue growth of 4 to 8% above average.
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This means that enhancing the guest experience is one of the key drivers of revenue. So, what do you need to do? Make sure your guests’ experience is formidable.
In order to know how to make guests have a great experience with you, you first need to know who they are and build a relationship with them. By doing so, you unlock a lot of potentials.
Let’s go over why and how you can do it in practice.
Why you should build a relationship with your guests
Everyone is expecting outstanding. According to Deloitte’s recent Guest Experience survey, 75% of respondents said they would go back to a hotel if they had a good experience.
The guest experience is dictated by all the interactions you have with your guests throughout their whole guest journey, from before their stay to after it, and is never-ending.
Thus, a good guest experience means your guests were satisfied with your mutual interactions. The question you should always ask yourself is: what do my guests want?
71% of customers expect personalisation from companies, and 76% of them get frustrated if this does not occur. A unique experience is determined by how personalised it is.
In order to create a memorable guest experience, you must consider the different characteristics of your guests, their interests, needs, preferences, and more, making them feel that you know them.
This is the basis for having a relationship with each of them. If you know who they are, you interact with them continuously and in a personalised way, you increase their satisfaction and build a relationship that will last.
With this, you unlock your revenue potential.
How to build a relationship that lasts
Building a relationship with your guests is much more than calling them by their name or offering them free chocolates.
These are single interactions in a short-term perspective, whilst the goal is to continuously build a relationship that will last. You need to be there for the guest from the very start and continue with them after they leave.
Keep reading, it may be easier to achieve than you think!
1. Use every stage of the guest journey to offer valuable information
As mentioned above, the guest journey starts before the stay and is never-ending. You need to plan the interactions with your guests in different stages of their journey: before the stay, during the stay, and after the stay.
Currently, while some hospitality brands don’t do this at all, others do, but doing it is not enough. You need to do it the right way for it to be beneficial.
Usually, these interactions mean sending offers and information throughout the guest journey with the goal to increase sales. However, there is one big detail which is often overlooked. Remember how many customers expect personalisation? Well, that is the detail you need to pay attention to.
