Hotels welcome a multitude of guests every season. Not every guest is the same. That’s why segmenting guests into various categories is an instrumental approach to understanding them better. Such categorization helps in defining guest personas that further assist hotels in better marketing.
NB: This is an article from Hotelogix
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Understanding Hotel Guest Personas
A guest persona is created using insights from data related to guests. It makes it easier for the hotel management to figure out who they should target. Guests are identified based on specific attributes, such as their journey analysis from start to end, including booking, spending pattern, behaviour, stay experience, post-stay review, etc.
Contemporary hotels rely on Property Management Systems that streamline operations for them. These cloud-based systems store comprehensive data about guests. Hoteliers use this data to craft guest personas to develop more focused marketing campaigns, improve guest experiences, and maximize revenue.
Important Factors for Developing Guest Persona
Guest personas are profiled on the basis of a few parameters. Below are some of the basic factors that assist in segmentation. You can keep adding to the parameter list as you identify more patterns.
- Purpose of stay – Guests stay at hotels for various reasons, such as business, family vacations, weddings, and so on. Each guest has specific requirements and expectations.
- Demographics – This factor considers demographics such as age, gender, number of people accompanying, location, and stay duration to create personas.
- Qualitative attributes- This refers to the data collected by information received from hotel staff, management, group planners, etc.
The Role Of Guest Persona in Enhancing Customer Experience and Marketing Strategies
Guest persona holds immense value for hoteliers for devising an effective marketing strategy and amplifying guest experience as well. Let us learn in detail how a guest persona makes this possible!
- Focused marketing plan- Without a guest persona a hotelier would fail to understand the audience he is attempting to attract. With a guest persona in hand, hoteliers can create a focused and robust marketing plan that has depth. It is then possible to know about the basis on which guests select hotels, various things that matter to them during their stay, and how to increase bookings.
- Creating a customized guest experience- As customers are segmented into various categories, it becomes easier to understand the preferences and interests of each guest. With this, it becomes easier to cater to each guest in a way that appeals to them. A business traveller is not given the same additional recommendations as a couple; similarly, a family group staying for a wedding is given a separate set of messages and emails.
- Enhances hotel brand value – If you can reach the right audience at the right time with the right message, then it is likely that they create a good and lasting impression of your brand. If a businessman is recommended commutation services to his meeting destination, a family with kids is offered happy hours in the play area, and a couple is offered room meal services, then it is obvious that each of these guests would feel understood and valued. This in return gives a boost to your hotel’s brand value.
