A guest persona is a fictional character that a hotel creates to describe its ideal guests. Simply put, it is a representation of a hotel’s guest demographic that is likely to stay at the property.
NB: This is an article from eZee Absolute
Further, hotel guest personas not only tell you about the type of your guests but also about their challenges and decision-making approach.
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Its role in business
The immediate role of a persona is to help businesses gain the trust of their customers.
Let me explain with a no-brainer.
Why do people prefer to stick to a brand? It’s because that particular brand has successfully built a bond with its customers by delivering exactly what their customers were looking for.
But how did they do it? Or how a business does this, in general?
By creating tailored products and services using personas.
When you have a complete understanding of your ideal customers, you can:
- build products according to your customers’ preferences;
- create effective marketing strategies;
- generate more qualified leads;
- help your sales professionals in building rapport with your target market;
- and let your customer service team address issues and concerns with the right pinch of personalisation.
Why do hotels need guest personas?
Now let’s talk about personas from a hotel’s perspective.
For a hotel to become profitable, it is important to have solid strategies. And one such strategy is the creation of hotel guest personas.
When hotels create guest personas, they get the advantage of delivering a personalised experience to their guests, and in turn, gain trust, loyalty and increase repeat bookings.
Many of you might argue that catering to only a few types of hotel guests won’t be profitable. And I understand that too.
Of course, your property is going to cater to different types of guests. You don’t have to stick to one.
However, you have to understand that every hospitality establishment has a core demographic. They are the ones that are more likely to stay loyal.
Let’s take Daniel’s example.
Daniel’s hotel is located near a beach and it mostly has surfing enthusiasts as guests. But does that mean he doesn’t let any other types of hotel guests stay at the property? No, right! It is just that surfers are the ones who come back often. Meaning, they help him generate revenue constantly.
With the right set of detailed, data-driven guest personas – everything, from distribution to marketing to revenue management, falls into places.
