The digital experience for hotel guests no longer involves just the booking process or finding information about rooms, services, facilities, and the destination.
Today, the digital experience is a win-win solution for hoteliers and their guests alike, covering a wide range of digital needs for all involved parties. The best way to address these needs is to employ guest management software or platforms that integrate everything a property needs to communicate, upsell, and other customer support, guest services, analytics, and optimization tools.
Ideally, the guest management platform will address most of these needs for hotels and other hospitality property types:
- Guest communication: an omnichannel unified inbox to manage email, SMS, live chat, WhatsApp messages, etc., without switching between platforms. Personalize and schedule messages based on guest profiles, time zone, interests, and other filters.
- Digital check-in and check-out: a safe and secure solution that saves time and effort for both guests and front desk hotel staff. A 2014 study by Cornell Hospitality showed the importance of streamlining check-in (guests can check in from anywhere before arriving at the hotel) and check-out as guests get anxious when they wait "after just three minutes with satisfaction scores dropping by 50 points after five minutes."
- Upselling: digital technology can be an effective upselling tool, with hoteliers able to promote everything from activities to special packages, spa treatments, premium services, luxury bedding, pet fees, room upgrades, room service, babysitting services, entertainment, tours, third-party services, and attractions, etc. Booking such services is usually separate from booking accommodation. Integrated digital technology with upselling capabilities will solve this pain point for prospective and return guests.
- Customer data: digital tools enable hoteliers to capture customer data for analytics and actionable insights. Hoteliers should use these tools in the booking phase to leverage guest data to deliver personalized offers, coordinate arrivals, scan documents, allow guests to fill in registration cards quickly, and smart check-out upsell.
- Nurturing relationships with guests: digital tools allow hoteliers to foster long-lasting relationships directly with their guests. Relationships expand beyond the check-out to sending regular newsletters and special offers and maintaining active social dialogues.
Guest Management Platforms
Most hotels already use guest management platforms to improve the digital experience for their customers. Popular choices include:
- Duve effectively boosts guest satisfaction while cutting operational costs and generating additional revenues through upselling.
- Cloudbeds: Independent hotels and other hospitality properties favor this platform to streamline operations and increase guest satisfaction. It features a cloud-based reservations system, a centralized reservation calendar, a marketplace with 300+ connections, reporting and analytics, and payments and revenue management tools.
- Little Hotelier: has the functionality to attract more guests, convert direct bookings, maintain the hotel's website, and take online payments. It is recommended for small hotels due to its simplified interface and affordable pricing. Not practical for chains and large properties dealing with hundreds of guests at a time.
- RMS Cloud HMS: scalable cloud technology with capabilities to increase revenue, streamline operations, engage guests, and retain loyal customers. It offers built-in channel integration with the OTAs, fair pricing, and excellent functionality for most digital guest management needs.
- Planet PMS offers hotel POS options, including fixed terminals, server tablets, self-service kiosks, and mobile devices. In addition, it also has central guest management functionality, enabling hotel staff to manage guest information like room status, room rates, and room inventory from a unified interface.
- Hostaway is a platform for vacation rentals and Airbnb management. It has a suite of tools for property managers, including PMS, reservations management, performance dashboard, CRM, communication tools with a unified inbox and native support for SMS and WhatsApp, channel manager, automation tools, and marketing tools (website builder, coupon manager, direct bookings, etc.).
Essential Guidelines to Improve the Digital Experience for Hotel Guests
Always put the guest experience first in whatever guest management platform you choose. Digitalization will give hotels a competitive advantage, boosting direct bookings and converting loyal guests into brand ambassadors. But besides employing a robust guest management platform, you should also offer a seamless digital experience on your website and social channels, consistently delivering guest-centric messages.
Provide all the details travelers need to know about your hotel. People book hotels for varied reasons:
- Digital nomads and business travelers need to balance work and leisure. Therefore, they will likely search for hotels with excellent Wi-Fi, in-room workstations, convenient pricing, meeting rooms, and access to facilities or activities that promote well-being and relaxation.
- Families will consider the destination, hotel public areas, breakfast, facilities for children, activities, and entertainment.
- Couples may look for adults-only hotels in secluded, romantic areas. They are seeking privacy and quiet, but also exceptional extras, like spa, wellness, fine dining, etc.
- Leisure travelers may book a hotel based on location, affordability, services, and facilities, but they may also consider whether the property is LGBTQ-friendly and promotes environmentally sustainable practices.
- Pet owners rarely leave their fur babies at home. They prefer hotels that accept pets and offer pet beds and other pet-friendly amenities. Pet owners are usually prepared to pay an extra fee to accommodate their companions.
When you anticipate why a traveler may search for a hotel and the criteria for booking, you can provide all the necessary details straight on your hotel's website in a highly visible area - preferably above the fold. Of course, fill in these details on your hotel's social profiles too. It would help if you also considered adding other inclusive information, like whether the hotel is wheelchair accessible. Mention all the extras that benefit your guests:
- airport shuttle;
- babysitting services;
- outdoor or indoor pool;
- fitness center;
- spa with hot tub;
- parking;
- air conditioning;
- free activities (guided tours, bicycle rentals, etc.);
- in-room complimentary amenities like welcome packages, water, coffee, tea, bathrobes, hair and skin care products, etc.
These details will help the guest make an informed booking decision. Still, they also may help your hotel gain a competitive advantage in Google Maps when users search for hotels using filters for hotel amenities (free Wi-Fi, gym, pool, free breakfast, pet-friendly, air conditioning, restaurant, bar, beach access, wheelchair accessible, all-inclusive available, and other filters.)
The digital experience goes beyond your website and app, expanding to search engines, social websites, and review websites like TripAdvisor. And reviews are essential to establish trust and enhance your digital footprint.
Note that Google recommends that you encourage guests to review your hotel and services to improve your local ranking on the SERPs:
"Interact with customers by responding to reviews that they leave about your business. Responding to reviews shows that you value your customers and the feedback that they leave about your business. High-quality, positive reviews from your customers will improve your business's visibility and increase the likelihood that a potential customer will visit your location."
For more information, please read our article How Hotels Should Manage Online Guest Reviews.
To conclude, invest time, effort, and, yes, money in establishing a digital experience that will motivate and inspire travelers to become your guests and maintain long-term relationships with your loyal and returning customers.