Providing personalized experiences is crucial
To meet guests’ needs for individualized travel and delivering the expected value for their money. Standard, one-size-fits-all stays are no longer sufficient to win over loyal guests and garner positive reviews. To truly stand out, it’s essential to take personalization to the next level.
What is personalization in the hospitality industry?
Personalizing a hotel stay means using what you know about what your guests like to adapt the services you offer to suit their preferences. However, don’t confuse personalization with customization. While both aim to provide a personalized experience, customization empowers guests to personalize their experience themselves by choosing their preferred service options from a selection that you provide.
Know the difference and remember that customization is suitable for new and returning guests, while personalization is more effective for guests whose preferences you already know.
For example: Imagine a new customer named Michelle visiting your restaurant for the first time. You ask her if she has any dietary restrictions or preferences, and she tells you she is vegan. You customize her dining experience by offering her a selection of vegan dishes.
The next time Michelle visits your restaurant, you remember her dietary preference and immediately provide her with a separate vegan menu, you recommend her favorite dishes and new ones she might like based on her previous order history. This is personalization, as you use her past preferences to offer a more tailored experience.
In both cases, Michelle is happy with the vegan options provided, but the second experience is more personalized and shows that you value her patronage and preferences.
How to personalize your guest experience in 5 steps.
Now that we know the difference between personalization and customization, let’s discuss the implementation steps.
1. Know your target guest
Understanding what motivates your guests is not only helpful in crafting a personalized experience for them, but it can also be a powerful tool in attracting their initial booking. By demonstrating that you can provide exactly what they are looking for, you can increase your chances of piquing their interest and winning their business through tailored offers.
After securing their reservation, it’s crucial to gather as much information as possible about each guest. This can be achieved with the help of your staff, as well as innovative technology solutions, both of which play a critical role in the data collection process.
-
Ensure that your staff is trained to gather customer data effectively
Standard details such as the dates of stay and number of guests are automatically entered into the Property Management System (PMS) when a booking is made. However, upon the guest’s arrival, your team should collect more in-depth personal information such as their address, nationality, and birthdate through identification cards and passports. While this initial data collection presents some opportunities for personalization, it’s essential to dig deeper to gain a more comprehensive understanding of your guests.
-
Ensure that your team takes notes and acts on any preferences expressed by the guest
These may include their preferred food or drink, pillow preference, and even the names of family members. Additionally, it’s important to pay attention to both positive and negative feedback, as well as any solutions that guests may offer in response to issues they encountered during their stay. This information is valuable and should be added to the guest’s profile to enhance personalization efforts.
By accumulating this data, your team will develop a deeper understanding of your guests and be better equipped to offer relevant recommendations tailored to their preferences.
-
Employ automation to leverage customer data efficiently
Collecting as much data as possible to complete your guest’s profiles provides insight into who your guests are and what they expect from their stay. This allows for effectively segmenting guests into groups based on their travel dates, needs, and desires. After segmenting your guests, it’s crucial to develop tailored offers for each group to enhance their experience.
-
The power of data
Collecting and analyzing data on guest preferences and behavior can enable businesses to gain a deeper understanding of their patrons and anticipate their needs. This information can be leveraged to create more effective marketing campaigns and strategies to improve guest satisfaction. For instance, a hotel, resort, or spa can utilize data on guests’ past stay preferences to offer them a personalized room or experience upgrade.
In recent years, technology has advanced the possibilities of personalization. By utilizing tools such as customer relationship management (CRM) software and artificial intelligence (AI), businesses can automate the process of data collection and analysis, streamlining the provision of personalized experiences on a larger scale.
2. Customize your online presence with your target guests in mind
Today, online travel agencies and metasearch sites offer personalized offers and search results based on past user behavior, creating a seamless experience for travelers and simplifying the process of finding the perfect hotel. It’s essential to provide your distribution partners with the information your ideal guests want to see, increasing your visibility in search results and enticing potential customers to choose your property.
Similarly, your website and social media channels should also be tailored to your target audience. Creating relevant offers for different guest segments and highlighting unique experiences only your property can provide can increase the likelihood of direct bookings.
Additionally, if you’re looking for an extra boost, offering your website in the languages and currencies of your main target markets can also provide an additional boost.
3. Allow your guests to customize their experience
Develop customized offers for each guest segment and emphasize the distinct experiences available at your property.
Enhance personalization by suggesting relevant room upgrades and presenting guests with tailored upselling and cross-selling options.
For example, suggest fun activities for solo travelers or romantic packages for couples. If you’re near any nature or amusement parks, offer discounted passes.
4. Don’t underestimate the power of communication
While marketing campaigns and a solid online presence can attract guests, they are just a small part of the puzzle. It is essential to stay in touch with guests at every stage of their journey and provide personalized interactions and service. The pre-stay stage is crucial since guests finalize their plans and are open to suggestions for extras to enhance their experience.
Hotels should use this timeframe to offer deals on paid upgrades and service add-ons that match the guest’s profile, giving them enough time to browse the selection and choose the ones they like. This results in better upselling outcomes, and guests get the ideal stay they dreamed of. Hotel technology is useful for streamlining upselling efforts and ensuring guests receive personalized emails with relevant upsell suggestions.
Contact Anything Software today and see which software can help streamline these operations.
5. Train your whole team on personalization
Personalization should not stop at the front desk. Efforts should carry throughout the property, whether someone grabs a craft beer at the bar or orders from the gluten-free menu at a restaurant. Staff should take note to personalize the experience whenever they can.
Final thoughts
It’s essential to note that customizing guests’ stays can turn their experiences from good to exceptional. In today’s world, where customers expect brands to understand and be considerate of their interests and preferences, hotels need to leverage data and insights to meet guests’ expectations.
At The Anything Group, we can provide extensive expertise in emotional engagement and help hotels and resorts create tailored emotive campaigns to connect with their clientele. We offer a full suite of software to help If you’re looking to leverage this expertise, send us a message, and let’s elevate your business together!
