By Brendon Granger, Technology 4 Hotels
The way hotels communicate with guests has changed radically in the past few years. Not so long ago, phone calls and face-to-face conversations represented the standard form of engagement.
Today, it’s a different story.
Guests are now turning to mobile as their primary form of communication. To remain relevant and deliver exceptional service, hotels are now connecting with guests through messaging apps, email, SMS and social media channels.
But with an increasing number of channels available to guests, hotel staff are faced with the time-consuming task of monitoring them all at once. Adding to this challenge, internal systems are often fragmented, greatly slowing down the speed at which information gets shared between departments.
This need to connect with a mobile-reliant traveller and increase efficiency between teams has spawned a new era of guest engagement tools. Today, platforms such as Alice, Glowing.io and Monscierge offer a way to bring all guest and staff communication into a single system, with the potential to deliver a whole new level of customer service.
Personalised Experience
One of the biggest benefits of messaging tools is their ability to help personalise guest experience. Following a booking, a hotel can contact a guest via the platform they’re most engaged with to ask for pre-stay details and preferences.
Last year, lifestyle hotel group Commune Hotels + Resorts began trialling CheckMate - a multichannel mobile communication tool that enables guests and hotels to engage through text messaging and email.
During a four-month pilot program, 75% of guests gave their mobile number and opted in to be contacted via SMS. This high level of engagement has allowed Commune to gain invaluable information from customers to personalise their stay.
Platforms such as CheckMate also provide the ability to track spending history and personal preferences, all of which can be collated from past stays at multiple properties within the hotel’s own group.
This means if a guest previously asked for extra pillows, in-room dining, or routinely prefers staying on the ground floor, these needs can be accommodated ahead of time.
A Slick Service
Constantly monitoring requests over multiple channels isn’t just time-consuming. When internal systems are fragmented, it’s inevitable that guest requests will sometimes slip through the net. But with a single tool in place, there’s far less chance of this happening.
If a guest makes a request over the phone, SMS or any other digital channel, a member of staff can log this and then instantly message another department or individual to make sure it’s dealt with.
When a new member of staff starts their shift, they can review all conversations in one place. As well as instantly getting themselves up to speed on any issues that need addressing, the possibility that messages are forgotten about or not passed on is eliminated.
Improved Service Recovery
In the digital age, hotels need to manage their reputations like never before. Today, a dissatisfied customer can post a disgruntled comment on Facebook or Twitter within seconds. The huge influence of TripAdvisor also means that positive reviews are now becoming intertwined with booking revenue and profit margins.
The beauty of engagement tools is that guests are given a hassle-free way of asking for problems to be resolved as they arise. Whether it’s a faulty light bulb in their room or a raucous party next door that’s keeping them awake, a quick message can be sent to alert hotel staff.
Through real-time engagement, issues can then be swiftly handled before they escalate into major complaints. Even if they can’t be resolved in the moment, acknowledging the problem and offering a quick solution can make all the difference to a customer’s overall perception of service quality.
New Revenue Streams
During the guest stay, selling additional amenities and services is often restricted to sales literature in rooms, digital media displays in the lobby, and fleeting interactions with the front desk team.
But engagement tools allow hotels to promote added extras without the limitations of time and space. And of course, these messages can be highly targeted.
If a customer expresses an interest in the spa before heading out for the morning, a message could be sent later that day promoting the most popular treatments with a 10% discount to incentivise the booking.
Used tactically and at the right times, this form of personal interaction offers the opportunity to exploit upsell opportunities and help maximize the overall value of every booking.
In Summary
As mobile continues to play an increasingly dominant role in the travel journey, hotels must find ways to connect with customers through the digital channels they most frequently use. A new generation of communication tools now offers a way to streamline this process and interact with customers like never before.
With the ability to deliver more personalised experiences, respond to service issues in real-time, and offer an easy way for customers to make requests, hotels can build rapport, strengthen relationships and offer the kind of outstanding service that leads to long-term loyalty.
