For hoteliers, trying to fill hotel rooms right now is more challenging than ever. That’s why having a solid hotel marketing strategy is so important. Once you have that in place, it’s important to differentiate and elevate your customers’ experiences. A good night’s sleep may have been enough in the past, but today, travelers expect a more personalized experience.
Make your customers feel appreciated by anticipating their needs before, during, and after their stay. These six digital touchpoints will help welcome guests, create a memorable experience, and bring customers back repeatedly.
Marketing Touchpoints Before Their Stay
Just because you worked hard to increase your bookings doesn’t mean you should stop there. Here are customized communication touchpoints to implement before their stay to ease the stress of travel for visitors and to better prepare them for check-in.
1. The Website Is the First Impression
The website acts as a crucial initial customer touchpoint in the hospitality industry. But the point when your customers book their stay is just the beginning of their relationship with your brand and your website. Expect them to return to your website to seek out information on your property, things to do, and more. Making sure your website is responsive, mobile-optimized, and easy to navigate can help ensure repeat visits and increase time on site. You could also consider including a digital guide book to highlight your destination’s unique experiences.
2. Build the Relationship Before Check-in
Initiate the personalized experience in advance of your guests’ stay and ease their travel stress. Communications before check-in may include:
- A confirmation email with a special offer for spa services or restaurant enclosed
- A map link with directions as well as parking information
- A virtual concierge with links to local attractions to help your guests plan their trip
Whether your team uses email, text, or a phone call, welcoming guests before they arrive lets them know that someone on-property wants to make their trip as easy and enjoyable as possible.
Marketing Touchpoints During Their Stay
While the guests enjoy their stay, well-constructed personalized interactions enrich their experience and build loyalty.
3. Welcome Guests and Invite Them to Participate
After check-in, welcome guests with a text or an email.
Here are ways to engage and serve customers during their stay:
- Provide sightseeing opportunities and tourist resources through your concierge
- Include offers and upgrades
- Notify them of local events, inside or outside the hotel
- Offer easy access to hotel staff through a customized app or text
4. Make Checkout Easy
Hassle-free checkout tells guests their time is important to you. Twenty years ago, the bill slid under the door or was printed at the front desk at check-out.
These days, an email, text link, or mobile app can clearly summarize the charges. Guests who want to review their receipt before leaving can do so from the comfort of their room, from their device.
Paperless, digital checkout also helps provide guests with a socially distanced experience.
Marketing Touchpoints After Their Stay
One of the most important things in any business is customer loyalty and repeat business. Perhaps your hotel delivered an unforgettable experience, but touchpoints after the guests’ stay make sure your number is at their fingertips when they are ready to come back.
5. Use Satisfaction Surveys to Gather Reviews and Improve Service
Social proof, or reviews from satisfied clients, reassure today’s travelers. Customers are more likely to believe a peer review than a company’s marketing, so the more enthusiastic feedback you can post, the better.
Post-stay surveys invite favorable reviews and can help improve service. Ask detailed questions to inspire customers to give feedback about specific areas of service. Customer satisfaction includes how they see a business respond to complaints. Even negative feedback is an opportunity and can be transformed into a positive touchpoint if addressed properly.
6. Maximize the Potential of Social Media
Eighty-seven percent of e-commerce shoppers believe social media helps them decide what to buy. Seventy-four percent of all travelers and 97% of millennials use social media while traveling.
When hotels use social media, it helps put your brand in front of guests on the social channels where they are already browsing and spending time. Things a hotel might post on social media include:
- Upcoming events
- Photos from recent events
- Latest specials & offers
- New amenities
- Social proof and testimonials
- Travel tips and resources
- User-generated content
Social media can enhance your brand’s personality and make guests feel like a part of your community. Like satisfaction surveys, social media gives you direct access to learning what customers think. Positive feedback on social media can add to your social proof. Negative feedback can be an opportunity to build trust by responding in a professional, timely, and meaningful way.
Engage Guests and Build Loyalty
To establish and maintain customer loyalty, hotels need to exceed expectations.
Communication touchpoints before, during, and after the visit prolong the customer’s journey with your brand. They enhance the guest’s stay by offering the right resources at the right moment.
When you personalize the guest experience, you strengthen the trust and level of comfort between your brand and customers. A greater level of service for guests at each stage of their journey increases customer loyalty and brings in repeat business.
Contact us to learn how we can work together to craft a hotel marketing strategy for your brand that will build brand loyalty and create memorable experiences for your guests.
