While attracting new guests is undoubtedly very important for any hotel business, most good hoteliers have realised that it’s actually better to invest in customer satisfaction and have their loyal guests coming back every year. Today it’s extremely easy to read a review on any establishment and get a glimpse of how they’re treating their guests, so it’s absolutely vital for hoteliers to fulfill their guests’ expectations, or even better – exceed them. This kind of customer service will boost a hotel’s reputation and ensure that the new guests opt to stay in it as well.
In this article, we’ll cover some of the best measures hotel management can make in order to keep their guest loyalty high.
Avoid over-promising and deliver more
Ask yourself who’s your hotel for. This is extremely important since most hoteliers out there focus on advertising their 3-star hotels as luxurious. While this method might net you some new guests right now, you can forget about them coming back to you after their first stay. Why? Since you haven’t met their expectations. Instead of over-promising, you should instead focus on what your hotel is good at. If you’re a budget hotel in the downtown area you’ll have a great shot at attracting young people.
Take a look at this hostel that’s been advertising itself as the worst hostel in Amsterdam. When I actually stayed there I was surprised how cool everything was. The rooms were clean, the staff was great, even the food was good.
The point is – try to surprise your guests, give them more than they expected from you, and you’ll stand a better shot for them to stay at your hotel again.
Empower your employees
In hotel business, there will always be guests who have special demands or weird complaints. The problem is that most of these problems cannot be solved by the front desk, which leads to an unpleasant situation where your staff can’t help your guests without calling on a general manager. It can be difficult to meet some of these demands, but if you go through the trouble of training your employees to make decisions on their own – you’ll have a much easier time managing your guests’ expectations. Your staff should be able to handle any issues that occur during a guest’s stay at your premises, so try to teach them to make immediate decisions and take action.
Recognize loyal guests
The guests that keep coming back to you, again and again, should always be your top priority. They are clearly coming back because you’re doing something right, but if you go on and recognize (and reward) their loyalty – you’ll get them even more attached to your brand. While the simplest way to reward this kind of loyalty is to offer various discounts, recognizing your guests and making them feel like they’re at home is even more important. Make your loyal guests feel like they’re special and you won’t ever be wrong. This is why it’s also important to have your staff at the front desk remember every single of your loyal guests by name and to let them know that it’s good to have them back.
Learn more about your guests
One of the best ways to actually know what to do in terms of your establishment is to learn more about your guests. Whether it’s through reviews on your website or having a conversation with them before they check out – the more you learn about their experiences at your premises the better insight you’ll have into their expectations. That’s why it’s a good idea to encourage guests to post video testimonials on your website, and you can offer something in return. If you manage to pinpoint what kind of treatment your most valued guests expect, you’ll have an easier time preparing for them in order to exceed their expectations.
Keep your interior clean
This seems like an obvious way but you’d be surprised on how many hoteliers out there manage to neglect the hygiene. Sure, most of the rooms are always clean, but having your lobby area, hallways, stairways, and restaurant clean should be on the top of your priorities. From the moment your guest enter the hotel, they’re observing its overall cleanliness and it can heavily affect their decision to come back or not. Clutter, too, can ruin the perfect picture of your hotel, so make sure to drop any unnecessary stuff inside a supereasy storagefor safekeeping. Training your staff to take action whenever they notice something that needs to be clean is essential here, as the time spent waiting for the cleaner can ruin your chances with some guests.
Stay in touch with your guests
After their stay at your hotel, your guests could get an email from you asking how their overall stay was and if they had any issues during their stay. From that point on, you should send targeted emails to your guests, depending on their choices while they were your guests. Communicating with your guests is one of the best ways to ensure that they don’t forget about your brand. This isn’t to say that you should spam them with promo offers every day, that can have a completely opposite effect, but sending meaningful, high-quality content is going to help your efforts. Ask your guests if they’d follow you on social media, as that’s one of the best ways to stay in touch with them at this moment.
Bottom line
Running a hotel business can be extremely beneficial if you have a knack for it. The most important thing is to be flexible around house policies and to adapt if a situation requires. For example, if someone’s clearly in a hurry to checkout – it can be extremely frustrating if your staff decides to ask them to fill out a survey. Or if someone wants their eggs without bacon because they’re vegetarians. There are just so many situations where your staff needs to be flexible, so focusing on training them in managing guests can go a long way to help you. The tips we’ve highlighted in this article will put you in a better position to retain your guests’ loyalty and have them coming back to your establishment.
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