7 Areas Hotels Should Focus to Improve Guest Experience

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The hotel industry completely revolves around guests and guest experience. Delivering a great guest experience not only increases customer satisfaction, but it also drives rate, improves rankings, fills rooms and keeps your hotel ahead of the competition.

Here are seven areas you need to focus on for improving guest satisfaction:

Booking Process: A huge part of customer satisfaction is taken care of during the booking process. Ensure that you do the following for a smooth and seamless booking process:
- Keep your booking process simple.
- Your user interface is optimized for design and customer service.
- Your Booking Engine is user friendly and mobile-optimized.

Website Experience: For your guests to have a seamless website experience, you need to ensure the following:
- Your website is integrated with your online booking tool for conversions.
- Room rates are updated and clearly displayed.
- Your website is connected to OTAs for hotels for better reach.
- he rates on the OTAs and your hotel website are the same. There should be no room for ambiguity.
- Your website is optimised for mobile.
- You include high-quality images and content to position your hotel in the best light possible.
- Don’t have too many pages on your website, and your ‘book now’ button should be the first thing a visitor sees on your homepage.

Hygiene and Wellness Amenities: You need to assure your guests that your hotel is undertaking best practices to keep the property clean and hygienic. Focus on these areas to improve hygiene levels:
- Common and shared spaces, such as a bar, restaurant, swimming pool, lobby, etc.
- Contactless check-ins, room service, room entry, etc

Hotel’s Online Reviews and Reputation: Travellers read online hotel reviews before they make a booking. With online reviews playing a huge role in the decision-making process, hotel reputation management is essential. Ensure the following:
- Address all comments, negative or positive, in a considerate and timely manner.
- Encourage guests to post about their experiences online or ask if you can share their posts and comments.
Packages and Offers: Customers won’t book a package until they see the value for money or something which will interest them in your package. Some of the things you can consider for adding value to your packages and offers are:
- Combine your services with that of another business in the area. Include tickets to zoos, concerts, tours, museums, theme parks, and restaurant vouchers to make the package more valuable.
- Get creative with the packages. Incorporate interesting content into your packages. Experiment with the names of the packages. For example, a package with the name ‘bucket list’ should have a selection of passes or discounts to the local must-see areas.
- For business travellers, focus on their convenience. Breakfast delivered to their room, free transport, and laundry services are some of the few things that could add value to the package.For business travellers, focus on their convenience. Breakfast delivered to their room, free transport, and laundry services are some of the few things that could add value to the package.

Rewards: Customer loyalty is important to any hotel’s success. Ensure that you give your guests a little extra when they stay with you. Consider the following:
- Offer complimentary services such as free shuttle to the airport, free Wi-Fi, or to local attractions.
- Remember special occasions such as birthdays and give personalised promotions and discounts.

Social Media: Engaging your customers on social media platforms is a great way to ensure a good customer experience. Consider the following:
- Encourage hotel check-ins and selfies.
- If your guests tag your hotel on social media platforms, encourage them by responding to their posts.

Conclusion:

The hotel guest experience has a direct impact on your hotel revenue as well as your hotel reputation. With streamlined processes, clean and hygienic amenities, great packages, and personalized communications, you can deliver a great guest experience.