Small mistakes can quickly cause disappointment. We’ll look at examples of bad experiences with hotels and their causes, along with how to improve guest satisfaction in the hospitality industry.
Remember that the days of focusing on location and quality service are over.
Today, a great hospitality experience is all about how efficient and personalised your service is.
Some bad experiences are not caused by difficult situations or uncooperative guests. Neglecting to address basic issues can result in a bad guest experience.
1. Communication with guests that is not planned can lead to confusion
Most hotels do not have a guest communication strategy. They either send out too many messages, or they don’t send any at all.
Emails are sent to guests too often, inviting them upgrade their rooms or add breakfast when they may not even be using email. All messages arrive one after the other and, at times, multiple messages can be sent on the exact same day.
All of this can lead to a poor hotel experience.
A survey by Deloitte, which analysed the guest’s experience, found that Only 66% of guests were satisfied with how the hotel interacted with themShowing that there are many areas for improvement.
Your communication should be well-planned, on time, consistent, and value-driven. It means:
– Communicating with them across the entire guest journey.
– Not sending information every day
– Using different channels
The Creating of a Communication strategy with your guests Prevents guests from being frustrated by incorrect, late or missing information.
We have some ideas for you if you’re thinking of how to optimize the guest experience. great tips to help you optimise your hotel guest journey.
2. Brand reputation is damaged by irrelevance of offers
It is a prime example of a bad guest experience in a hotel. This has to do poor segmentation.
– You offer a couples massage to a business traveller.
– Send a message about tickets to a family show to a solo traveller.
– Say “It is great to see you for the very first time.” A guest who has already stayed at your hotel five time.
These situations all highlight the importance for guests to receive personalised recommendations. using your guest data to understand who they are Their preferences.
Bottom line, every message you send should be relevant for your guests. This will improve your guests’ experience and help you develop a stronger relationship with them.
Find out how a hospitality CRM can help you segment your customers. segment your guests and personalise your communication in less time.
3. Slow processes can annoy your guests
The time is crucial! It is a hassle to wait in the lobby of the hotel to sign documents or to get the key.
Waiting times and manual procedures automatically remove a part of the magic experience that you promised your guests.
You can automate processes and save time. Maybe it’s about implementing an online check-in, or using digital keys in place of physical ones.
What about service requests? It is already too much to ask that they call reception to place an order for something extra. Why not allow them to order through the website? guest app?
4. Customer effort is high and creates a negative feeling
Some real examples of what this looks like
– Guests need to fill out a massive form to get in contact with the staff
– Guests need to go to reception to ask any questions
– Reservation processes that take more than three steps
– Booking that are impossible to modify
According to Zendesk65% of consumers want to purchase from companies who offer easy and quick online transactions. This includes the hospitality industry.
Why? The customer’s effort is essential to satisfaction. The more simple, easy and clear your communication, your processes, and your products are, the happier you will make your customers and the better their experience.
You can start by analysing your processes from the most critical to the least important. Consider how you can simplify it, eliminate unnecessary steps and only keep the essential items.
Learn more about customer effort and why is being a guest in your hotel so difficult.
5. No personalisation to new guests or loyal customers
To create a positive guest experience, hotels must provide personalised guest communications. You should not treat your guests the same. They are all different.
According to Deloitte’s survey, only 65% of guests are satisfied with the way that brands remember them, their needs and preferences.
Personalisation can be seen in the communication channels that people use. Not everyone reads their emails and not everybody is interested in receiving WhatsApp messages.
Personalisation can also be seen in the way you provide instructions to travellers on how to get to your hotel via train or plane, depending on whether they arrive by train or by air.
The better the customer experience, the more personalized your communication and your service are.
6. False claims that damage reputation
When the hotel’s promises don’t match up with what they actually deliver, this is another common cause of poor guest experiences.
Unmet expectations, whether they are due to overly-inflated amenities or inaccurate room descriptions can quickly transform excitement into frustration.
Imagine booking a hotel with a gym that is advertised on the website, but finding only a stationary bicycle and some dumbbells. Imagine booking a hotel that advertises a fully-equipped gym, only to find a few dumbbells and a stationary bike.
These gaps between promises and reality are not only detrimental to the guest’s experience but also damage your reputation, resulting in fewer repeat bookings.
It’s not necessary to be exaggerative to attract attention. Transparency is better. Clare, accurate information will help guests make the right decision for their needs. It will also build long-term confidence.
Focus on the following to avoid common mistakes and improve customer satisfaction:
– Building a solid guest communication strategy
– Using a CRM to deliver personalized guest communication
– Monitoring and learning from examples of bad guest experiences in hotels
The best strategy is to focus on the entire guest journey and consider how to improve it at each stage from both an operational and guest satisfaction perspective.
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