If you work in the hotel and hospitality industry then you will know just how competitive it is. Not only is it important to win new customers but retain loyal and returning guests too. Without a base of loyal customers and an influx of new clients, your business’s long-term health and potential success is likely to be in real jeopardy. Luckily, there are some useful technologies on the market that you can leverage to ensure that the experience a customer has at your hotel is one that they will be eager to repeat.
- Offer Free Wi-Fi
Free Wi-Fi might not sound like a particularly impressive idea in 2020, but the reason it comes at the top of this list is its impact on customer experience. A recent survey shows just how important free Wi-Fi is to hotel guests, with 70% of respondents rating it as a higher priority than things like the hotel’s location, parking, or breakfast. Free Wi-Fi came second in the list of traveler’s priorities, tailing behind the hotel’s cost overall. Not only is having high-speed free Wi-Fi vital for customer experience, but it is often needed to ensure that guests book a stay with your hotel in the first place, especially if you have guests who are staying over for work.
- Use Customer Relationship Management Software
The customer experience begins way before they ever step foot on the property. Using CRM for hotels is one of the best ways to ensure that every customer’s interaction with your business is a positive experience. CRM software collects customer data to provide you with all the insights necessary to create a highly personalized service for the customer. This personalization level ensures that the customer experience is a positive one from the first interaction, but it also helps to foster customer loyalty.
- Mobile Room Keys
People use their mobiles for everything from checking their location to paying for their morning coffee, so why should entering a hotel room be any different? Many hotels are choosing to switch from the classic plastic keycard to a virtual key accessed on a smartphone app. Not only do these virtual keys improve customer experience, but they streamline check-ins and eliminate the need for staff to manage key card inventories. Mobile room keys also reduce the amount of plastic waste your hotel contributes.
- Offer Smart Services
No matter how attentive your staff are, some services can simply be run more effectively when they are automated. For example, you could use a smart parking system to improve operations and customer experience, allowing guests to book parking spaces on their mobile app before check-in, for a smooth and quick arrival. Alternatively, you could employ a smart room service system that can send notifications based on previous customer interactions to a guest when they are in the room. Not only is this likely to improve customer experience but increase the sale of food and beverages too.
