#1 Not using guest data

All guests are different from each other. To be able to communicate with them and meet their expectations, first, you need to know who they are. According to SalesForce, 79% of customers are willing to share relevant information about themselves if that data is used to provide them with relevant interactions in which they are understood. 

Hotels have several sources with guest data such as the PMS, OTAs, F&B POS, among others, but they are not using them. Instead of leaving all the data sitting there, there is an urgent need to structure and use it to their advantage. 

What can they do? Not only organise and structure the data, but also combine it to create a unique guest profile for each guest. Once you have that, you can create specific campaigns for your different segments, get booking patterns to know what to offer them, have a better upselling success rate, and more.

#2 Not building a relationship with the guest

In 2022, there were around 187,000 hotels worldwide (Zippia). With so many different brands out there, it is extremely easy for customers to switch from one to the other. This means that building a relationship with the guest is more crucial than ever. 

According to Qualtrics, 80% of customers said they have changed to a different brand because of a poor experience, so the main focus a hotelier must have to stand out from the competition is providing a great experience to the guest. That is not only about having a clean and comfortable room or a big pool, it is about showing the guests they are unique and personalising the experience for each of them. 

How do you build a relationship? By communicating with them across the entire guest journey. From pre-stay to post-stay. In fact, if you connect with your guests and make them feel seen and heard, they will have a reason to come back to your hotel.

#3 Not paying attention to the whole guest journey

According to customer engagement research made by SalesForce, 88% of customers say the experience a company provides is just as necessary as its products or services. But the question is: when does their experience begin and when does it end?

The time when all that mattered was the actual stay of the guest in the hotel is long gone. Now the journey starts before they even made a booking, and is continuous and never-ending. This means that to provide an unforgettable experience, hoteliers need to plan the touchpoints with the guest from before their stay until after. 

Why? Think about what it means if a guest does not have a good experience right before booking. If you don’t answer their questions, if they don’t feel safe with the information they have regarding how their stay would look, they simply book somewhere else. 

And what about if the experience is not good during the stay? They don’t come back. 

And if you don’t follow up with them after they leave the hotel? They will potentially forget you exist.

#4 Forgetting about guest loyalty

Following the previous point, keep this in mind: acquiring new customers can be 5-30 times more expensive than returning already existing ones. 

Do you want to save money and increase the number of customers? Easy. Foster guest loyalty and increase the number of returning guests rather than focusing all their energy on getting new ones. 

Turn one-timers into happy returners who share all they like about your hotel with their friends, families, and others they talk with. Use the power of loyalty and word of mouth (WOM) to boost your results.

#5 Not thinking about how to make life easier for their staff

Hotel staff struggle with repetitive tasks taking a lot of their time and energy every day. This not only demotivates them but also makes it impossible to invest a lot of energy in other value-adding tasks. Thus, they end up being frustrated and overwhelmed with how much they have to do, and that jeopardizes them and their efficiency.

Why not use automation to take care of those tasks and leave your staff ready to work on those which really mattered to add value to your guests’ journey? 

Evaluate how your staff feels and which tasks could be facilitated, and act upon it, increasing their satisfaction. With the right tools, your staff can save up to 2 hours per day. Isn’t that a dynamic you would like to have in your team?

#6 Communicating through email only

In every 4 e-mails, customers only open 1, while 82% of text messages are read in a time span of 5 minutes. This means that using an email-only approach diminishes the chance that customers will engage when hoteliers reach out to them. 

Even within texting, some guests prefer WhatsApp, SMS or even Instagram DM. The important part is that you know that your guests are different from each other, and communicate with them through their preferred channel. 

To have more conversions, be reachable in all channels and reach them through the channel they prefer. A multi-channel approach has proven to have 8x more conversions than email only.

#7 Not investing in technology

Technology has made processes easier and more efficient in several industries, and the hospitality industry is no exception. It can be used to reach the guests in all the different stages of the guest journey, making life easier for staff and providing the digital experience guests currently wish for. 

The fear that technology will erase the personal touch is a misconception, as long as you use it well, it can make the guest experience even more personal, and help to make your staff’s life easier than ever.

Reflect and act

By acknowledging common mistakes and reflecting on whether those are relatable to your current processes, you can innovate before the negative impacts arrive. With technology at your hands, digitalising processes and establishing a relationship with guests bearing all these factors in mind will power you to achieve better results.

The benefits only come after you take action, the sooner you start, the sooner you see the results.