5 ways to personalise the guest experience and increase revenue

Delivering personalised experiences not only helps hotels meet the needs of modern travellers but creates an environment where guests feel welcomed and well looked after, to the point that they are likely to spend more. 95% of customers bought items they did not intend to buy due to a personalized recommendation from the brand they were doing business with.

Hotels have the chance to wow guests during their stay with excellent personalised service delivered through technology and staff. We have compiled a list of five ways hotels can increase revenue through personalisation.

1. Make your guests feel special

What better way to set the tone for a great stay than by a personalised welcome email or text when guests arrive? Since guests can more and more often use the hotel app to check-in online and use a digital key to access their room, make them feel welcome even if you haven't seen them in person.

Use personalised welcome messages such as “Welcome back!” if the guest has stayed before. It’s also an excellent opportunity to present special offers, new features, hotel services or to highlight events.

2. The little unexpected touches go a long way

Wow guests with personalised efforts like a handwritten note, a fairy cake with their names on, or little gifts if they have chosen to celebrate a special birthday or anniversary with a stay in your hotel. Tailor these to each guest, it may be as simple as linking to activities they’ve booked or they might want to book to celebrate the special occasion.

Making guests feel valued will encourage them to do more with you - social media will be their first stop to share their experience with friends and family.

3. Look after them when they need you

Make guests feel well looked after by providing answers to their questions 24/7. Chatbots are a great way to answer questions that arise outside of business hours. And since customer service representatives spend nearly 90% of their time answering the same questions, they can free up staff to concentrate on more complex or personal tasks (source). Also using guest-messaging  and ordering services means that any staff can answer questions at any time and guests can order room service using their own phone.

4. Share your knowledge and tips to add that ‘personal touch’ guests want

Are they visiting the city or area of your property for the first time? Use your mobile app to provide guests with local information updates that match their preferences.

You could consider following Hilton’s example of including local staff’s insider tips, or leverage the power of social media, linking to things like Facebook’s City Guides, which include a list of ‘Places the Locals go’ as well as friends’ recommendations.

Use push and geo-fenced notifications to remind guests of your spa facilities or other activities happening in your hotel and around the local area. Is there a bid event happening downtown? Or a local producer’s food market in the area? Let your guests know!

5. Encourage guests to share their experience on social media

Get your social media working for you and encourage your guests to share their experience. Simply send them a push notification asking them to share a #moment from their stay.

Lead them direct to one of your social media platforms and get them tagging themselves in your feed. Integrate guests experiences into your social media story. Share guests' photos, comments and stories on your own feeds, comment on their shares and engage in conversations. Hashtags and tagging will help spread the word of your hotel to their network.

How Criton can help you

Criton is an award-winning technology provider which enables hotels and serviced apartment operators to take the guest experience to the next level with a sophisticated mobile app. Criton helps hotels to streamline the entire guest journey and maximise in-stay revenue. Get in touch today to find out how we can help your business.