Author: Daniel Wilson

The payment methods you offer your customers has a massive impact on your online conversion rates. Offer the wrong payment methods in the wrong way and your visitors will leave your site and book a room through a comparison site or (worse) with one of your competitors.

In this blog, I’ll look at three areas of your online checkout system that you can tweak right now to improve your conversion rate.

Tweak 1: Payment Options

Once upon a time, the travel and tourism sector was dominated by cash. But that time is long gone and things are very different now. In today’s world, credit cards rule supreme and every hotel is (or really should be) set up to accept plastic payment at its reception, online and over the phone.

However, the payment landscape is changing. Alongside card payments, there’s a new rapidly growing group of payment options called ‘alternative payment methods’. This is basically anything that doesn’t involve a credit or debit card.

Right now, Worldpay estimates that there are over 200 alternative payment methods, ranging from prepaid cards and digital wallets to digital currencies and mobile payments.

With so many payment options out there, it’s essential that you offer the payment methods your target demographic wants to use. If someone finds that they can’t use their preferred payment option, they will go elsewhere.

Before deciding on a range of payment options, I recommend you talk to your customers and asking how they wish to pay. Then make sure you support those payment options during your checkout process.

Tweak 2: Site Security

With data breaches in the news almost every week, consumers are getting more concerned with their online security, especially if they’re handing over personal or financial details. In the past year, Coca-Cola, Macy’s, Delta, Whole Foods and Arby’s have all experienced some level of security breach.

When I’m talking about SME site security in relation to conversion rates, I’m really talking about two different things: security and the communication of security.

First, you’ve got to make sure that your site is actually secure. This is quite a technical point and is too complicated to go into here. As a starting point, I recommend you read through the PCI Security Standards Council’s website. The PCI SSC was founded by American Express, Discover, JCB International, MasterCard and Visa, and works to make payment security stronger and better understood.

Don’t worry, though, it’s not all jargon and has some really good advice for tightening up security on your website.

Second, now that your website is actually secure, you’ve got to communicate that to your site visitors.

One of the most effective ways to do this is by using trust badges. A trust badge is a little virtual badge issued by security companies and payment companies to indicate that your site meets a minimum level of security.

Some of the most popular ones include:

• PayPal Verified
• McAfee Secure
• TRUSTe Certified Privacy
• Norton Secured

Work these badges into your site — for example, in the footer — and highlight them during your checkout process. The idea is that a potential customer will see the badge next to the payment section and feel confident enough to enter their payment data thereby increasing conversions.

Tweak 3: Payment Gateways

A payment gateway is the bit of tech that allows your website to actually process credit and debit card payments.

Technically, there are two types of payment gateway.

• Shared/Direct gateway: A shared or direct gateway is one that you can integrate into the checkout process on your site.
• Hosted gateway: Hosted gateways are hosted by the company that provides the payment gateway. In order to process a payment, your website has to redirect a user away from your website to the provider’s site, have them enter their payment information and then redirect them back to your site for confirmation.

Hosted gateways are generally considered more secure as you send your customer to the actual provider’s website to enter their payment information and the provider tends to have crazy advanced security.

Unfortunately, sending customers to a separate website isn’t great for conversions.

Imagine you did the same thing in real life. A customer came up to your reception and asked to check in. However, in order to pay, you asked them to walk down the street to the bank and pay there. They’d probably walk out, wouldn’t they?

While shared gateways mean you shoulder a bunch of security concerns, they are great for conversions as your customer can complete the full transaction on one site.

Before deciding on a service, it’s important to compare payment gateway options to see what the market has on offer.

A hotel concierge app is a software product which serves as a personal assistant app in hospitality industries. To know more details please contact us in comment section.

Today, Google is one of the leading hotel search providers. It seems like they’re bringing out new tools to help searchers find their perfect hotel all the time. The challenge for hotel marketers is understanding the tools available and knowing how to use them more effectively than the competition.

Google Ads has three PPC features that are particularly powerful for hotel marketing. If you aren’t using these already, reconsider. If you are already, here are a few tips to level up your PPC game and get better return on your paid ads.

1. Native Gmail Ads

Native Gmail Ads are ads that appear in your Gmail inbox. This is a powerful tool because, according to research, 66% of consumers check their email multiple times per day. This gives you plenty of opportunity to put your ads in front of your audience.

There are 900 million Gmail addresses out there, so native Gmail ads have the potential to give you huge reach. They are also expandable, giving you much more space to show off your hotel than other forms of PPC advertising. The expanded ad comes with a variety of template options, as well as custom HTML formats, which allow you to create a variety of unique ads.

Most of your usual display targeting options are available to Gmail ads, such as keywords, demographics and affinity audiences, so you’ll be at home when it comes to building your campaigns. Plus, as Gmail ads have become more refined, the targeting is getting much more sophisticated, allowing you to maximize your click through rate.

The best thing about Native Gmail Ads is that you already have lots of data to draw on to create successful ads: your emails. You can use everything you’ve learned from your email marketing campaigns to achieve a good open rate and apply that thinking to your Gmail ads. This gives your ads a much faster and higher return on investment.

Top Tip: Use Emojis!
They boost email open rates by around 30% and can do the same for Gmail ad CTR!

2. Ad Variations

Which call to action is better: “Book Now” or “Book Today?” Ad variations can help you find out. Using this Google Ads tool, you’re able to review the performance of different versions of your ads and apply the successes across your account. Ad variations save you time and boost efficiency by allowing you to make changes quickly.

Your CTA is one of the most important aspects of your ad creative. Ad variations allows you to experiment with the position and the copy of your CTA. You’ll soon be able to discover whether your call to action is better positioned in Headline 1 or your Description.

You can also make variations to your hotel features to see which gets the best results. For example, you may find that “5 Star Service” works better than “Inclusive Mini Bar” in your ads.

Ad variations are best used when you want to test one change across multiple campaigns or your entire account, while campaign drafts and experiments are best to test multiple simultaneous changes on a smaller scale.

Top Tip: Use Filters!
Ad Variations gives you lots of ways to filter your changes, giving you total control.

3. Campaign Experiments

If you want to make lots of changes across your campaigns, you should be using Campaign Experiments. This Google Ads tool allows you to test new ideas without overhauling, and potentially ruining, your active campaigns.

Campaign Experiments essentially allow you to split test your ads. This tool allows you to get real life data points that you can use to adjust your hotel advertising. No need to speculate, simply test!

When your experiment is live, potential customers have a chance of seeing your experimental ad, rather than your normal one. The chances of this occurring will depend on how you split the traffic share. Once you have statistically significant data to draw on, Google will send you an alert, so you know that the data you use to assess your experiment is valuable.

You can adjust the impression split and the end date of the experiment, so you have complete control over your experimental campaigns.

The biggest benefit of using Campaign Experiments is that it allows you to test with less risk. This is especially important if you’re experimenting with successful campaigns. But with Campaign Experiments, you can share a portion of your already-established budget to test the new direction and potentially make your campaigns even more successful.

Once you’ve finished your experiments, don’t forget to keep a record of what you tested. Keep records in your AdWords account or collect them in a spreadsheet to refer back to when creating and testing future ad campaigns.

Top Tip: Test Your Bids!
Experiments allow you to play with how aggressively you’re bidding. So don’t forget to test this too.

These three Google Ads features are a vital part of the complex paid search mix. The hospitality and tourism industries are competitive, yet varied spaces, challenging for even seasoned marketers. But Google has tools to help you get the results you need. Just remember: practice makes perfect and keep on testing!

If you want to know more details about concierge service app then, please contact us and get the answers of your questions.

Sure, I’ve been purposely provocative with the headline of this piece – but through many years of designing and developing people-centered, digitally-led experiences – I believe there is a fundamental need that hoteliers are overlooking when designing and implementing customer experiences that they should start to consider, investigate and improve.

To provide some context maybe I should call the article – stop trying to improve your customer experiences and focus on improving your human experiences.

You may well be thinking – human experiences? That sounds like another catchphrase created by the digital and specifically the digital marketing sector. Well although I am sure that will eventually be the case – where you will receive email or LinkedIn invitations for Human Experience Consultants and experts – the need for experiences to be designed, developed and delivered with the human (rather than a customer) at the core is not only gaining traction, but is the only route for service facing businesses.

• Let’s start by thinking about the number of touchpoints that may make up a customer’s engagement journey with you online and offline – OTA’s, social, your website, brochure, telephone, face to face.
• Then let’s look at the types of technology that they are using or exposed to smartphones, browsers, desktops, tablets, AR, VR, AI, Automated marketing, bots, blockchain, smart speakers……make it stop…. !!!
• No stopping now…. let’s think about the marketing angles, the adverts, pop-ups, social media ‘content’, PPC, SEO, radio, Sky TV, terrestrial…..
• Let’s target them, set up some attribution, track them, segment, force them to sign-up – it makes it sound like we are going to war with customers rather than trying to get them to enjoy a stay with us…

What a complete, desperate, unintelligible mess

And all focused on the customer, their engagement, their journey (well the journey we want them to take)… not at any stage focused on the human at the centre…

I take a different view.

One of the great unsaid truths of understanding customer behaviour is that you can’t really know what people are going to do – certainly not over the lifetime of any relationship you may have with them.

Humans are inherently contradictory, confusing, emotional and disinterested. Sure, we know that making a call to action orange may get more clicks, that by writing FREE results in increased ROI and that providing seven day trials to a SaaS (Software as a Service) product will increase sign-ups.

But over a number of years, when their life changes, when they get fed up with certain services, ask you to delete their data or when they turn off more and more of the wonderful cookies and tracking tools that you put on your site and into their browser – how are you going to build a valuable relationship with them?

You can begin to form a strategy by starting with the people at the centre of the relationship. Not your user. Not your customer. The human.

And by focusing on three iterative needs in any relationship that involves a human.

Attention. Respect. Trust.

Not hard really.

We hear a lot of people discuss that the most valuable commodity today – greater than gold, saffron and yes even Bitcoin…) is a customer’s attention. Their attention is being fought over by advertisers, newspapers, start-ups, corporates, content providers (i.e. everyone) all for the magic click, like, share and purchase.

The problem is very, very few businesses actually truly focus their own attention to their customers and their needs from a relationship. They rely on Google Analytics and surveys, TripAdvisor reviews and complaints rather than listening, conversing and observing.

It’s a completely disrespectful way of treating anyone – treating those that pay your wages, that keep you in business and will tell the truth about you and your business in that way? Are you nuts? You don’t need a multi-channel approach, an influencer plan, a UX team, a marketing strategy if at your business core – you have no respect for customers – you need to respect them, understand their individuality and their human behaviour – and yes, their contradictions.

Once, you have paid attention to your customers and treated them with respect in their interactions with you – you build true memorable and fulfilling experiences. From fulfilling experiences, trust is built. The golden goal, the holy grail – a customer that trusts you, a customer that comes to you, one that will pay more attention to you than your competition and one that respects your services, products and opinion (your content marketing strategy may then even work).

It comes from the heart, from your empathetic centre as a human – not as a hotelier or a digital marketer. It comes from truly paying attention to people, to their needs, giving them your respect and ultimately gaining their trust. It makes technology irrelevant and enables you to free yourself up from monitoring and focus on delivering a service.

Sure, there is more to developing people centred human experiences than I can outline in a brief article – and we’ve a Medium Journal where you can find out more about our thinking and our successes.

Businesses that deliver the best experiences are truly human centred, they pay attention, they respect their customers and they gain their trust. Ultimately, the future of business growth, customer loyalty and success within the hospitality sector may be digitally enabled, but its human-led.

A online concierge app is a software that plays important role in the hospitality industries. To know more details contact us in comment section and get your answers.

Imagine walking into a fresh hotel room after a long flight; dropping your luggage, collapsing onto the bed before noticing your favourite magazine resting on the table out of the corner of your eye. Seated next to it is a welcome letter addressed to yourself and an iPad tailored toward local services (yes, food delivery!). On the wall, there’s a television with Netflix open and beneath it a selection of complimentary snacks.

Personalization fuels hotel stays in the modern era, and the experience is forever vital. The best hotels go beyond expectations in order to make the best of a guest’s visit. The little, unexpected things boost the overall experience; adding a unique element and helping to build a relationship with guests. In spite of the above, statistics show that hotels have consistently performed poorly in creating an emotional bond with their clients. MBLM conducted research regarding brand intimacy within the hospitality industry and found hotels are failing to build brand intimacy with their customers.

Why is this happening when the tools are readily available? In the era of abundance, hotels providing efficient customer service, competitive prices and luxurious amenities simply isn’t enough anymore. We want more. And we expect more: the newest technology, personal service and amenities customized to our preferences.

Customization is the key to building an emotional bond with the most demanding clients

Let’s face it. We, the clients of the hospitality industry, are exceptionally demanding. We have high expectations and if the hotel doesn’t go beyond them, we often feel disappointed. We don’t expect to encounter bad service, dirty rooms, poor breakfast or bed bugs in hotels. And if we do, it has a wide impact on our emotional bond with the hotel in question. Negative feelings like disappointment, anxiety, stress or fear aren’t exactly the emotions we expect to encounter during our stay, but they are the ones that remain most prevalent, especially when it comes to where we sleep.

For small hotels, it’s easier to create these unforgettable moments that make the emotional bond stronger. For instance, writing a personalized letter to 30 guests is a smaller task than writing it for 300. Tracking (and fulfilling!) 30 guests’ preferences is possible but 300 would need an entire team to work on it full time.

Let the technology help you

According to Deloitte’s travel and hospitality industry outlook, new technologies such as AI, machine learning and IoT have the potential to create personalized moments that matter and bring joy to a travel experience. Completely automated solutions like an intelligent thermostat, autonomous bed bug prevention system, or smart door lock all have an impact on the guest experience. Guests will remember those features that made their stay unique and carry those memories with them.

IoT solutions autonomously improve guest experience through streamlining resources, the most important of which is time. Human interaction is critical when building emotional bonds: so why wouldn’t you let your staff concentrate in serving customers? Trivial tasks such as manually fixing room temperature or inspecting bugs take a lot of time. There are many amenities that can be automated to make guests’ stay more pleasant and unique whilst positively impacting the hotels daily duties.

Ultimately, hotels can create moments beyond expectation that travelers will remember and share. When hotels succeed in creating these unforgettable yet simple moments people will spread the word. Sharing the perfect gluten-free breakfast on Instagram is more likely when it’s made specifically for you.

Personalization drives positivity. And that’s what we want when we pay to make a hotel room our home for a couple of days. The data is here to be used. A developed understanding of customer types allows for a tailored customer experience to be successfully implemented with little if any pitfalls. No hotel can please every guest, but a hotel can please the majority through customization, and so comes the strong emotional bond.

If you are in search of best hotel mobile app, then please contact us in comment section and get answers of your questions.

In today’s digital era it’s paramount to take advantage of technologies out there, there are endless opportunities to use it to improve your customers’ experience, which will help make you stand out amongst the rest. So, what are the technologies you can utilise to make your hotel a better experience from start to end, and even after they are gone?

Simple, we have compiled 5 (simple and advanced) ways technology can make your hotel better for your guests.

With each guest being unique, with certain preferences, behaviours etc. being able to cater to their exact likes, personalising their experience and going above the high expectations of customers, will take your hotel to the next level.

1. Provide Mobile Check-ins

Mobile check-in integration is a great example of technology that can improve guest experience for your guests during their stay at your hotel. The last thing your guests want to do after travelling miles to your hotel (sometimes for hours) is to then stand in a queue, with their bags, waiting to check-in at reception.

Even if there is not a queue at your hotel, some people will have a preference for less interaction in their weekend away and may prefer to check in online. Others who like to be personally met face to face by a receptionist still can be. The point here is that you are giving people the option to choose based on their preferences.

Statistics from Statista show that 51% of 18-24 year-olds would prefer to choose a hotel with check-in facilities via smartphone.

Having a mobile check-in option means that guests can check-in before arriving at your hotel, making the whole process more convenient and less time consuming for your guests. Moreover, this will still improve the check-in process for guests that prefer to check-in on arrival at your hotel as they will consequently have shorter queues.

Result = speed, efficiency and the freedom of choice

2. Bluetooth Beacons

A Bluetooth beacon is a device that can benefit both your guests and your hotel. A beacon is a Bluetooth-enabled device that can exchange data to nearby portable electronic devices. The device enables smartphones, tablets and other devices to perform actions when near it.

This makes tracking guest preferences easier for you and beneficial for your guests, as you can place multiple devices around your hotel for specific facilities. For example, you could place beacons in your lobby, spa, gym, restaurant & bar so that when a guest visits those areas, a specific offer alerts their device such as ‘10% off spa treatments during your stay’.

Your guests would need to initially connect with the Bluetooth device, usually through an online app (in which they can check in online also) so that the beacons can pick up their device when near.

Result = understand your customers better, engage them with timely offers

3. Online Experience

Gift Pro is a great example of a technology that can be used to not only improve the online experience when people choose to visit your website but in parallel increase revenue to the hotel. GiftPro is a great online tool in the market, it’s customisable and a really user-friendly way for hotels to manage and sell gift vouchers.

This technology makes the experience for your visitors seamless, efficient and enjoyable.

Some hotels still think the customer experience starts when they enter the building, this is no longer the case in the digital world we live in. The experience starts the moment they find you online, from when they engage with your website and even after they leave when they decide to purchase a gift online for a friend.

The customer experience exists outside the realms of the hotel itself, the digital experience is just as important as the rest.

Result = heighten the customer experience online, not just offline

4. Loyalty Programmes & Memberships

Loyalty programmes and memberships are great for increasing customer loyalty, as suggested by its name.

These schemes are already widely used, however, the majority of the people don’t actively engage with them as they aren’t timely, relevant or executed well.

Imagine that a family visits the hotel. The hotel has partnerships in place with local salons, activity centres and local businesses, which only heightens the customers’ experience during their stay. The family receives an email or Rich SMS on arrival at the hotel as part of the loyalty programme, which gives them ideas of the top 10 places to visit in the local area. Along with this is a digital coupon 20% for all the activities mentioned in the list and a coupon for kids go free.

Loyalty programmes and memberships integrated online can help your hotel find out your guests’ preferences, meaning that personalised rewards can be created. Rewards based on your preferences are far more likely to be used than an average discount. In return, guests will have a far more positive guest experience and will likely engage more with your loyalty programmes and memberships.

Result = engage your guests with personalised ideas that they will thank you for

5. Internet of Things

The Internet of Things (IoT) is a network of physical devices that allows the user to control any powered devices (that are connected to it) e.g. light bulbs, thermostats, heaters.

This technology is usually used for hotel staff in order to cut down on costs and become more environmentally friendly, e.g. this technology can let you know if a guest has left lights on or left the mini bar open etc.

This technology can also be useful for guests staying at your hotel. A great example is guests being able to control the temperature using the IoT technology; if it’s a cold night and they’re out all day, they can increase the temperature of their room from their device before they arrive, ensuring that the room has already warmed up before their arrival.

Result = add an unexpected touch to customers high expectations

Personalise Your Guests’ Experience

We hope this article has given you insight into the ways that technology can make your hotel better for your guests with personalisation and how you can adopt these ideas into your own digital marketing strategy.

If you are in search of best concierge app then please contact us and know more details about it.

A company’s success has always depended on its reputation. And when it comes to reputation, word of mouth has always been the coin of the realm. But in the digital age, word of mouth is virtual. This presents hotels and other businesses in the service industry with both a problem and a solution.

Winds of Change

The problem is that customer reviews circulate instantly and pile up in mind-boggling quantities. This makes it challenging for the brands being reviewed to get out in front of the tidal wave of mixed opinions about their services.

But the very same tools that make it easy for customers to get the word out about your brand make it possible for you to shape the conversation in ways that boost your visibility and value.

Here are some quick and dirty tips for taking the bull by the horns.

Reputation Matters

Virtually all industries these days are impacted by web chatter, and therefore need to take steps to manage their reputation. This is especially true of the hospitality industry.

Hospitality customers make their views about brands and properties known across a wide range of review sites like Yelp and TripAdvisor, search engines, and social channels.  

TripAdvisor reports that more than 9 in 10 hotel customers use online reviews in making their selection, and over half of those they surveyed would not stay in a hotel for which there are no online user reviews. Crucially, TripAdvisor also finds that travelers rank reviews second only to price in the list of factors that affect their decision about where to stay.

As for social platforms, every month over 8 in 10 customers discover more new brands and services via social channels than from other sources.

And research into Google search activity shows that this activity has a measurable impact on revenue. Nearly 7 in 10 customers report that half or more of their local searches result in a visit to a business. And sales result from at least half of the searches done by most customers.

Manage Your Reputation

Given this data, there’s little doubt that online reviews can powerfully drive business success. Here are a few tips for managing the online reputation of your hotel.

Own the optics. Your business probably already has a listing on review sites like Yelp or TripAdvisor. That’s a key promotional resource you can manage to your advantage, but you’ve got to take ownership of it first.

Claim your listing and exercise more control over the narrative. Stock the page with useful information to help drive web traffic to your site and social pages.

Tighten up the image. Make sure the photos of your property that travelers are seeing are high-quality and present your facilities and services in the best possible light.

And remember that the mere fact of having any photos at all improves your chances of receiving booking inquiries by a whopping 225%.

Gather data. It pays to use management tools like the Net Promoter Score and System (NPS) to measure customer loyalty and satisfaction. A simple survey question that asks a customer to rate their satisfaction and likelihood of recommending your hotel can help you take the temperature.

Folks who give you high marks can be asked to provide a review and those who express dissatisfaction can be asked to elaborate on their concerns. Following up in this way can itself help boost trust and promote your reputation for caring about how well you’re doing.

Be responsive. Perhaps the most direct and impactful way to demonstrate that your business cares about how well it’s doing is to reach out where folks gather online and do precisely that. That means following-up and engaging around feedback shared by customers on social platforms and review sites.

Yet another TripAdvisor study shows a clear connection between responsiveness and business performance, with a business’s overall ratings improving in proportion to its rate of response to reviews and online user feedback.

Hotel reputation management is no longer a “nice to have,” but a “need to have.” Once a helpful accessory to traditional advertising, it’s now a key ingredient in any competitive hotel’s successful revenue strategy. “Power to the people” is today’s marketing mantra. Armed with some of the facts and tips we’ve reviewed here, your hotel can ally with the people you rely upon and launch a win-win campaign.

A concierge service app is a software product which serves as a personal assistant app in hospitality industries if you want to know more details please contact us.

After working with dozens of leading hotels, I’ve found that there is one thing that most successful hospitality brands have in common. They all provide a top-notch customer experience.

Even if the hotel isn’t a luxury hotel, they offer a five-star experience that guests will thoroughly enjoy and never forget.

It’s this focus on customer experience that allows successful hotels to attract new guests and build lasting relationships with former guests who will never even think about staying at a competitor’s hotel.

Customer Experience is Synonymous with Hospitality

It should be no surprise that customer experience is a defining characteristic of successful hotels. Customer experience is what the hospitality industry is all about.

As consumers, we are savvy shoppers with hundreds of choices. We look for and demand the best, especially when it comes to choosing where we will sleep, vacation, and take our families.

When looking for a vacation or business stay, I look at what that property will offer me and how comfortable I will feel staying there. Hotels need to make a memorable impression for guests to first choose that property and then come back time and time again.  

How to Make Memorable Guest Experiences

When customers walk into a top hotel and resort, they expect to find things designed to improve their experience. The property needs to be inviting and immaculate and give you that personalized service you expect at a luxury resort.

As they walk in the hotel lobby, guests need to feel a wow factor, while also feeling welcomed and comfortable. Easy check-in and a warm welcome are key.

The look and feel of the hotel must connect with guests from the moment the valet opens your car door to the reception staff smiling while offering you a bottle of water. It must continue on as you find specialty pillows and a personalized note in your room, and perhaps a phone call to see if you have everything you need. Oh, and a nice view can help! Nothing deflates the mood of having a gorgeous room faster than looking out the window to see a dirty garage roof.   

Keeping up With Changing Customer Experience Expectations

While some aspects of customer experience are timeless, customer expectations change over time. Brands need to keep up with changing customer desires and demands if they want to stay relevant in today’s highly competitive hospitality industry.  

Ten years ago, customer experience was about comfort and cleanliness. Guests were satisfied with basic and clean creature comforts.

But, these days you need to make an impression! Customers don’t want cookie-cutter cleanliness and comfort; they want character, technology, and affordability.

I believe the biggest difference is with millennials. Young adults are all about traveling the world. They want “inexpensive but cute.” I have three teenage daughters and when we look for a vacation spot, it’s all about the “pretty, homey feel.” The property needs to be edgy, but cozy.

To meet those standards, the hotel needs to be modern and fresh. It needs digital signage and accessible online information. Instead of being super lavish, the lobby should be modern with warm details like coffee and wine bars, small gathering spaces with pillows and comfy couches, and of course, complimentary WiFi.

Although hotels primarily cater to families and older generations (certainly these demographic groups are still an important focus for hotel brands with loyal followers), hotels should gather more ideas from millennials who are quickly stealing a major portion of marketers’ attention with their desire to see the world.

Social media is another key influencer in the millennial generation’s unique interest in traveling in the early stages of adulthood. Brands must have a strong social presence that exists both online and in their hotels through the use of on-site screens with social media feeds and streams of user-generated content.

In fact, digital signage throughout the property is also appealing to young adults who want to gather quick information about nearby dining hot spots, happy hours, specialty activities, and events throughout the property and city.

The Expensive Cost of Ignoring Customer Experience

Hotels that get stuck in the old way of designing customer experiences will likely get left behind.

Many hotels assume that a clean and comfortable room will do. Instead they need to think beyond the basics, get to know their customers better, and see what it will take to really wow them.

I encourage hotels that haven’t changed much in the past decade to survey their customers.

Find out what they want to see so you can improve your customer experience to better appeal to them. Would guests like late check-out? Is the view important? Do they need a wake-up call? Lately, I have even seen the higher-tier hotels offer a concert series that will take guests from the comfort of their stay to follow their favorite band wherever they play, from city to city.

In the hospitality industry, long-term customer satisfaction and loyalty is everything. It only takes one bad experience for customers to defect to competitors. So think outside-the-box to provide guests with an elevated customer experience they can’t find anywhere else.

A Brand Succeeding at Customer Experience

A brand that gets it right when it comes to customer experience is Starwood and Marriott Resorts. I am a loyal SPG rewards member, and one specific stay with them stands out in my mind.

Five years ago, I traveled with my family to Los Angeles for my niece’s wedding and we stayed at the W Hollywood. They not only treated me like royalty, but the manager also came out to greet my husband and me by name. They upgraded us to one of the largest suites I have ever seen overlooking the Hollywood sign and gorgeous mountain views. And, they offered us a discount for a second room for our daughters to stay in. We still tell friends about that experience.

It’s a perfect example of how paying extra attention to customer experience can get guests to rave about your hotel to family and friends, create memories that stick with them for years to come, and encourage visitors to return to your property again and again.

Do you want to know more details about hotel concierge app then please contact us in the comment section and get the answers of your questions.

If you run a hotel business and have noticed a decrease in customers, there are various things that you can do to improve the overall look and aesthetic of your hotel. Here are five ways to make your hotel stand out so you can attract new customers to your business.

Social Media

With millions of users logging into social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram each day, creating a business page for your hotel can be incredibly beneficial. Making your presence known on Facebook can make all the difference and bring new interest to your brand. What’s more, customers can get more of an insight into what your hotel is about, as well as leaving feedback. There will be a level of patience and consistency required on your part, as it will take time to build up a following on social media. There are a variety of tips that can help you when it comes to marketing your hotel on social media.

Refurbishing

If your hotel is looking dull and tired, it may be time for a refurb. Whether it’s minimal changes such as painting a hotel room or a complete transformation, only you will know what’s best for your hotel. The reception of a hotel is the first room that guests will see, so it’s important that you invest wisely in the look and feel of the room. You can install natural stone veneer fireplaces in your lobby to create a warm and cozy atmosphere. However, you go about it, you should have a budget in place that you can work with to avoid overspending.

Loyalty Programs

Customers want to feel valued and appreciated when becoming guests at your hotel. There are various ways that you can reward customers, such as by having a loyalty program in place. Consider using a tier program where members of your hotel can receive small rewards for joining. Not only will the incentive get them through the door, but it will also mean that they feel valued, keeping them loyal to your brand. Everyone likes a freebie, so make sure you offer promotional deals and discounts to lure new customers in.

SEO

You will want your customers to easily find your hotel when browsing online for a place to stay. Using SEO (search engine optimization) is a great way to build interest in your hotel, ensuring it appears at the top of search results. Make sure to use keywords that keep your hotel ahead of competitors, otherwise, you will find your establishment further down in the search results. Google AdWords can help you with this, helping you get in front of rivals to ensure your hotel is placed first.

Go Mobile

Customers love mobile-friendly sites and with 60 percent of mobile hotel bookings happening within 24 hours of a stay, it’s more important than ever to go mobile. Make sure that your hotel website is mobile and user-friendly so customers can easily navigate through your page when booking a stay. Various type of mobile app for hotel booking are available.

Whether you need to make your hotel’s presence known on social media, or a bit of refurbishing is on the cards, there are plenty of ways that you can inject a fresh and vibrant feel into your hotel, attracting new customers to your business.