As any hotelier knows, a happy guest is often a repeat guest. Or, at the very least, one highly likely to give them a glowing review online or recommend them by word-of-mouth. However, making a guest happy goes well beyond ensuring their beds are comfy and breakfast hearty. Whether they be travelling for business or leisure, most guests like to feel genuinely valued, and this is where the importance of building good relationships with them comes in.
Email in particular is an efficient way of both building and maintaining mutually-beneficial relationships between hotel and guest. Here are just a few way to use this cheap but effective tool to build relationships with you guests.
Make your guests feel valued from the start
These days, with many people booking online, guests are more likely than not to receive a confirmation email documenting the details of an upcoming stay. As a hotelier, this is likely to be the first contact you will have with a future guest, so it’s important to make it count! The best way of doing this is to make the guest feel you understand their needs. For instance, no business traveller would appreciate receiving a pre-trip email recommending nearby family-friendly restaurants or amusement parks. Similarly, a family travelling with young children are unlikely to be won over by details of nearby business centres or the best local top-end cocktail bars. So, take the time to look at the details provided by upcoming guests and then be sure they get the right type of welcoming email. If they’ve detailed any specific requirements when making their booking, address them here rather than waiting for the day of check-in. While all of this may be quick and easy to do, it can be invaluable when it comes to making a guest feel appreciated from the start and make them genuinely look forward to an upcoming stay.
Give your emails the personal touch
Nobody likes being the recipient of a mass email sent out to hundreds, if not thousands, often from a generic address. So why annoy your guests by doing the same? Regardless of whether you’re a large corporate hotel or a chic boutique establishment, never forget the importance of the personal touch. Be sure that any email correspondence to a guest is sent from a real person, and ideally someone that guest will meet during their stay. Again, such a simple thing as allowing a guest to put a face to a name can go a long way to making them feel like a valued individual rather than one of many. If you have the time, you could take this one step further by providing guests with suggested itineraries. Perhaps a receptionist is a mother herself and knows all about the travails of travelling with young children. An emailed list of suggestions for what to see and do in the local area from her in person can be worth more than a million ‘copy and paste’ messages from the ‘Reservations Team’, while a stressed business traveller may equally appreciate an emailed heads-up on how best to get around the city directly from the manager themselves.
Think about providing regular updates during their stay
These days, almost all hotel guests will have a smartphone on them and will be regularly checking their emails, even if they’re on a romantic getaway. This means a savvy, proactive hotel has the chance to go the extra mile in providing customer service. Encourage your reception team to use email to keep in touch with guests during their stay, but only if appropriate. For instance, while a harried business traveller would hardly welcome news of that evening’s special in the restaurant pinging him during a meeting, he could value a quick email advising him of travel disruptions. Similarly, a couple enjoying a romantic break may genuinely appreciate an email informing them that they have a free glass of champagne waiting for them when they return to the hotel from their day out. Used well, and with good discretion, email can, therefore, be a good way of letting guests know that your hotel staff are looking after them and have their interests at heart, even when they’ve already parted with their credit card details.
Don’t lose touch after they checkout
Making a guest feel valued in the build-up to their stay, as well as during it, is all well and good, but a relationship will break down without ongoing effort. Unless the guest specifically requests otherwise, use email to keep in touch with them on a semi-regular basis. Of course, while the main business goal is to secure another booking in the future, simply bombarding past guests with special offers and invitations to stay again can backfire. Instead, consider sending out regular updates on goings-on at your hotel, whether this is news of a new posting on your blog or about what’s happening over the Christmas or summer periods. Well-worded emails can make a guest feel valued, make them recall happy memories of their past stay with you while not feeling that you are simply after their custom.
