Travel is probably as old as the hills, and we have been venturing far and into the night since the dawn of civilisation. Hospitality has been an essential human act of goodwill from the beginning, where people opened their homes to travelling strangers looking for rest and recuperation. The eventual rise of the hospitality industry was an inevitable tangent, that has been growing robustly in an ever-evolving manner, adjusting to the changing needs of travel and the traveller.
Today, there is a plethora of options to choose from – from budget-friendly motels to backpackers' lodges, luxurious 5-star hotels to handcrafted boutique hotels. With so many alternatives available, what sets one hotel apart from another? Other than the cost and cleanliness, what factors influence a traveller's choice? The answer is personalization.
What was once considered a luxury has now become a necessity. The customer is looking out for a personalized experience that is consciously curated to their taste. The market has grown more competitive and businesses that aren’t living up to the expectations are losing out. New-age hotels that are agile and creative in their approach are adapting quickly to these demands, and here’s how they are doing it: by knowing the customers better than they know themselves.
Technology as a tool for personalization
The word personalization has become a buzzword but defining what it really means is a challenge in itself. While the hospitality industry has always recognized the importance of customer satisfaction and strived towards it, this buzzword has set new standards. The industry caters to a wide variety of customers and to be able to live up to everyone’s expectations seems rather impossible. But with the evolving needs of the customer, the industry has also evolved to tackle the situation. With the help of technology, it lets customers themselves help with the daunting task.
The guest experience can be split into three stages – Search, Book & Stay. While traversing through these, the new-age customer invests time and effort in searching, filling up forms and selectively choosing his preferences. All of this allows the customer to not only make an informed decision but also helps hotels make informed decisions on behalf of the guests.
Seamlessness – From Booking to Staying
For a customer’s journey through each stage to be a seamless experience, the data collected during the search and booking can be interpreted by the hotel in curating the guest’s in-stay experience as per their liking. The arrival of the digital age has evolved the role of customer service where Wi-Fi connectivity has reduced direct interactions with the staff. It’s not just helping them do things differently but also do them better by creating a profile, regularly updating it with relevant information gathered at each stage and eventually understand their preferences. Similar to this, location-based technologies are helping hotels gather meaningful information about the guests – by sketching out an analytical map of the preferences of the guests in the hotel premises. All this information can be processed to make more appropriate recommendations to the guests in terms of services or offers.
Observe - Initiate Customization Opportunities
Are they spending more time in the room or the lobby? When are they the most active online? Do they prefer room service or dine out? By making intelligent use of this information, the hotel can make relevant suggestions to give their guests a rewarding experience. For example, inform a guest who is visiting with children about the various entertainment activities happening in/around the hotel or a message offering a discount on their spa and massages services to guests who have had a late night check-in. This extra personal touch leads to an improved experience, a better relationship and eventually, brand loyalty.
Stepping up the experiential game
By putting the customer in the driving seat and letting them make the choices as the hotel offers all the relevant information in one place, makes for the latest trend. That’s the key for hospitality – noticing the consumption pattern and consumer behaviour to further provide more choices to learn about their changing preferences. The secret to a great customer experience is continuous improvement and the goal is to stay relevant by giving the customers a sense of control and personalization.
From eco-friendly measures to special gym discounts, from a multi-cuisine dining experience to local city tours - tech-enabled solutions that offer what the customer wants and what the customer might be interested in is the growing trend that isn’t going away anytime soon. Be it a new technology or a new attitude about travel, hotels that are open to embracing these changes won’t lose a step in this ever-expanding travel market.