Best Hotel Guest Engagement Ideas and Strategies For You To Stand Out
The hospitality sector is a big competition after COVID restrictions were eased. As more people travel to cities, it has been more crucial for businesses like yours to implement hotel guest engagement ideas.
All your competitors will be improving their operational approaches to surpass your profit rates. And if you are not ready to evolve or change your practices, you might just be left out in the crowd.
So, it is time you invest in improving your guest engagement strategies by making small or big changes to your hospitality business. This article elaborates on a few practical strategies and ideas that will help you in the quest to enhance your customer engagement aspects.
6 Best Strategies For You To Improve Hotel Guest Engagement
To get more attention from your target audience, here are a few of the practical ideas that will improve your customer’s engagement rate towards your hotel than your competitors:
Social Media is the Key
You have got your brand’s social media handles for a reason, and it is time you leverage their maximum potential. Let your social media followers know what it is like to book their stay in your luxury rooms and enjoy your amenities.
Share pictures, reviews, and videos of your property to make an impression. Maintain a schedule of your posts to build consistency on social media platforms. If your hotel hosts special events on specific celebration dates, highlight them as well.
Invite people to participate in those events with discounted rates on booking select rooms. Even if your potential guests aren’t booking with you, let them still enjoy the events through your videos. If that interests them, they will surely get in touch with you in the longer run.
Hence, this is how you will slowly and gradually improve your guest engagement rate!
Request Your Customers For Reviews
It is one of the most crucial hotel guest engagement ideas to scale your business. All potential customers rely on verified and genuine reviews of your past guests to judge whether your hotel is worthy of booking a stay or not.
So, when your guests are finally leaving your hotel after a good stay, ask them to leave a review on your dedicated online listings or your website. Make sure you find a creative way of asking your customers for review. Requesting them straight on the face might seem unprofessional.
Therefore, you can improve the guest experience by stapling a ‘Thank You’ card with the final check-out papers, with a humble request for leaving a review and an incentive discount for their next visit. Let your guests keep in mind that you appreciate their support in pursuing your business growth, which is enough to build a rapport between guests and your hospitality business.
Add Attractive Content To Your Website
Apart from the Online Travel Agencies (OTAs), you should emphasize promoting more direct bookings. And for that, you must have a website with attractive content to make it irresistible for your potential guests to book their stay with you.
You need a proper content management approach to decide what goes into your website and what needs a change. Useful content on services and amenities, portraying their usefulness for the customers, will not just boost the hotel guest engagement factor but will also improve your brand reputation.
It is high time you don’t entertain clickbait content strategies for your hotel marketing or engagement needs. Be genuine and creative with every line on your website or social media pages. It is one of the most preferred hotel guest engagement ideas to help your business thrive in the long run.
Respond To Social Media Inquiries
Today, most of your potential guests are active on social media. It is crucial for your team to address all of those inquiries without fail. Whether a service inquiry or a customer complaint, your team should be responsive enough to provide them with responses and solutions.
Even though there is a complaint on your social media page, timely solutions will help you create a good impression. Customers trust brands that help them even after the service tenure is over. It is a very critical make-or-break factor for the hospitality industry.
If you discover any of your service aspects being inappropriate for your customers, then consider changing them. You don’t want a negative word of mouth being spread about your hotel business. You can convey through social media that the root problem has been eradicated.
An optimal social media support will let people know that you treat your guests well. Hence, this will lead them to engage with your brand with a positive approach in mind.
Influencer Marketing Can Be Impactful
You don’t have to hire any celebrity to promote your services, as bloggers or association leaders with a good influence on their large count of followers can do the job. Search through the social media platforms and find the individuals with good command of their followers.
If you think they can influence the thinking of your target audience and make them aware of your business, then discuss the deal with them. Launch a discount coupon by the name of your influencers and ask them to tell their followers to use it on your website for a good discount. This way, more people will engage with your brand and might help you with more sales.
Promote Destination Before Promoting Your Services
A fresh and impactful hotel guest engagement idea is to promote the destination before promoting your rooms and services. It means you should first convince your guests to make plans to visit the destinations where you are operating your hotel business, before pitching them your rooms.
If they don’t even book their tickets to your operating destinations, how are you expecting them to book their stay with you? Therefore, showcase the beauty of your residing destination, and tell them why it is a popular tourist spot. Following that, pitch your business ad in a way that doesn’t sound too salesy but makes them feel connected to your presentation.
You can pitch by telling your customers that they can enhance the experience of their visit to the destination by booking their stay with your hotel. Market the services and amenities that you are about to offer them with their booking of select rooms. Such an approach will evidently increase the guest engagement factors.
Parting Words
The hospitality industry is a competitive space for new and existing businesses to thrive. Therefore, it becomes very important for you to always fight your way out of the crowd. Increase your brand visibility and engagement factors to make sure that people get to see you every time they look for an affordable, luxury, or moderate hotel around your operating city.
Follow all of the above hotel guest engagement ideas to evolve your existing practices to draw the attention of potential guests. To enhance the outcomes, make sure you use Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software to offer personalized and convenient experiences. It will help you increase the chances of getting repeat business from your existing customers.
This article was originally published on partner sites.