The quickest and cheapest route to improving your hotel’s experience is not in the investment of new trendy gadgets, revamping your hotel furniture from top to bottom, or hiring more staff members.
The real key to giving your customers a pleasant stay is in making them feel at home, which you can do by personalising your customer service. And you won’t need to re-mortgage your house to make it happen either – here are just a few easy ways.
Flight delay? Upgrade your guests
Flight delays seem to be more common than ever. With thousands upon thousands of flights taking off every minute of the day, it’s not unique to find a group of guests arriving shattered, cranky, and frustrated. Why not give them a free upgrade?
The cost of upgrading someone is absolutely minimal – just a little admin work and you’ve got happy (and returning) customers as well as word of mouth aplenty. It’s a great way of marketing your business and ensuring you get some fantastic reviews on places like TripAdvisor.
Write (handwritten) welcome notes
In a world where everything is becoming more corporate, dry, and impersonal, writing your guests a handwritten welcome note gives that warm and personal touch that people appreciate. It doesn’t have to be an essay or anything particularly witty either. As long as it’s geared towards the individual guests that are staying in that room, you’ve got yourself free brownie points.
If you can, try and make the welcome note particularly special. For example, note whether your guests are staying for an anniversary or other celebration. If you notice that it’s someone’s birthday, leave a little something extra behind in the room as a surprise.
Add some local touches
When your guests arrive at your hotel, they don’t just want a carbon copy of what they can get anywhere else. Even business travellers that only spend a few hours in their rooms appreciate local touches, so the extra effort can be well worth it.
For example, you can welcome your guests with a bottle of a top local wine. Create custom tourist guides that point holidaymakers to the best local spots. The décor can have just a touch of something unique, such as paintings by a local artist. Small changes can make a great impression, even if you’re the manager of a big chain hotel.
Go the extra mile
Customers always appreciate when you do just that little bit extra just for them. If you notice your guests have kids that look a tad bored, offer to provide a console gaming system or board game the whole family can play. Did someone miss breakfast by sleeping in by accident? Make an exception and give them a bite on the house.
Even if your extra mile doesn’t cost you a single dollar, people will still appreciate the additional effort you’re giving them – and they’ll remember it. Just have your staff pay attention to your guests and it’s quite easy to provide a personalised service.
All of these ways will not lighten your wallet by much and are extremely easy to implement. And that’s just the start of how you can personalise your hotel to improve the customer’s experience. Step out of your comfort zone and try something new every once in a while – use your imagination!
About the source:
Nextrend Furniture is a hospitality furniture specialist in Australia, helping people transform their venues into a practical and creative environment.