words Alexa Wang
Statistics show that there are hundreds of thousands of hotels worldwide, and it doesn’t really matter where your hotel is located – there are always going to be other accommodation options in the local area competing with you for the attention, interest, and money of prospective guests.
The hotel industry has been proven to be one of the most competitive of them all, which is why every hotelier has to be proactive and adaptable, ready to make changes, keep up with industry trends, and enhance their establishments regularly to keep up with that competition.
There are many ways in which you can help your hotel stay ahead of the game, from investing in the latest hotel technology like hotel property management software to making sure your marketing strategies are on point.
Ultimately, however, the guest experience is the make or break factor for many establishments. Put simply, if guests have a good time at your hotel, they’ll be far more likely to return and recommend it. If they have a bad experience, your reputation is at risk.
Improving, streamlining, and fine-tuning the guest experience should always be an absolute priority for any hotelier, and in the modern world, there are many potential ways in which you can do this. Here are just a few examples.
Apps and Technology
As stated above, modern hotel technology is better than ever, and all of the world’s most successful hotel brands have invested in this technology in recent years to improve their day-to-day operations and guest experiences too. Any hotel wanting to truly stand out ahead of the game needs to do the same.
Hotel booking engines and apps, for instance, can be a wonderful way to improve guest experiences, allowing your guests to book, alter, and pay for their reservations more easily, while touch-screen check-in devices in the lobby help to simplify and streamline the check-in and check-out process.
Speed and Convenience
If you listen to guest feedback and look at trends throughout the hotel industry, one of the most commonly recurring themes and facts is that today’s guests want everything to happen faster. They want to speed through check-in and get to their room as quickly as possible, and this is perfectly understandable.
Most people don’t like waiting around in long lines, especially if they just arrived at their hotel after a tiring flight or long journey. You can help with this by offering pre-arrival check-in and digital room keys via phone apps, reducing the need for guests to wait around in the lobby.
In-Room Amenities
Of course, one of the main ways in which the guest experience can be improved is by focusing on the amenities, features, design, and décor of the rooms themselves. After all, guests will be spending most of their time at your establishment in the room, so it needs to be a welcoming, comfortable space.
Try to offer more than the bare basics in order to give your guests a pleasant surprise when they step through the door. Amenities like coffee machines, robes, luxury bath products, and more will all help to give a hotel more allure and elegance in the eyes of new arrivals, and if your room décor is looking a little dated, consider some new designs and fresh art on the walls.
Hotel Features and Facilities
It’s not just your rooms that can benefit from a fresh lick of paint and some new features; the entire hotel building can offer all kinds of opportunities for development and evolution of the guest experience, and hoteliers should always be thinking and looking for new ways to make the most of the space they have and give guests more.
When booking a hotel, many of today’s travelers will prioritize those that offer the amenities and features they care about the most, which may include swimming pools, gyms, saunas, coffee shops and bars in the lobby, high-speed internet throughout the building, and so on.
Final Word
These days, hotel guests expect more than the absolute basics when they choose a hotel to stay at. They want to be valued and treated with care, and they crave a positive experience they can truly enjoy.
This is why the guest experience matters so much, and it’s up to every hotelier to take that into account and make the necessary changes and improvements to optimize their own experiences. Keep these tips in mind and find ways to make your hotel more attractive, exciting, and enjoyable for all.
