As a hotel owner, you probably spend a lot of time trying to figure out how to make guests feel more special, more welcome, and more relaxed in your hotel. Looking at ways to improve guest services at a hotel is likely at the forefront of your mind.
So we’ve put together our super-quick guide on the 12 ways to improve guest services at your hotel.
Next level personal service
Take note of guest preferences after each interaction. Try to offer a more customised service for each new interaction.
Personalization is the key to improving a guest’s experience at your hotel. The positivity of a guest’s stay is directly proportionate to how much their staying experience is customized to their preference.
It’s a simple task…
After any casual discussions or encounters with guests, take notes of their preferences. Those notes should be available to other departments in the hotel to ensure that the entire operation is aware of the wants and needs of its guests …and what they liked.
Setting up a crib for a family with an infant, multiple towels for a guest that enjoys working out regularly, or keeping a special bottle of scotch behind the bar for a guest that enjoys it.
These are just just a few of the types of notes you can easily write down and pass around to your staff.
This is a simple, yet powerful way to not only motivate your staff – but an effective way to personalize a guest’s stay at your hotel.
Take the example of a couple who, upon arrival, had realized they had forgotten a crucial item of luggage.
A hotel staff member pulled a car around the front, asked for their keys and address, and drove for hours to fetch the bag from their house.
This is the kind of service that get’s remembered …and shared.
Complaints are clues
Complaints are good. Get to the root cause. Fixing it may fix more than one problem.
No one likes being pointed out for any unintentional mistakes.
However, if you’re a hotel that’s always looking to be better at treating your guests to an optimum experience, you must be willing to welcome and adapt to any and all critiques that your customers have regarding their stay at your hotel.
No guest comes to your hotel intent on denouncing your services, so every criticism should be viewed and analyzed objectively.
It might not seem like it at the time, but complaints are good. Complaints give you an opportunity to improve. It might be an angry complaint at the time, but behind any emotional interchange is probably something you can use to improve for that guest, and for your future guests.
“Every problem is a gift. Without them we wouldn’t grow”
Tony RobbinsAccess to hotel services should be easy
Giving guests the flexibility to order from their mobile phone from anywhere in the hotel is a very effective way to improving service.
Provide your guests with the ability to order concierge services from more available places within the hotel. The pool, the lobby for example. Without having to call the hotel desk directly.
It’s a great way to boost your customer experience.
Hotefy is our simple browser service in the palm of the customer’s hands. It’s an extension to your concierge service that solves a lot of issues that hotels face when it comes to dealing with their customers’ wants and needs.
By helping customers gain easy access to your hotel services. Hotefy helps hotels to improve guest services in a more efficient way. And in return can increase hotel revenues from food and beverage by around 30%.
Ask the right questions
“Did you enjoy your stay?”… listen to the answer
We’ve all heard the line “did you enjoy your stay”, but you do wonder sometimes how much time is taken to really listen to the answer.
If you’re going to ask a guest if they enjoyed their stay, and they are receptive to the question, then ask more questions – and actually be interested in the answers.
What did they like, what could be improved, would they stay again …or recommend the hotel to a friend or colleague.
Was the guest aware of all the services the hotel had? If not, then there’s little point letting them know at the point of leaving. Perhaps some improvement can be made to the information they’re provided with before their stay.
“Ask the right questions if you’re going to find the right answers”.
Vanessa RedgraveDon’t let guests get lost
Clear signage inside the hotel will give guests a feeling of confidence.
We can all be notoriously terrible with directions if we become disoriented in a new environment. And we can understand the feeling guests may have when they take a wrong turn in the hotel and end up in some hallway. They may have no idea where they came from or how to get back.
This kind of mild embarrassment for guests can easily be avoided.
To avoid such mishaps, there should be clear signage in the hotel, clear signposts to particular hotel areas, maps and layouts of the hotel placed throughout the entirety of it.
If this should happen, ensure your staff is well versed to go out of their way to assist the guest back on track.
Empathy matters
Sincere empathy when dealing with guest issues will be perceived and appreciated.
Empathy is a key factor when looking to improve guest services and the experience of your hotels.
And it’s surprisingly easy to achieve.
Look upon every difficulty and frustration the guest is experiencing through the eyes of the guest. Put yourself in their position and genuinely try to understand their point of view.
This kind of understanding can go a long way to creating a great bond with a customer.
“Solving problems means listening.”
Richard BransonWork on teamwork
Ensure your staff know each other, their roles, and that they are part of a team.
It might sound like a cliche, but it’s as true today as it’s always been.
A hotel should run like a well-oiled machine. The various departments are the cogs, and the machine will only function properly if everything is synchronizing smoothly and each part is doing its job.
The departments need to be in touch with each other, be aware of where their responsibilities begin and when those responsibilities pass to another individual.
The culture of a hotel is visible in the vibe generated through staff and staff interactions. Staff needs to develop a sense of camaraderie, ease, and confidence if they are to achieve their best potential.
Proactivity is the best policy
Hotel staff can make the difference between a good hotel and a great hotel
The experience of a guest doesn’t start when they get to their room, it starts with their first interaction with the hotel.
The professionality of the hotel staff can make the difference between a good hotel and a great hotel; great hotels make sure the client feels like they’re being cared for from the first point of contact.
The important thing to note about proactivity, much like previous points, can be a simple task to undertake.
Learning information about a customer, “setting up” their stay, and the overall welcome based on their preferences can be something that stays with the guest long after they leave the hotel – and one they’ll share with others.
Even something as simple as being there when they arrive and addressing them by their name when they haven’t yet introduced themselves is a simple act that elevates a guest’s experience at your hotel.
Adopt hotel operation software
Software can automate an optimise a lot of daily tasks. Adopt as much software that provides more benefit than cost.
Technology has progressed to a previously unimagined rate. As such, hotels that use technology give themselves an edge over their competitors.
Look to incorporate technology like Hotefy in your services. Technology that increases efficiencies and improves guest services at their hotel.
Hotel Operation Software takes note of individual guests’ preferences, requests, and concerns and builds a separate profile for each customer.
This allows you to better understand and prepare for every guest’s stay. It is also useful in circulating important notifications among guests of a hotel.
Free services – without obligation
A generous complimentary drink on arrival will set a great mood that will linger throughout their stay. Guests will be happier and more will to spend money.
People love free things. even if it’s as small as a toothbrush or complimentary soap. People are thrilled to receive freebies.
Free complimentary services are an effective way of enticing customers to come back again and again. Simply because the guest sees they’re getting better value for their money.
Free Wi-Fi, no charges for room service, and free refills at a restaurant are some of the things you can easily implement to win customers over. And better their experience at the same time.
Take free one step further.
- Remove the catch 22 situation where you want something in return
- Think about products or services you can provide to every guest for free that will impress them?
Keep your hotel technology modern
Modernise with new hotel tech software. Avoid costly purchases of tech hardware that ties you to a single vendor.
Much like the addition of hotel operations software. The technology in hotels has improved drastically over the years as well.
Keys have been replaced by smart cards; tablets have replaced the traditional phone call for room service. And apps have replaced many concierge services.
This modernization improves the efficiency of service and improves the overall satisfaction achieved from a guest’s stay. Lives are just made that much easier by adopting and improving your hotel technology.
The same goes for existing hotel equipment. No one likes a broken lift or a coffee machine that’s out of order.
It certainly won’t improve guest loyalty, let’s look at that next…
Guest loyalty means recurring revenue
A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. Invest more in keeping your existing customers than gaining new ones. Happy customers are the best advertising.
In the competitive market of today, it’s important to sustain your business with a series of recurring, regular customers.
And to incentivize repeat guests, hotels can seek to encourage and reward repeat bookings. Usual hotel loyalty programs offer good rewards, but the points required to achieve those awards can often take a long period of time.
Customers often prefer more instant and achievable rewards.
To resolve this, rework your loyalty scheme to give your guests something to look forward to in the short term – as well as the long term.
Keep the long-term benefits, but add items like a free bar snack, or a complimentary bottle of wine, just so that guests feel that they are further benefiting by choosing to return to your hotel …and that their loyalty is being acknowledged.
The best way to improve service and increase revenue…
We hope this has provided you with some thoughts on how to improve guest services at your hotel.
One easy and quick way to improve your service is to provide access from more places around your hotel. You can do this with the hotefy app. Here’s a great example of how Hotefy works, and learn how this can instantly improve revenue by around 30% or more!