What is guest experience?

The guest experience is the overall satisfaction of your hotel’s guests before, during, and after their stay. It is defined by the activities and interactions customers have at your property, and how much they enjoyed their time. More explicitly, good guest experience means that at each stage of their stay, certain aspects create an emotional reaction which helps customers determine if it reaches their expectations. During this process, a decision, whether to also recommend your hotel to fellow travellers, is made.

As an independent accommodation provider, it’s your job to ensure that every customer feels welcome, that their needs and wants are met, and that the guest experience exceeds expectations. Delivering a great hotel guest experience is key to building customer loyalty and maintaining consistent revenue. Some guests might even become lifelong supporters of your brand.

Today’s traveller is deal-seeking, tech-savvy and has more buying power than ever. Going above and beyond to provide an exceptional guest experience is critical to standing out from the competition and increasing those all-important repeat bookings.

This blog will give you all the information and tips you need to master all the steps and aspects of guest experience.

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What is the importance of guest service experience?

The guest experience is so important because it boils down to the age old saying of ‘the customer is always right.’ If your guests are happy, you’ll be able to attract even more business and earn extra revenue.

To be successful and remain competitive, hotels must provide an excellent experience rather than just reaching the basic level of expectations. Your hotel has to provide a stay beyond the guest’s hopes. In the present-day digitalised world, hospitality in general relies on online reputation. Travellers research and make their decisions based on reviews and pictures more than ever before.

Here are the three main reasons why you should be focusing on creating a perfect guest experience.

1. Increased guest satisfaction

According to Tripadvisor’s statistics, up to 81% of travellers frequently read reviews before booking a place to stay, with 78% focusing on the most recent reviews. Furthermore, the top reason (87%) for people writing reviews is simply to share good experiences with fellow travellers.

For this reason, complying with travellers’ needs and expectations is the most important thing to do. Satisfied guests contribute to your hotel’s positive reputation management and boost revenue through referrals and repeat business.

2. Decreased costs

Keeping your guests happy is the key factor in bringing in new potential guests. According to a study by Bain & Company, acquiring a new guest can cost 25-95% more without satisfied guests. Focusing on guest experience increases guest satisfaction which as a result creates long-lasting relationships with the right guests, brings in new ones and keeps your costs down.

3. Boosted profit

The happier your guests are, the more likely they are to spend additional funds during their stay, as well as book a return stay in the future. Upon their return, you can offer enticing extras that can help boost the profit of each individual reservation.

Additionally, satisfied guests are more likely to share their experience and leave online feedback. This will help you gain more bookings, without needing to spend any of your marketing budget.

Hotel guest experience examples 

To quickly get you started on some ideas, here are some examples of how a good guest experience can be delivered and what’s used to achieve it. Sometimes it’s only little things that can make a big difference…

Make food a focus

The way to people’s hearts is often through their stomach and it can be the same for your guests. Who doesn’t love nice food and something nice to wash it down with?

If you have a restaurant or cafe, prioritise a simple menu that delivers high quality – preferably using locally sourced ingredients.

If that isn’t an option, you can still put a smile on guests’ faces by stocking their room with confectionery, offering customisable mini-bar options, creating packages for snacking such as wine and cheese or fruit and champagne, and providing access to a top of the range coffee machine.

Keep people connected and entertained

In today’s world, it is almost unthinkable to be without the aid of technology for any length of time so guests will be expecting to remain in the loop while under your roof. Something as minute as an extra powerpoint or USB port can make a huge difference to whether your guest has a positive or negative experience. If they’re unable to charge their phone, you’ll soon know about it.

When your guests aren’t out and about performing their various fun or important activities, they’ll also want to be engaged when they’re spending time in their room.

Entertainment systems, game consoles, and streaming services will be enough to keep all ages occupied if they want to stay ‘switched on.’ For those who want to switch off or kill time, selected board games and an assortment of classic literature will do the trick.

Create a design that is practical and stylish

You only have so much space to work with in your guest rooms but guests do want to be comfortable and have their needs met.

Some ideas to keep everyone happy include:

  • Creating communal work areas so guest rooms aren’t crowded with a desk
  • Glass enclosed showers instead of bathtubs
  • Wall or overhead lights instead of lamps
  • Air conditioning instead of fans or heaters
  • Appliances stored in cupboards instead of bench space
  • Oversized mattresses and couches for extra comfort
  • Adequate charging ports in multiple locations

Typical guest experience cycle 

Now that we’ve armed ourselves with a guest experience definition and why hospitality guest experiences are important, what does such a guest services experience look like?

(For those asking “what is guest service experience?”, it’s a different term for the same thing: guest experience.)

When we more precisely define hospitality experience, we can then deliver better guest experience management, and ultimately enhance guest experiences.

To that end, the typical hotel customer experience looks something like this: 

1. Pre-arrival

The customer experience hospitality businesses offer their guests begins long before the guest gets to the property. It begins with brand exposure, usually through marketing efforts. It goes through the booking process, the booking confirmation, and any other pre-stay communication you might have. First impressions count, and they are made right here.

It’s important that you allow guests to book and pay easily. Your online booking process has to be up to scratch for guests to reserve a room online. A lot of elements of your website come into play here – including comprehensive room and rate information, secure payment processing, and mobile user experience.

You should also get them excited and increase their anticipation for the trip. Before your guests even stay with you, use email to get them excited about it! Your booking engine should allow you to send automated emails leading up to and following your guests’ stay.

2. Arrival

On check-in day, the focus turns to in-person guest relations, meaning the opportunity to make a first impression is offered up again. What does guest relations mean? While the guest relations definition is simply the management of the guest’s experience with your hotel, this underplays its importance. On arrival, everybody – the driver, the doorman, the receptionist, the bellboy, the housekeeper – all have a key role to play in delivering an unforgettable experience.

3. Occupancy

Occupancy is the most important part of the guest experience cycle, as this is the experience that the guest is actually paying for. From the helpfulness of the concierge to the demeanour of the waitstaff, the experience you offer guests while they stay at your hotel will define your ability to create loyal customers and build your reputation to attract more.

4. Departure

While check out is a very administrative end to the guest experience, hospitality businesses should still work to make it memorable. In fact, this is one of the most underestimated areas for businesses looking at how to improve guest services in a hotel. Nice touches like a check-out treat, thank you note or simply a heartfelt farewell can end the stay on a memorable high.

5. Post-stay

Following-up with an email a week after your guests have departed is always a good idea. Reiterate that you enjoyed hosting them, offer them a deal for next time, and invite them to share their feedback. This will further cement to them that they are more than just a dollar sign.

Image explaining guest experience in hotels

How to improve each point of contact in a guest’s experience

Top-notch guest experience can be achieved by truly understanding the emotional journey map and analysing how to make each touchpoint pleasant and easy for them.

Once you have found the positive experiences that seem to work, it’s time to evaluate the outcome. Ask for feedback, consider it and create a loyal relationship with the guest.

The key to enhancing the guest experience is to concentrate on those three components also known as “the three C’s:”

  • Communication
  • Convenience
  • Choice

Let’s break down the three main components of the guest experience.

Communication

Your guests long to be heard, informed and taken into consideration. Good communication skills by your staff and contact options in your hotel allow you to listen to your guests’ needs, answer questions and solve problems and value their feedback. Guests will be more open when they feel connected, which leads to better guest experiences and customer loyalty.

Try enhancing your communication by:

  • Sending a detailed pre-arrival email to simplify the check-in process.
  • Encourage your guests to get in touch either at the property or online by making it easy for them.
  • Answering their questions and solving problems quickly.
  • Thanking them for staying with you, asking for detailed feedback and considering it.

Convenience

Guests are becoming more and more time-poor. Doesn’t matter if it’s a business trip and working or holidays and spending days discovering the area. Guests need convenience, they need a worry-free stay.

Try enhancing your guests’ convenience by

  • Providing a self-check-in option and having a ‘skip the queue’ key pick-up desk.
  • Working together with local tour guides and restaurants to save guests some time with research.
  • Provide a transfer from an airport.
  • Include a special requests section when booking a room so that you can provide essential amenities for each type of traveller.

Choice

The highly competitive hotel industry is constantly raising the bar for guest experience and therefore a big part, if not the most important one of it, is now personalisation. 

Giving each guest choices to create their stay according to their expectations and helping them experience the place the way they want to, is the real key to your guest’s heart. This also allows you to show that you care about your guest and the things they care about.

Try giving your guests more options by:

  • Offering personalised packages (for example spa treatments for leisure travellers, tour buses for Boomers, local food/drink tasting experiences for Millennials or Gen Z travellers etc.)
  • Let your guests decide when they need housekeeping (a sign of environmental sustainability).
  • Asking about any special occasions.
  • Having different ways to contact the hotel staff (telephones in the rooms for older guests, online self-service for the younger crowd.)

Other notable points of creating an excellent guest experience are:

  • Clean and tidy hotel
  • Safe and secure
  • Aesthetic and comfortable
  • Electric sockets and lamps next to the bed
  • Noise control
  • Helpful attitude by staff members
  • Fast service time
  • Good value for money
  • Provide free and fast Wi-Fi
  • Share clear directions about getting around the property and the local area

How do you develop an ideal guest experience?

Developing the ideal guest experience means being prepared for the specific guests that are coming to stay with you. If your hotel is set up for a particular type of person, make sure you are targeting this segment with marketing that is relevant to them.

Some of the demographics you might consider include:

1. Boomers

The generation born between 1946-1964, Boomers tend to take a few longer trips a year, thanks to the fact that most of them are now at retirement age. This also means they  can have higher travel budgets, while appreciating the value offered by loyalty programs.

Boomers are more likely to unplug their phones and communicate in person. They prioritise authentic local experiences through food and culture. That said, they also appreciate the ease of sightseeing tours which pick them up and drop them off at their hotels.

2. Millennials

The generation born between 1981-1995 now make up 31% of the world’s population, and spend hundreds of billions of dollars on travel every year. In the thick of their professional lives, Millennials are more likely to book shorter vacations that fit around their work schedules.

Millennials are technology users who spend plenty of time booking trips and researching online. They seek travel inspiration on social media, mostly Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter, and use these same platforms to share their adventures.

3. Gen Z

Born between 1996-2010, Gen Z are dedicated technology users who are far less likely to unplug. They tend to head to social media, basing their travel research based on others’ experiences.

They don’t enjoy sightseeing if it feels too touristy, and tend to avoid Insta-famous places, instead searching for secret spots. They desire travel flexibility, they are eager to learn and experience local life, and they are  Financially and environmentally conscious – they appreciate good value, sustainable choices.

4. Business or leisure travellers

This cohort is travelling for one reason and one reason only: work. Their days are long and full of meetings, so they are looking for a high level of convenience and comfort when coming back to the hotel to rest. They will be interested in restaurants and cafes with a calm working atmosphere.

Business travellers might also make time for leisure activities and might extend their business trip into a long weekend to see the sights.

5. Families

Multi-generational travel has slowly transferred from Boomers to Millennials. This means that families mainly research and book online (74% in the past 5 years).

Travelling families are looking for shared experiences, and those with children enjoy an educational element to their travels.

Families tend to choose resorts and hotels that have kid-friendly programs/amenities and events – the goal is to book a place where everyone is entertained and happy

6. Wellness travellers

  • The majority of wellness travellers are females between the ages of 18-34, though this market is demographically vast. 
  • These travellers are searching for a break from the stresses of life or to boost their physical and mental health.
  • They find retreats via Google search, friend referrals and Instagram posts.
  • These travellers are very environmentally conscious, with sustainability deeply influencing their travel decisions. They also prefer all-inclusive packages – they want to completely switch off and free themselves from the need to make decisions.

Luxury travellers

Luxury travellers know a premium experience when they see one, and it’s exactly what they expect. Comfort, convenience, and personalisation should all be a ‘fait accompli’. 

What will truly impress them is anything exclusive or unique that you can offer, and they’ll be happy to pay more for such experiences.

Pet owners

This may not seem ideal to you but a huge number of people treat their furry friends as part of the family. Whether they can bring them along will influence their decision about where they stay. 

There is an increasing number of pet-friendly hotels in destinations across the globe, but these hotels are still not as common as hotels that are not pet-friendly.

If you are going to become a pet-friendly B&B, you will want to add some of these features to your property:

  • A potty area
  • Designate a specific area of your property for pets who need to use the bathroom. Ideally, this would be situated away from all lounging and gathering areas. Provide bags and other products for pet owners to properly clean up after their pets.
  • Treats
  • Keep special treats in the lobby in order to pamper pets upon their arrival.
  • Crates
  • Offer crates and other products as extras for guests who don’t want to pack up their own supplies.

Becoming pet-friendly will likely increase your marketing ability, as you will appeal to a specific set of travellers who are looking for accommodations where their furry family members are welcome.

Ideas to enhance hotel guest experience

When considering how to improve the guest experience in your hotel, you need to consider macro factors, like the type of guest you attract, and micro factors, like the amount of information you ask from guests when they make a direct booking on your site.

If you’re looking for inspiration, the following guest experience ideas are a great place to start.

Be a people person

If you’re going to run a small accommodation business, you simply need to be a people person. 

These tips will help you develop a relationship management strategy that will ultimately improve the guest experience at your property:

  • Focus on being present when you are with your guests: People want to know they are being listened to and their requests or feedback are being taken on board.
  • Be available to your guests while still offering them personal space: Don’t hide away but don’t hover either. When guests need something, they will be sure to ask for it and at that time they will expect a prompt response.
  • Engage in valuable conversation: If guests are curious about the property or the local area, do your best to be informative and interesting. And ask questions of them in turn, since most people enjoy talking about themselves.

Show your appreciation for their business: Don’t take their presence for granted. Make sure they know you’re grateful for their booking by offering them a small item ‘on the house’.

Understand your guests’ wants and needs

Make sure you understand what your guests want before and during their stay. Set up automatic emails to your guests, pre and post-stay, so you can collect useful feedback. 

Find out why your guests are staying at your property—perhaps they are getting away for a milestone anniversary or maybe they have to travel to your town for the funeral of a friend. The purpose of their trip is extremely important for you to know how to cater to them.

Most of the time you’re collecting vast amounts of data about your guests without even realising it. However, if you aren’t using it to customise the guest experience then you are not using it to its full potential.

Use that information to personalise the experience and establish a connection with your guests. 

Ensure guests can book and pay easily

Your website should not only showcase your property but also provide a simple booking experience for guests.

With this in mind, your online booking process has to be up to scratch. A lot of elements of your website come into play here – including comprehensive room and rate information, secure payment processing and a positive mobile user experience.

Make first impressions count

First impressions are everything in hospitality, as you know. Your guests need to feel welcome and at ease from the moment they book a stay with you. When they arrive, make sure each and every guest is greeted warmly. 

Add a little something extra in their room based on what you know about their trip. Your guests will remember that you took the time to go above and beyond during their stay.

Whenever possible, you should strive to be available to meet your guests and offer them hospitality. Warm cookies fresh from the oven, a tray of local fruit or a glass of sparkling wine from a nearby vineyard are just a few ways to surprise your guests and leave a lasting positive impression.

Prioritise customer service

Simply put, customer service is king. Anything you can do to make guests more comfortable and reduce issues will be noticed and remembered when a guest reviews their visit, makes a post on social media, or decides where to stay on their next trip to your area.

The fact that you can truly personalise each guest’s stay is what makes your offering so special. Personality can’t be taught and replicated by the big hotel chain next door.

Design a loyalty program

If guests are going to choose to stay loyal to your property, they expect something out of the ‘alliance’. Your loyalty program needs to be developed in an attractive way so it will not only improve the guest experience, but also help you increase your repeat bookings.

Reward programs that offer free upgrades, discounted room rates and other additional perks are received positively by guests in every different market segment.

Create a common gathering area

More travellers are looking to connect with other people while they’re abroad, but it isn’t always easy for newcomers to do this. You could design a garden or similar common area where guests can sip coffee together and chat. You might also make a lounge area with high-top cocktail tables that are perfect for meeting new people. 

Provide guests with a reason to linger and stay – such as food, drinks or events. Rather than making your reception a space where guests can relax while they finalise the check-in process, you should make it a destination at your small hotel. Offer food and drinks to guests who are staying at your property. Schedule events, such as local musicians or comedians, so that guests can enjoy entertainment without having to leave the comfort of your small hotel. Your guests will appreciate the all-inclusive nature of the reception, and they will be compelled to check in frequently in order to see if anything is going on. They are bound to socialise with other guests and forge a new type of connection with your hotel brand.

By offering these community spaces, you will increase guest engagement while also improving your brand reputation.

Implement technology that enhances engagement 

Mobile technology allows you to engage with your guests in new and exciting ways. 

A mobile app for your hotel can allow guests to check-in prior to their arrival, or order room service with the touch of a button. You also may want to consider new smart technology features, such as keyless room entry and smart TVs, as these can improve the guest experience significantly.

Offer packages that include local experiences

Many hotel guests are looking for more than just a great place to stay with local flavour. They want to immerse themselves in the local culture. 

Partner with native tourism companies to offer interesting experiences, such as a personalised tour of the city with a private guide or a yoga lesson in a local park. This can help you increase your revenue while also improving the hotel guest experience at the same time.

How to improve guest experience in hotels by following trends

Guest expectations are always evolving, particularly in terms of technology. As an independent hotelier it’s important to keep your finger on the pulse to ensure your guest experience is better than that offered by your competitors.

Sometimes it may seem hard to keep up with the latest in technology, especially when things are always moving so fast. Fortunately, there are some trends that are here to stay, that offer a high ROI, improve your customer satisfaction, and will attract more guests.

Front office operations

Do many of your business challenges and frustrations centre around your front office? With bookings, check-ins, check-outs, accounting, housekeeping and more to manage, it’s not surprising that your front office can easily be overwhelmed.

But it’s the heart of your operations, and we all crave a little calm among the chaos. After all, it’s so important that you get to focus on making a great first impression and providing the seamless experience your guests expect.

The good news is there is so much you can do to improve your front office operations, outdo your guests’ expectations and save time. 

You can start with these seven tips.

1. Be a good listener

Positive or negative, there’s gold to be found in reviews. Listen to what guests are saying upon check-out and have a system for recording and reviewing this feedback. Monitor online review websites such as TripAdvisor, Google and the third-party channels you connect to. Don’t forget the all-important feedback form at check-out so you can get more feedback from guests who may otherwise stay silent, leaving you in the dark. If housekeeping issues are coming up all the time, it’s time to look at that area closely and iron out the problems.

2. Minimise human error

We all make mistakes, right? No matter how careful, trained and motivated we are, we can all make errors at work. Unfortunately, even tiny errors can add up to big disruptions for your guests. A simple typo can create confusion around check-in time, taking the shine off an otherwise slick check-in process. Get ahead of this by identifying and fixing problems before they crop up. Create processes – such as an automated check-in time confirmation – to minimise the potential for error.

3. Communicate, communicate, communicate

Errors, delays, misunderstandings, glitches and other issues with front office operations often have a common source: lack of information or misinformation. Luckily, there’s a quick fix. Communicate more. Set expectations, confirm timings, provide advice on hotel operations, suggest activities and answer questions before they’re asked. How? A well designed and informative website, a great email sequence and clever use of social media is a great start.

4. Prioritise efficiency

Fancy more time to spend on the things that matter? Greater front office efficiency can give you time to focus on your guests, marketing, training and other business-boosting activities. Your guests would love that extra time too, so they can get straight to doing what they’ve come for – whether it’s relaxing, exploring or getting down to business. There are so many things you can do to buy a little extra time for yourself and your guests, from using apps for contactless delivery of extra towels to developing a comprehensive operations manual and empowering staff to make good, confident decisions.

5. Choose (and train) the right people

Great people skills and a knack for resolving problems quickly and efficiently are a must-have in the hotel industry. But there’s more you can do. Understand where your own strengths and weaknesses are – and hire the people who can cover any skills gaps. Also remember that the location of your hotel is often why people stay, so make sure you and your people know the local area better than anyone else. Finally, invest as much as you can into training so your front office operations just keep getting better. 

6. Know your guests

Has a guest stayed with you before? How many times? What is the purpose of their stay? Is it a special occasion like a birthday or anniversary? Do they have any allergies or food preferences? Knowing the answers to these questions can help you welcome your guests warmly and make them feel like a person rather than a room number throughout their stay. Collect this information with pre-arrival checklists, guest information databases and weaving in a few friendly questions at check-in.

7. Use technology 

Technology is the ultimate game-changer for improving your front office operations. It can help you to easily action all of the above tips, taking your guests’ experience to a whole new level and helping to ultimately boost bookings. You might already use different tech platforms for certain tasks, but if you’re ready to get serious about transforming your front office operations it’s time to look at specialised hotel front office software.

Smart TVs and device integration

Customers are now checking-in with two or maybe three devices per person, and 44% of guests are streaming media on their own device, a number that grows to 52% for Generation X and 62% for millennials. And the good news attached to these statistics is that a third are willing to pay more for this!

There is a lot of technology out there that allows devices to join the in-room TV. This means that guests can have the option to view their own personal content such as Netflix, movies, photos and music.

Here are some of the top examples:

  • Apple TV ($150-200)
  • Roku ($50-130)
  • Amazon Fire TV ($50-140)
  • Chromecast ($35 or less)

If you’re a small property then the cost of having one of these installed in each room will not be too high.

Wi-Fi network

Gone are the days of properties charging large rates to use the slow and tedious internet on the one and only computer in the shared office. Not only is this a terrible user experience, but considering 90% of business travellers require Wi-Fi access in their rooms and a third would not return to a hotel that did not meet this expectation, it will also deter any guests that might be travelling for business.

Access to Wi-Fi is considered to be the most important aspect of guest entertainment. Wi-Fi needs to be high speed and free, the pay per use model is basically gone.

By Dean Elphick

Dean is the Senior Content Marketing Specialist of Little Hotelier, the all-in-one software solution purpose-built to make the lives of small accommodation providers easier. Dean has made writing and creating content his passion for the entirety of his professional life, which includes more than six years at Little Hotelier. Through content, Dean aims to provide education, inspiration, assistance, and, ultimately, value for small accommodation businesses looking to improve the way they run their operations (and live their life).