Why your B&B should be using guest profiles

A guest profile is a record of every guest who has stayed at your property and can include details like a guest’s complete address and identification, previous reservations, notes and comments.

Imagine you are a guest, now consider this scenario:

For the last month, anytime you’ve had a spare moment you snuck online to research where you would stay with your wife over your anniversary weekend. After a long online journey that started as a Google search and ended deep in Booking.com and Expedia, you are delighted by a little seaside B&B and decide to book direct after discovering their beautiful website.

Since booking your room the B&B have been in contact a few times, they’ve been very attentive in preparing for your stay. When you finally arrive your wife and yourself are greeted by your first names before being taken to your room where you have complimentary chocolates and congratulatory champagne! Your wife is absolutely delighted! You leave a great review on TripAdvisor and decide that you will definitely return next year!

This is an example of the seamless customer experience a B&B can offer when it takes simple steps to build guest profiles. The B&B may have simply asked the reason for their guest’s stay, and with this information were able to fully impress.

OTAs have been using this technique for a long time, subtly collecting a multitude of details from their bookers. Personalization is the key to survival in today’s competitive hospitality industry but B&Bs don’t need a big budget to do this. Guest profiles can be easily managed by having a simple guest profile system that can be accessed, reviewed and updated to gain insights about guests and better serve them in their future stays.

Guest Profile Best Practices

Engage your guests and show them you’re listening with these tactics:

1. Get to know your guest before their stay by reaching out and collecting additional booking data like allergies, special dates and preferences.  
2. Do some research on social media to profile your guests likes and how they interact with your page. For example, if they are liking images of your chocolate cupcakes surprise them with one complimentary upon their arrival.
3. Collect feedback after the guest’s stay and add this to their profile. This will uncover what really matters to the guest and what they think of your brand. This is also useful if you want to upsell to them next time they stay or if you want to know what rewards to offer them as part of your loyalty program.
4. Track how they are interacting with your email campaign and use this to send them more targeted information and campaigns.
5. Keep note of whether your guest has left you a TripAdvisor review. This way you will know if it’s time to send a reminder email to ensure you are keeping your SEO score high.

The right data management system is important when create amazing guest profiles.

As part of the Little Hotelier Front Desk system all guest information is captured and found under the guest tab of the reservation. This allows a guest booking experience that integrates seamlessly with your website so you can upsell your extras and boost your direct revenue!