Every industry in the world is experiencing many changes, and the hospitality industry is not immune to them. Continuous technological innovation plays a fundamental role, since it allows the consumer to access the information of any service or establishment in a matter of minutes. Then there is social media, which not only permeates every industry, but also has the power to change trends and shape the future.

Not surprisingly, then, consumer expectations have also risen. Gone are the days when advertising was taken at face value. We no longer have to resort to outdated practices designed to collect only leads, inquiries, or hits. Today, the focus is on retaining consumers and building loyalty.

The hospitality industry, especially, thrives on this approach. After all, isn’t customer service everything here? Reputations depend on popular perception, goodwill, and word of mouth. The hotel experience can be irreparably tarnished if you get even the smallest detail wrong about your guests, who are not averse to using social media to express their grudges.

CRM (Customer Relationship Management) is based on the belief that building a consistent and sustainable user base is far more valuable to the business than indulging in fickle marketing practices. It also takes into account three key things in its most comprehensive way: people, process, and technology. As the industry thrives on segmentation and uniqueness, the hotel ‘persona’ can only be as distinct as its relationships with consumers allow it to be.

This becomes even more relevant when considering the fierce competition in the hotel industry. Unless you put the customer relationship at the center of all your planning and strategy, you will find that your audience will remove your brand from their list. Then there are other factors, such as rising customer acquisition costs, rising customer expectations, price-sensitive travelers, more sophisticated customers, an uncertain market, and declining brand loyalty. , all of which make consumer relations an area of ​​focus.

Good CRM and strong identity

To improve customer relationships, you first need to start working on the foundation, which is your brand identity. If your brand seems vague or undefined, your consumers are unlikely to listen to what you have to say in the first place. Your identity should be part timeless (core values, long-term mission, etc.), but it should also be adapted based on the context.

For example, millennials look for a brand that effectively uses current trends in its advertising, or a brand that has a social conscience and takes steps in that direction when using its services. They seek technology-enabled services and a wide range of interfaces. In this environment, if you appear traditional and old-fashioned, you may not live up to their expectations.

Identifying your core demographic is paramount. Then you need to create a story and tone for the brand itself so that it can shape a concrete identity. This needs to align with your core values ​​and company culture, because how you treat your own employees is largely reflected in the type of service you provide to consumers. From then on, it will be easier to create a healthy buzz about your brand on social media, keep your audience up to date on the latest from your hotel, encourage reviewers, and address their concerns.

Happy employees and work culture

The hospitality industry needs to emphasize employee happiness to improve relationships with consumers. If your staff and other employees treat hospitality like a chore, or if they’re only driven by fear and authority, they’re unlikely to treat guests with warmth and exuberance.

Hotels are also engaging in feature-based hiring, rather than simply relying on technical skills. What this means is that you need to seek out people who find immense value in being hospitable to others. Personalities are more difficult to acquire, technical skills less so.

For example, take the entire registration process. The ‘service’ aspect is quite simple. The guest enters, is asked for his ID and then the keys are given to him. Now, in this scenario, the receptionist can recite all those lines from the script that she learned during training, but her demeanor, mannerisms, the authenticity with which she interacts with the guest matters a lot. This is where their innate characteristic of being warm and friendly shines.

An employee dissatisfied with a script can be harmful. Consumers are extremely smart and savvy these days and can smell fake hospitality from a mile away. If your staff provides only scripted service, your guests will be put off. To set yourself apart from other establishments, train your employees to understand the value of emotion, warmth and care.

But this cannot be achieved if they themselves are working in a suffocating work environment. So don’t forget to nurture your employees with the same warmth and consideration that you’d like them to extend to hotel guests.

Technological Help

Fostering a good relationship with your consumers means that you will meet and exceed consumer expectations on every point. Meeting expectations is significantly easier for brands that have a strong presence with an established service standard, but that’s no longer enough. Consumers are actively seeking better experiences, and as we said before, the same old deals and conveniences are worthless to them.

So how can consumer behavior be targeted? Of course, by implementing the right tools and technologies. Analytics software is especially powerful in this regard. Analytics can help you determine the following things and more:

1. customer demographics
2. Guest responses to specific services
3. The interests of consumers in the current context
4. Distribution
5. transactional activity

This means you can pinpoint exactly what guests like and customize your services accordingly. In fact, customization is THE key to differentiation in an already flooded market. Marketing campaigns are also successful if they are highly segmented and targeted. Even pricing strategies can be manipulated, as the Marriott has been doing. They used analytics and customer feedback to rearrange their rooms based on the type of traveler who would stay there (leisure, business, or even families) where more storage space was provided. They also outfitted their front desk with smartphones and tablets so they could know what to expect from customers along with their requirements.

Relationships with consumers are also built with the help of loyalty programs. However, most hotels don’t offer programs that meet guest requirements, because they don’t know what in particular will increase retention. With analytics, you can do all this and more, so definitely consider including it in your marketing strategy.

Another thing to look into is split testing – you can use a sandbox to test your potential campaigns and determine their effectiveness before rolling them out at scale. It’s always helpful to have foresight so you don’t do damage control later on; with forums like TripAdvisor and Lonely Planet, even a single mistake can do a lot of damage to your reputation.

Contact and foreign elements

Any interpersonal relationship requires open and transparent communication. More importantly, it must be consistent. This goes for your customers as well, especially in a heavy service industry like hospitality.

When you talk about communication, you have to talk about mobile, because mobile is the most predominant channel used today. According to WOW Local Marketing, 52% of customers are less likely to engage with the business due to a poor mobile experience. That’s more than half of them, who are probably spreading the word about your ineptitude. Additionally, 55% of customers focus on their website experience to formulate their opinions, so scalability for both mobile and web matters.

Customers would also like to have more transparent channels to communicate and will appreciate as little redirection as possible. Remember that time you had to go through at least five reps to resolve a simple query? And do you remember that you got frustrated, but had to put up with it anyway? Well, don’t make your clients go through a similar experience, because you don’t want them to take away negative memories of their stay with you.

Empowering your employees with decision-making power is something I want to particularly emphasize here. The more capable they are in solving guest problems without having to redirect them or ask permission from their bosses, the safer the guest will be and will surely return, thanks to the efficiency of their employees.

Communication channels should also extend to collecting reviews and addressing concerns on the fly. The guest or consumer may provide critical feedback, which you should address immediately. If you think your opinions and inquiries are fading into a void, well… that’s exactly where your business is headed, too.

Finally, take a look at their activities in the local community. If you participate in activities that address social issues and give back to the community, your brand image is greatly enhanced. The guest will not only look at your brand from a utilitarian perspective, but will also feel better because he chose you, and not another dispassionate establishment that shows no responsibility towards society.

In the end, we all know that strengthening customer relationships is not an overnight activity. It requires patience, timely responses, improvisation, and an accurate reading of the industry to be effective. However, if done right, you can take your brand far beyond the conventional players in the hospitality industry.