Why Does Guest Experience Matter?

The coronavirus pandemic posed a serious challenge to the hospitality industry. However, you can get your restaurant back on its feet by offering a positive hotel guest experience. Offering a positive guest experience is the heart of a successful business in the hospitality industry. Unlike before, a hotel’s brand isn’t about the food or the best chef.

It’s now about the guest experience. Your guests and potential guests expect a memory when they come to your hotel. To succeed and meet your guest’s needs, you need to offer them a personalized experience. A good guest experience leads to loyal guests, as 60% of guests admit they would revisit a restaurant if they got a positive experience. Here are other reasons why positive customer experience matters.

1. Increase Your Customer Base and Encourages Customer Acquisition 

Guests now post their experiences on social media apps, websites, and other review platforms. Most potential guests will turn to the reviews of previous customers to make a decision. So, when you offer a positive guest experience, they will likely post a review, increasing your customer base. 

Satisfied customers help with word-of-mouth marketing which increases your potential guests. Happy customers are also more likely to return, turning them into loyal customers. Improving customer experience encourages current guests to return and recommend your company to others. Therefore, leading to the acquisition of new customers. 

Understand your guest’s needs, and meet them to offer guest satisfaction. Taking care of guest experience can help hoteliers get a higher revenue of between 4 and 8% compared to other companies.

2. Promotes Active Listening

Guest experience management includes active listening to your guests’ needs, comments, and suggestions by the hotel staff. As a hotelier, you should work on strategies to improve customer experience. This includes listening to guest experiences, opinions, and comments,

Also, listening helps meet guests’ expectations, solve their problems, and ultimately leads to guest satisfaction. Through active listening, the hotel staff gets to understand your customers better, giving you better tips on how to meet their needs.

3. Boosts Your Hotel Staff Morale and Reduces Turnover Costs

There are a lot of turnover costs in the hospitality industry that could reduce your profit. Training your front desk employee and other hotel staff to offer guest service and a positive guest experience will make the customers happier. Happy customers will give your team members a sense of accomplishment, encouraging their morale. Besides, the positive guest experience will result in your hotel being ranked high in the market, giving your employees a sense of pride.

4. Increases Your ROI

Like any other business, you want to make a profit at the end of the day. Offering guest experience helps guests enjoy their stay and increases your ROI. Besides, guest experience reduces the need for your hospitality business to follow redundant marketing plans which don’t deliver. The goal is to make your guests as happy as they can during their stay.

So, by focusing on customer service and guest experience, you are turning your guests into advocates who market for you. The result will be an increased customer base, extended guests stay, and repeat clients who increase your profits. Actually, 50% of customers say one negative experience is enough to keep them from doing business with a brand.

5. Increases the Value of Your Brand

The guest experience involves offering a positive customer experience from the booking process, front desk reception, check-in, and room service. As more guests enjoy positive experiences, the company’s reputation will increase and encourage a positive workforce.

Your hotel staff will be more motivated to work hard and offer better experiences as your business enjoys higher revenue. After a while, your brand name will be associated with customer experiences. Thus, increasing the value of your brand. Increasing your brand value will make it easy to launch new products, venture into a new industry and acquire new investors.

6. Stay Ahead of Competition

How do you stay ahead of your competitors? Unlike before, when restaurants competed through price wars, today, the guest experience is the way to compete. Customer experience makes the difference. 

What you offer your customers, how you treat them and show them you care can separate your business from the rest. So, the guest experience is the key to overcoming competition. It’s the little things that matter. So take a hotel for example. When they get to the room you’ve prepared, having glossy, shiny photo books as a brochure for the local area and showcasing what amenities your hotel has will make all of the difference. Tired old leaflets will look unprofessional. A quality photo book in this regard can work wonders for you and your brand. It leaves a great first impression as the guests take their time to flick through it.

What you offer your customers, how you treat them and show them you care can separate your business from the rest. So, the guest experience is the key to overcoming competition.

7. Enjoy More Business Advantages from Digital Signage

As more restaurants adopt new technology to offer guest experiences, digital signage stands out. While technology cannot replace the human experience, it can build on it to make guests’ stays more memorable.

Digital signage screens are versatile, and you can place them in different places to serve different purposes. Use the screens for wayfinding around the hotel, making it easier for your guests to move around. Display real-time events, digital menu boards, the day’s specialties or social media channels, and other forms of content you want. 

Moreover, you can use the screens as touch points, showcase important metrics during staff meetings or show advertisements according to your guest preferences. Digital signage software offers easy integration and, thus, supports different forms of media. It also keeps your guests entertained in the lobby while waiting to check-in.

Understanding the Modern Guest

Developing a new service is half the battle of running a successful restaurant. You need to offer a great guest experience. Your brand reputation is more important than your products and services. So, offering a guest experience leads to customer satisfaction, enhancing customer loyalty, increasing your customer base, and attracting potential guests.

At the same time, it helps propel your business to success. Ensure your guests have a smooth experience from the booking process, front desk encounter, check-in, and check-out. Aim to offer excellent service throughout the guest journey and follow up with the post-stay. Invest in automation software for follow-up surveys and questions.