Many of today’s websites and social media platforms leverage user data to provide relevant content, deals, or even ads in order to maximize engagement and improve sales; resulting in a unique experience for each user, allowing them to quickly find what interests them in the most efficient way possible.
What is pictured above is an example of personalized service, which has started to spread and be implemented in many business sectors, including hotels in the hospitality industry. In contrast to generic service, personalized service is what most customers prefer now. They are more likely to choose brands that recognize, remember, and provide them with relevant offers, as reported by Accenture.
Now, personalized service is gradually becoming an essential aspect in hotel operations, offering guests the tailored stay experience they expect that provides value for their money. Our article today will delve into what personalized service exactly is, its significance, how to implement it, and the benefits — all of which you can read about here!
About Personalized Service in Hotels
The Definition
The definition of personalized service.
First, let’s get to know what personalized service in hotels is! According to Oaky, personalized service means tailoring the hotel’s services to guests’ preferences using the resources available within the hotel. However, personalized service is different from customized service; while both aim to provide a tailored guest experience, customized service empowers guests to make these adjustments themselves.
The Importance
The importance of personalized service.
Competition between hotels has always been tough, and for a hotel to stand out, it is important to focus on providing personalized service for guests. If you’re wondering about the reasons why, we have listed below the significance of personalized service in hotels for you to know!
- Personalized Service Contributes to Greater Profit: A survey by Salesforce reported that out of 17,000 global customers, around 56% of them expected personalized service, and they considered it the biggest reason for making a purchase — all the more reason for hotels to implement personalized service and generate higher profits.
- Personalized Service Shows Hotels’ Care for Guests: Customer expectations are continually on the rise, and for hotels, it’s crucial to keep pace and create engaging guest experiences through personalized service. Consistent and high-quality personalized service sets a standard of care, making the guests appreciate the hotel more.
- Personalized Service Creates Unique Identity: Offering personalized service for hotel guests gives them a variety of choices, as well as sets the hotel apart from its competitors – thus creating a unique market identity that makes the hotel stand out!
How to Implement Personalized Service in Hotels
Now that we have a grasp of what personalized service is and its importance for hotels, let’s discuss how to implement it into a hotel’s operations! Right here, we have compiled 5 steps that any hotel can take to start applying personalized service in their business activities.
1. Find the Ideal Target Market
Find the ideal target market.
The first step is to know who the potential guest or target market is. Understanding the target guest is a way to cultivate potential customers’ interests. By demonstrating that the hotel offers what they desire, the hotel’s chances of winning them over increase. To achieve this, hotels will also need to train their employees to collect relevant customer data, encourage them to act on expressed preferences of the guests, or utilize AI to effectively leverage customer data!
2. Tailor the Hotel’s Online Presence
Tailor the hotel’s online presence.
Aside from personalizing their guest services, hotels should also tailor their online presence. The reason is that today’s online travel agencies and metasearch sites provide personalized search results and offers based on a user’s past behavior. Whether it is on the website or social media channels, the more the hotel tailors its online presence to the target audience’s behavior, the higher the chance of attracting new potential guests!
3. Allow Guests to Customize Their Stays
Allow guests to customize their stays.
Hotels can also allow guests to customize their stays by creating relevant offers for different customer segments and highlighting the unique experiences they can enjoy by booking at the hotel. Maximize the insights from customer data to anticipate guest needs and shape experiences that will impress them, whether it’s by suggesting relevant room upgrades or providing them with various tailored upselling deals!
4. Maximize the Power of Communication
Maximize the power of communication.
Apart from marketing, communication is also an essential key to attracting customers to embrace the hotel’s offer of personalized service. By maintaining contact with guests at every stage of their journey, hotels can achieve better results in upselling, while guests can experience the ideal stay they’ve dreamed of!
5. Get the Team Together
Get the team together.
Implementing top-notch personalized service is a team effort that involves all hotel departments, because suggestions for new ways to personalize guest services can come from any of them. For instance, the front office and food & beverage departments can collect data about guests’ preferences for various services. That’s why it’s important to align the team and work together to deliver quality personalized service that satisfies guests!
5 Ways Personalized Service Benefits a Hotel’s Future Success
Providing tailored service for guests may require additional time and effort for hotels. Nevertheless, this action also brings numerous benefits, particularly those that can significantly influence the hotel’s future success. Here are some advantages that hotels can attain by implementing personalized service!
1. It Offers a Unique Guest Experience
Unique guest experience.
Not all hotels can leave unforgettable impressions on their guests, but a hotel that includes personalized service will surely give guests unique staying experiences! Whether it is a personalized hotel room or food and beverages that suit their preferences, a hotel that pays attention to such details shows that it has outstanding customer service and is capable of providing a memorable stay for guests.
2. It Boosts the Hotel’s Digital Reputation
Digital reputation.
Nowadays, many guests do not hesitate to share their experiences via online communities. This is why earning positive reviews from such customers is important and beneficial to boost the hotel’s digital reputation in a credible way! By harnessing CRM tools, hotels can stay in touch with guests and send personalized post-stay messages that encourage them to leave feedback on their preferred platforms.
3. It Attracts Potential Guests
Attracts potential guests.
Attracting more guests has always been tough competition in the crowded hospitality industry. Offering personalized service through online channels is one of the best ways for hotels to stand out! As the majority of hospitality customers have gone online, it will be easy for hotels to spread the news about their unique service, drawing in guests who are interested in what the hotel offers.
4. It Increases Additional Revenue
Additional revenue.
Personalizing upselling offers for potential guests will provide them with many relevant selections, making it more fun and engaging for these potential guests to look through the deals that match their needs. This also increases the chances of guests booking extra personalized services for their stay, thus adding to the hotel’s additional revenue!
5. It Builds Customer Loyalty
Customer loyalty.
It’s every business’s goal to secure repeat customer purchases, and for hotels, one of the key ingredients for such customer loyalty is creating the ideal personalized service! Guests will keep coming back once the hotel is able to consistently satisfy them, and the benefits that hotels can gain include higher profitability, ongoing positive reviews from loyal customers, and many more.
Wrapping Up
Providing personalized service for guests gives hotels the opportunity to elevate their guests’ experiences from ordinary to extraordinary! While it may require more time and effort, implementing personalized service in this modern era helps hotels pave a stable path toward long-lasting success in the future. As customer preferences continue to evolve, hotels must always be attentive and adaptable to their interests.
It’s not only hotels that should keep up with changes like customer preferences for personalized service or other hospitality trends. If you are planning to become a hotelier in the future, you might as well start catching up from now on!
Where do you begin, though? Well, for first-timers, the best way is to sign up for an internship or a management training program that will provide you with practical work experience in the hospitality industry – and what’s best is that you can find both types of programs here at RMC Asia!
Our programs offer a wide range of internship and management training opportunities in various hotel areas that take place in prestigious hotels and resorts across Asia. Participants will gain more than just professional development; they will also get to experience unique and unforgettable cultural exchanges that will shape their successful future careers.
So, are you up to take on such challenges? Join our participants and embark on your own exciting internship and management training journey with us now!
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