Backed by research, here’s how to create a customer engagement strategy that can increase bookings, guest satisfaction, and loyalty.
The hospitality and travel industry’s recovery is on many people’s minds as vaccines continue to roll out and the end of the pandemic is in sight in some parts of the world. As guests begin to return, their behaviors have changed. That means guest feedback and engagement have become more crucial for hoteliers as they head into the next normal.
Why is guest feedback important? Not only does it provide a window into guest satisfaction, but it offers a way to adapt your operations to better serve customer preferences and needs. It also allows you to gain insight into ways you can innovate to stay ahead of the competition.
But, just collecting customer feedback is not enough. As hoteliers look for new ways to increase bookings, preferably direct, engaging with customers will be key to gaining guest loyalty. Recent research from Cornell, conducted in partnership with Medallia, shows that while engagement and interaction between hoteliers and guests are taking new forms, it is still as important as ever and a key driver for the insights that will lead to innovation that puts brands a step above the competition.
Here’s what the research shows as you embark on how to create a customer engagement strategy that works for you.
Engagement and interaction between hoteliers and guests are taking new forms but are still as important as ever, the research shows. Customer engagement is a key driver of guest satisfaction and loyalty — and can lead to a lift in direct bookings as a result.
According to the research, a customer’s willingness to share feedback, along with hotel management’s response, affected these four elements:
Engaging with customers can help to grow advocates for your brand when current customers are more willing to share their experiences via reviews for prospective customers to see. Here are three ways you can set yourself up for success.
The research found that consumers new to providing reviews online are disproportionately negative. If you rely on customers to be self-motivated to post reviews, you could be left with a biased view of satisfaction that tends to be less positive. You need to facilitate and make it easy for your customers to share their feedback if you hope to get a clear picture of guest satisfaction.