BLOCKCHAIN |
TECHNOLOGY |
How hotels can use mobile apps to enhance the guest experience
28/09/2021
20mins
Ramesh Ch
TECHNOLOGY,BLOCKCHAIN
Every business, irrespective of the industry, aims to provide high customer satisfaction and thereby achieve profit maximisation. Whenever a business has tried to work by discounting guest /customer experience, it has faced big time failure. No business especially Hotels can create long term profit without providing their guest the best experience.
Now when we talk about ‘Guests’, it is important to understand what is the one thing that is dear to your guest – their smart phone. Ever hotel lobby is now familiar to one question ‘Hi, do you provide free WiFi?’. This means that technology is leading your customers and they feel handicapped if they cannot help themselves, even after having the most high tech phone. So make sure you read between the lines and understand that your customers want to see you online.
MOBILE APPS ENHANCE YOUR GUEST EXPERIENCE
- Enables Self-Service: Customers find it easy to service themselves than wait for someone to serve them always. Smartphones have made people more independent than dependent. Allow your customers to browse, learn and experiences your services the smart way. This self-service trend is catching up well with the increasing use of smartphones and it is effective for both the customers as well as the hotel staff. Earlier to book a spa in the hotel, he/she had to call the reception, check the spa timings and book the available slot. However, with a mobile app, customers can relax and check the spa service offered in an hotel and book the convenient time just by a click. Transacting and management of transactions become more easy and professional for customers and hotel staffs respectively with the help of mobile apps supporting net banking and PayTM.
- Help take more smart decisions based on smart customer data: A mobile app creates the virtual replica of your Hotel and set the right ambience for your Hotel. This means that, though you cannot get real time customer behaviour data offline, you can definitely gather a lot of data and insights into customer behaviour and preferences. Insights into customer behaviour will help in better planning and execution of services in hotels. Moreover, ventures like OYO Rooms, have enabled us to learn that the small mobile app can do wonders and equip hotels to give their customers new and extraordinary experiences each and everytime.
- Effective Utilization of Time and Resources: In hotels, in spite of great efforts, at times it happens that staff fall short and fail to attend to the customer need. With mobile apps, customers easily do self-service and all less operational tasks like booking reservation, making valet payment, requesting room service, etc., can easily be done with a simple touch. Earlier individual staff had to be allocated for explaining offers, reservations terms and conditions and manually booking the reservation. But mobile apps help hotels to eliminate all such tedious manual actions and allocate their staff to operations that require actual manual support. Thus, mobile apps make sure the right staff is there at the right time to effectively serve your customers. Mobile apps also enable to rightly track free resources, achieve more with less staff as well and document accurately details and feedbacks of customers.
- Loyalty Programs: The most difficult task is not to get new customers, but to retain and create a loyal customer base. Industries now work towards creating loyal customers who can thereafter invite and bring new customers. One tool that can help Hotels and businesses in any industry effectively execute their loyalty programs is Mobile Apps. Since everybody interact with their smartphone all the time, the best way to get their attention and attract them to avail your service is by sending them customized offers based on occupation, previous transaction sum, location, season, etc., as push notifications. Push notifications of exciting offers can definitely help keep your brand alive in customer minds and can work positively towards getting you more customers.
- Enhance Marketing efforts: The most traditional print ad can only increase your cost and do not even give you the option to track the effectiveness of its reach. However, your exclusive mobile app help you pass current news about your business, big offers coming up at your hotel, special food festivals at your hotel, etc., in real time to all your customers and this definitely multiplies your marketing efforts. Moreover with the share option within an app, satisfied customers besides giving you immediate feedback can also share your brand with their close friends and people in their social communities searching for a hotel for their weekend. So your app can make your satisfied customers your social brand ambassadors and you can accordingly reward and create more new as well as loyal customers.
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