Table of Contents
- Deliver Personalized, Unmatched Customer Service
- Enhance the Guest Experience with Seamless Technology
- Ensure Consistency and Reliability in Every Interaction
- Empower Staff to Provide Exceptional Support
- Turning Guests from “Like” to “Love”
Hotels today need to go beyond offering a merely good guest experience. To move from simple satisfaction to guest loyalty, hotels need to offer a great experience tailored to guests’ needs and wishes. David Goldstone, Executive Vice President & Chief Revenue Officer of WorldVue, calls this the “like to love” approach.
As Goldstone explains, “It’s little things that set us apart. You can have the best technology in the world, but technology is not foolproof. So how do you win the customer and keep them loyal for life? We take the customer from liking us to loving us. If they love you, they’re going to be loyal. And how do you do that? By giving them the best possible service – and customer service – in the industry.”
The idea is to make guests feel cared for and appreciated beyond just the basics, ensuring they’ll want to return to your property time and again. How can hotels put this into practice to create those loyal relationships?
Deliver Personalized, Unmatched Customer Service
Goldstone emphasizes that customer service is vital to turning guests into loyal patrons. While cutting-edge technology is important, the human touch is often what leaves a lasting impression. Personalized greetings, remembering guest preferences, and solving problems quickly are ways to show guests they’re valued. You can also demonstrate this by making interactions simple and seamless – for example, not making a guest repeat the same information multiple times to get a problem solved.
You can even take this beyond the basics by finding more ways to make guests feel at home. How would your guest experience change if you could, upon check-in, have their room pre-set for their preferred temperature, with the in-room speaker playing their favorite music in the background? What if you could add small items to a guest’s room that they’ve noted are important to them? Or how about matching perks to guests’ actual usage patterns? These small but meaningful efforts can make the difference between a guest liking their stay and loving it.
Enhance the Guest Experience with Seamless Technology
Goldstone notes that technology can elevate guest experiences, but it’s the service behind it that creates loyalty. Hotels should offer fast Internet, smart TVs, and easy-to-use room controls to enhance convenience. WorldVue’s IPTV and HSIA solutions help provide a smooth, modern experience. When guests feel like they can rely on technology to work effortlessly, they appreciate it. And when issues arise, being able to resolve them quickly shows commitment to the guest’s satisfaction.
There are all sorts of technologies that can help wow guests. For example, your hotel’s PMS can help staff tie personalized information to hotel operations. By doing this, you can exceed expectations by adjusting the lighting and temperature in a guest’s room to their preferred settings before they arrive or having the TV show the channel they watch most. But again, all those technologies need to be supported by great customer service and human interactions. Otherwise, even personalized offerings can come across as impersonal.
Ensure Consistency and Reliability in Every Interaction
Consistency across all touchpoints – whether it’s the booking experience, check-in, or in-room amenities – is crucial. Guests want to know they’ll get the same great experience every time they stay with you and from every staff member they encounter.
This also applies to your technology solutions. If your staff is highly accommodating, but your website is difficult to use and your in-room entertainment solution is glitchy, this will negatively affect your guest experience.
Consistency builds trust, which is foundational to long-term loyalty. Delivering reliable service, ensuring enjoyable experiences, and keeping communication clear will set your hotel apart from competitors.
Empower Staff to Provide Exceptional Support
Technology helps enhance the guest experience, but again, it’s the staff that drives true loyalty. As Goldstone notes, “By giving them the best possible service – and customer service – in the industry,” hotels can forge stronger relationships with their guests.
It’s not enough to have friendly staff if they don’t have the ability to respond to guests’ needs. Empowering staff with the tools and training they need allows them to provide faster solutions to issues and a more welcoming atmosphere, deepening the connection with guests.
It’s also worth remembering that how your staff treats your guests often reflects how you treat your staff. If you interact with your staff in a way that shows you value and respect them, no matter their role, they will be more likely to mirror that when they engage in their work. A well-cared-for team is more likely to result in well-cared-for guests, yielding a better experience and guests that move from “like” to “love.”
Turning Guests from “Like” to “Love”
Hotels that want to implement the “like to love” approach should focus on personalizing service, providing seamless technology, and delivering consistent experiences. Goldstone’s philosophy reminds us that technology should support – rather than replace – exceptional customer service. As he says, “If they love you, they’re going to be loyal,” highlighting the value of genuine connections.
WorldVue offers the technology and service solutions that help hotels elevate every guest’s stay, ensuring they feel both supported and impressed. Contact us today to learn how we can help you build lasting guest loyalty!