How Hotel Guest Messaging Boosts Operational Efficiency And Guest Experience (With Examples)

What's in it for me?

A well-arranged guide throwing light on the importance of boosting operational efficiency at hotels by relying on modern solutions like guest messaging that can be integrated with your PMS for seamless automation. It shows how efficient operations can result in an enhanced guest experience, leaving hotels enough time to personalize the guest journey at every touchpoint while the guest messaging keeps playing its role, side by side, thereby helping the hotels achieve an ideal synchronization. Aiding this further, this guide comes with message templates based on which you can engage with your guests in all the possible situations.

To succeed in the fast-paced hospitality industry, a hotel needs to be as efficient as possible when it comes to its operational capabilities. Guests have higher standards than ever and expect a faultless experience whenever they stay at a hotel. So, improving operational efficiency is a must. But what to do to improve your hotel operations with text messaging? It is a known fact that guest messaging boosts operational efficiency. As a hotelier it can be very tricky to find ways to become more efficient while simultaneously managing the coming and going of guests, ensuring all daily admin tasks are complete and maintaining absolute guest satisfaction. Therefore, it is important to optimally utilize the available technological assistance. These tools when combined or integrated can not only increase operational efficiency but, in turn, can enhance the aspect of the guest experience which is often regarded as the most important factor, essential for the success of any hospitality establishment. That is where the guest messaging boosts operational efficiency by coming into the picture.

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The Significance Of Guest Experience

Guest experience is more than just a tailored hotel term that means customer service, customer experience, or guest engagement. The truth is that guest experience involves so many factors that can make or break a stay. Guest experience doesn’t just begin when a guest walks through your front doors. In fact, it begins as soon as someone becomes aware of an establishment or hotel. It starts with the brand awareness and their experience with that brand. In a way, it continues through their entire journey, from booking their rooms to checking in and out, and even long after their stay when they’re considering another visit.

Inadvertently, hotels need to give something extra to their guests, something more than just what is expected. That little extra brings in the ‘delight’ factor. Guest delight is the primary factor responsible for the generation of customer loyalty because only the delighted customers become the loyal ones, your brand evangelists. In order to deliver a top-notch service and a seamless experience to your guests, you can utilize tools such as the hotel text messaging system with the integrated PMS as messaging boosts operational efficiency in a way unimaginable!

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While we talk about the guest experience, let us focus equally on another aspect: operational efficiency. In order to ensure that the boosting of operational efficiency should culminate into providing an unparalleled guest experience, integration with the hotel messaging platform is one of the key factors. Imagine yourself putting all your essential operations on automation and rather utilizing the saved time to cater to your guests in a more personalized way! How amazing would be this collaboration! Yes, the technical assistance lent by automation should be looked upon as some sort of an innovation that will help expedite the processes. More importantly, this helps in cutting down the manual labor and effort you put into everything at your hotel, even into the areas where it’s absolutely redundant.

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Work Hard But What's The Harm In Working Smart Also?

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The above line is a perfect way of defining this synchronization between the operational efficiency and guest experience at your hotel!
So, the point is by automating a hotel guest messaging software, you can communicate with guests- pre-arrival, on arrival, during the stay, and at departure, taking care of your entire hotel guest journey messages in terms of engaging with the guests. In other words, automation is one of the USPs of guest messaging. Messaging boosts operational efficiency that, in turn, helps save hotels and their workforce enough time from doing things manually. You can instead apply the time saved to have more meaningful interaction, thus streamlining staff operations and improving the overall guest experience.

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To gain better clarity, let’s consider the current times: the pandemic-stricken world, Since the hotel will be highly likely to have limited staff at their disposal, guest messaging can very well improve the staff efficiency through automation which, in turn, allows the staff to fulfill the requests of the guests seamlessly, anywhere and anytime! In other words, it allows the staff to know what service to provide, which guest to serve, and at what time with great care and undivided attention!

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And Guess What?

Guest messaging is thus not your ordinary text messaging service! It’s not just another text messaging service! Had that been the case, the hotels could have very well deployed a localized text messaging option by appointing personnel to sit and send messages to the guests at all stages throughout the day.
That being said, the different types of messages that are usually sent out by hotels can be segregated primarily into two broad categories which are as follows:

→ Experience-based Messages
→ Promotional Messages

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Guest Messaging Boosts Operational Efficiency: Examples

Experience-Based Messages

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Hotel services are emphasizing on the personalized aspect of the guest experience through guest messaging which is bound to elevate the level of guest satisfaction. Automation can help provide your guests a hassle-free experience with fewer resources. Since the task is to engage with the guests at each stage, automation can very well take care of this by sending out relevant messages- booking confirmation, check-in, welcome, etc. This enables you to take a break from micro-managing stuff.

Well, with guest messaging, you can have ready message templates for each of the stages and moves, as a result of which you can channelize your energy into the actual preparations needed to provide your guests with a fabulous experience. The aim should be to provide a top-notch guest experience with minimum errors. This can be easily achieved through enhancing operational efficiency which, in turn, is expected to expedite services and amplify service quality. If the itch to personalize the guest experience further is still somehow not going, you have enough leeway to personalize these messages and add more to the existing templates, as and when you feel like!

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1. Text Messaging At The Pre-Arrival Stage

"Dear Carolyn, thank you for choosing us as your vacation destination. We are looking forward to your upcoming reservation from June 20th to May 25th. Given the current crisis, we have also implemented a few measures by revising our policies and operations. For more details, please visit us on our website. We hope you enjoy your stay with us and we look forward to welcoming you."🎉🎉🎉

Hellloooooo!
There’s so much more to be done at pre-arrival. Click here to find out the  sub-stages under pre-arrival and the message templates related to each!

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2 . Text Messaging At The On-Arrival Stage

"It’s a pleasure having you here, Tom! Welcome to Hotel Lex. Your Wi-Fi password is Guest126. Your room is now ready. We have a handy concierge right on *the URL* to access the latest updates and information related to the amenities, special services, add-ons, food menu, on-site restaurant, weather details, things to do, etc.  We wish you a pleasant stay"🎉🎉🎉

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Guest Messaging Boosts Operational Efficiency: Message Templates

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3 . Text Messaging At The Mid-Stay Stage

"It’s a pleasure having you here, Tom. We just wanted to follow up and ensure everything you need is in the suite and to your expectation. If anything is missing or you have some concerns, please do not hesitate to let us know."

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4. Text Messaging At The Check-Out Stage

"Dear George, thank you for trusting us with your stay during such difficult times. We hope you felt safe! We would greatly appreciate it if you could take a moment to share your experience with us by filling out the following survey on *the URL.* Again, if you have any suggestions or questions regarding your experience with us, please feel free to reach out. We hope to see you soon!" ✈️✈️

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Promotional Messages

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This type of message is usually sent out by hotels to their guests who have subscribed to their different offers. Automation can help you secure data about the guest preferences such as whether they prefer coffee or tea, they emphasize fitness or not, among the others. The data procured through automation can help you segregate when to send the message, whom to send the message, and so on. This helps you connect with your guests even after they have checked out of your hotel. The best part is that all of it is taken care of automatically, thanks to the integration at your disposal. Some of the example messages are as follows:

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1. Birthday Message

You can keep a track of your valued guests who have opted-in for promotional and give out special offers or discounts to them on their special day via the text message:

"Happy Birthday, George!🎂🥳 On your birthday, we want to let you know how grateful we are to you for bringing so much business our way over the years. We hope to enjoy more productive collaboration with you for many more years to come. On this special occasion, you can avail of a discount of 25% on your next stay with us. Click on *the URL* below for more details."🥳🥳

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2. Special Discount Message

Text messaging provides you the opportunity to make your guests aware of the ongoing offers and special deals:

"Hi Kenneth, hope you are doing well! Luckily, we have some ongoing offers and special deals for special guests like you. You can check out these offers by visiting our website or *the URL* and contact us for any further details. Have an awesome day!" 

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3. ‘Miss You’ Message

For the lost clients, the text message will be an effective way to re-establish the connection:

"Hi Nancy, we already miss you! We are offering a 30% discount on the second night of your stay. You can call us on our official number or visit *the URL* to book with us." 

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Specific Instances To Show Guest Messaging Boosts Operational Efficiency

Incorporated within the structure of the guest experience journey, there are some specific instances where the boosting of efficiency can be revealed all the more through the use of guest messaging. Let us look at these examples separately:

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1. Pre-Booking Stage: Communication

Communication is a huge definer of what the future relationship between a property and its guests would look like. Till now, the potential guest is in the persona of a visitor at your website, sounding confused and looking for answers to their queries. Suddenly they notice a WebChat on your website and post their queries instantly. If your property happens to have facilitated an integration of your WebChat with Guest Messaging, guests can smoothly carry on the conversation through the live agent or bot right through their phones.

Visitor: Hi, I need to know if the property provides a shuttle service?
Chatbot/Live Agent: Thanks for reaching out! Please enter your name and mobile number below enabling us to solve your queries in no time. Thanks!

*Provides name*
*Provides number*

Chatbot/Live Agent: Hello, Maria! Yes, we do provide the shuttle service. And what dates would that be for?
Maria: Still considering the dates... But most probably, it'll be for the coming weekend! Could you please tell me the timings?
Hotel Bot/Agent: The timings may differ based on availability. You can click here to know about the route taken and the timings in detail and accordingly, we can coordinate.
Maria: Sweet! That’s very helpful. Thank you!

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2. Pre-Arrival Stage: Express Check-In

Due to the COVID situation, a lot of travelers are resorting to taking the option of express check-in which saves them the hassle of standing in long queues after a tiresome journey. As for the hotels, allowing their visitors to avail of this option by informing them through messaging can work wonders in expediting the check-in process.

"Hi, Karen. We’re so excited to see you at our hotel today! The standard check-in time is 2 pm. But in case if you’re running late or do not want to spend time waiting in the check-in queue, our Express Check-in has got you covered! Click on *the URL* to fill up your details in the Express Check-in form. Let’s meet up soon! Have a good day!"

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3. On-Arrival Stage: Sharing The Digital Concierge Page Or Personalized Micro Page

During check-in, the guests are always in a hurry to get into their rooms and freshen up after a long commute. Hence there are chances that a lot of verbal information regarding the house rules, amenities, special services, etc, passed on by your front desk during check-in might be a little difficult for the guests to absorb or remember. With guest messaging, your guests can easily access the concierge desk right on their phones. Again, this can save your staff from undertaking this elaborate ritual of face-to-face interaction and the usual passing of instructions every time. A micro page enlisting all the necessary stay details could be presented to the guests and be personalized too for each of them based on the information collected during the booking stage.

"Hi there, Sophia! Welcome to Hotel Lex. Your WiFi password is GuestIsBest53. But before that, we’d love it if you head to the lounge area to relish a glass of fruit punch. The good news is that our gymnasium and pool are now open to our guests. To book a slot, you will need to access *the URL.* Our on-site restaurant is now open to our guests but you can still order food and relish it in the comfort of your room by choosing from our extensive digital à la carte menu. We’re offering housekeeping service only upon request to minimize the risk of transmission. If you need one, feel free to contact the front desk. For spa and other value-added services, we have a flat 20% discount offer going on. To book a slot or request a special service, visit *the URL* for complete information.  We wish you a wonderful stay and we hope that you’d love it here!”

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4. Mid-Stay Stage: Service Recovery And Correcting The Possible Service Failures

While perfection is a myth, service recovery isn’t! The idea behind encouraging guest messaging service to communicate with guests is to collect as much feedback as possible to correct the service failures. For instance, let’s say a guest finds a broken TV remote and requests assistance through guest messaging. This immediately alerts the front desk to do the needful by sending the necessary help to the guests. To follow up concerning the outcome, you don’t have to wait forever for the guests to know how it went. With guest messaging, the service recovery can be done and feedback can be collected enabling the hotels to try their best from preventing these glitches to crop up again in the future.

“Hi, Jenna. We had received your request for repairing the broken TV remote and we regret the convenience caused to you. We have sent the necessary assistance honoring your request. We hope that it’s working just fine now! Thanks for reaching out to us for assistance. In case if you need help with anything else at any point during your stay, please feel free to drop us a text. Take care!”

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5. Check-Out/Post Check-Out: Encouraging The Guests To Review Their Stay

“Michelle!                                                                                                                   ….we miss you already! Hope you had a great stay in your premium deluxe suite. It was indeed a pleasure to host you and your family. We’d love it if you just take a moment to express your thoughts by reflecting on the overall stay. Your feedback would mean the world to us. To review your recent stay with us, you can click on *the URL.* We hope that you will choose us again! Stay safe!”

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Importance Of The Fact That Messaging Boosts Operational Efficiency

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The future of hotel success relies heavily on delivering a personalized and memorable experience that keeps your guests coming back. It is expected that more and more hotels are redirecting their investments on the aspect of customer experience. Technology has truly changed the way hotels operate and serve their guests. Leveraging messaging technology and system integrations to deliver a better guest experience can be greatly beneficial for both the guests and hotel staff. This is a win-win situation as guests get faster and more personalized service while hotels maximize operating efficiencies and workflows to reduce resources and costs.

Thus, by leveraging guest information, the hotel staff can send personalized messages based on the guest profile and utilize the data to automate messages. Automation also helps you focus on the entire process of the guest journey mapping. During the check-in process, information such as the WiFi password, the timing of the breakfast among others can be easily conveyed to your guests through guest messaging. During the mid-stay, you can follow it up with quick feedback through guest messaging. You can also send the review links through this particular service instead of making your guests fill up a form physically at the check-out.

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Essential Benefits Of Automated Messages

• It helps to reduce the burden off of the front desk and provides them independence.
• It helps save valuable time and instead helps your workforce focus on vital areas that may require attention such as the actual guest journey process.
• Automation helps your guests experience a contactless messaging service along with the option to reach out to you whenever they need you.
• It is also helpful for people who prefer digital communication instead of face-to-face communication.
• It also helps provide a prompt service that is usually one of the most challenging areas. In addition, prompt service is directly related to the happiness of the hitherto aggrieved guests.
• A quick solution to a lost key or malfunctioning electronic equipment can not only uplift the mood of the guests but also helps secure a generous rating.
• It is one of the driving factors behind improved operational efficiency.

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Communicate with Guests In Their Language

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Besides the fact that guest messaging boosts operational efficiency, there is yet another important aspect of this service; it allows your guests to communicate in their preferred language and effectively remove any language barriers. Often time, in some countries, people complain about the front desk or hotel staff not knowing their language which to some extent is responsible for the potential lapse on the part of the hotels in performing a service that their guests expect from them. But with guest messaging, you can break the language barriers and communicate with guests in a language that they understand or prefer the most!

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Instant Messaging For Hotel Guest Service: Go Contactless During COVID-19

With operational efficiency likely to suffer due to the global pandemic, you can use guest messaging to save the day! Right from a contactless check-in to a digital concierge covering contactless amenities, contactless services, and instant damage repairs, guest messaging can be extremely helpful in rendering an uber contactless experience to your guests.

This is how hotels can use guest messaging to leverage a safe stay!

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Guest Messaging Boost Operational Efficiency: Added Perks

•  You can manage bookings and order requests
•  No more worrying about mishearing your guests’ order, unlike the phone calls
•  Offering a special service? Upsell and cross-sell like never before!
•  Use triggers and templates to save time
•  Multiple user access
•  Analyze guest sentiments, collect feedback and drive revenue

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Conclusion

Hotels have begun to emphasize the aspect of personalization to provide their guests with a great experience. However, at times sufficient preparation and training might not guarantee a seamless and hassle-free experience for the guests. While mistakes are bound to happen, a minute error on your part is often enough to ruin your guest’s holiday. Therefore, hotels must cut down on the amount of error committed by them and increase operational efficiency. By integrating guest messaging in your core functioning and operations, you are killing two birds with one stone- guest messaging boosts operational efficiency and enhances the overall guest experience. If your service is prompt, timely, rapid, and personalized, guests are eventually going to love their stay.  Ultimately, the implementation of automation relieves you from the hassle of micro-managing things and helps focus on areas that require real work, helping to cut down on the excess manual strain and effort. This, in turn, can help boost loyalty and improve the overall customer satisfaction rate by means of improved communication with the guests.

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With GuestTouch, Observe 5X Times Increment In Your Operational Efficiency

Our guest messaging boosts your operational efficiency by allowing you to engage with guests seamlessly at all the touchpoints. With our refreshingly simple and modern guest messaging, you can send a variety of messages to your hotel guests- experience-based, promotional, etc. Send across a personalized micro page or digital concierge, collect mid-stay feedback, indulge in instant damage control, correct possible service failures, and collect reviews or send surveys.

Have questions? Our free demo has all the answers!

Try Guest Messaging For Free Today!