Master the art of personalization

By personalizing your clients experience throughout every detail of their stay, you will charm and please more of your clients and thus increase your hotel’s revenue. This article will teach you how to master the art of personalization by using the data within your PMS System to anticipate all of your client’s needs.

Booking process personalization

Commercial personalization begins when a potential client visits your website. You can use their geolocation to personalize their experience. For example, hotels located in the south often use geolocation for marketing purposes by displaying the client’s local weather beside the weather of the country where their hotel is located. 

If you are offering a loyalty program and your clients can log on your website to book again, you have the opportunity to create a unique booking experience for your clients. You can use the existing client information to personalize their experience on your website. Business travelers are a good example of a recurring clientele who are likely to log onto your website to book again.

Once your customer is ready to book, a range of personalization options are available. They can indeed pick which package/rate they would like while also adding personalized options. You therefore need to make sure these personalized options are available and fit your client’s needs. During the booking process, you can also personalize the rate offered to your potential clients. This way, a special coupon can offer a personalized rate to the specific clientele you wish to target.

Pre-stay communication personalization

Your client has now booked their stay with you. If you did not have any pre-existing data for you client to personalize their stay, you do now! You will have their name, e-mail, dates of their stay, profile (according to the room and/or package booked) and you now also know they have a particular interest for the area in which your hotel is located. All this important information is stored in your PMS System and you can now use it to your advantage. To do so, nothing could be better than sending a personalized booking confirmation e-mail through your PMS System which will greet the client by their name and confirm their booking for your hotel. You may also include any information you deem necessary for your client in this e-mail.

A reminder e-mail is also a good opportunity to personalize the communication with your client before their arrival. You can also send this e-mail through your PMS System by adding links for a wide range of services and activities available at your hotel that could be of interest to your client. It may also be a good idea to include the weather forecast and a list of events happening in the area during your client’s stay. The reminder e-mail is also an opportunity to offer the possibility of a room upgrade and to market any particular service your hotel can offer in order to boost your revenue while allowing your client to fully personalize their stay as they wish.

Stay customization

Upon your client’s arrival, your staff must continue this personalization. To do so, your PMS System will provide all of the necessary information to the front desk. Your client’s arrival is the perfect time for you to offer them a customized or personal service. For example, you could thank your client if it is their second time staying with you. You can also confirm any special request made by the client, such as indicating the pillows in the room do not contain any feathers as the client is allergic. Here again, the key to personalization is in your PMS System.

Once your client arrives in their room, it is always considered a nice gesture to call them or send them a personalized message reminding them that the hotel staff is available for any request or need they may have during their stay. This communication is a great way of enticing your clients to spend in your hotel by presenting them with different offers for which they are likely to be interested. For example, if you know your client booked a package including a vineyard tour, you could offer them a glass of the regional wine. Your client will then feel privileged and he or she will enjoy the attention to detail.

Different systems exist in order for you to customize your client’s stay. Some software allow you to greet your client’s through the television in their room, and others use texts for their customer relationship management.

Post-stay communication personalization

After their stay, the relationship with your client does not end and neither should the personalized communication. You have many opportunities to continuing communicating with your clients. You can analyze the data stored in your PMS System and send customized offers to your clients in order for them to stay at your hotel again. You have many creative opportunities to communicate in a personalized manner with your clients and you should utilize the data stored within the PMS System to accomplish this goal.

In conclusion, any occasion is a good occasion to culture the art of personalization, and with the data stored in your PMS System, doing so has never been easier.