Hotel Manager Who is your Customer?

It’s a great feeling when customers come back to the Hotel again. It is more likely to happen when you make every customer feel like they have a special relationship with you.

Understand what business each customer is in and the issues they face. Help them, offer ideas on how they could improve based on the information you know.

Get as much information about your customers as possible, demonstrate how you value Hotel customers are with you (and not with another Hotel).

Adjust the communication medium (and style) to suit each customer. Pay attention to post-sale communication, as customers that already purchased will be influenced by your support in their future purchase decisions.

Stay courteous, patient and polite. Don’t make the customer feel rushed in whatever medium or form you communicate with them. Doing so will make customers run away instinctively.

Reactivating with customers who know you is one of the easiest ways to increase your revenues.  Restarting conversations places customers in a position to purchase.

In order to build credibility and trust in the eyes of the Hotel customers, they must feel like they know you. This comes with always approaching every customer service interaction as a relationship-building exercise. Customers repurchase from Hotels they like and trust.

Aside from building an emotional connection, consider the practical aspect, too. Are you saving them time or giving them substantial value? It could be through faster service, better delivery, easier ordering, unique features and benefits.

Offering support that is personal, expertly tailored and effortless to the customer is needed. Match words with actions. This means a culture and dedication to customer satisfaction in every Hotel Department, over-delivering on promises, even if it means bending a few rules and policies.

Customers won’t always know the ins and outs of your Hotel to the same level that you do. In order to feel comfortable about it, they need to be coached, consulted and eventually, feel like they’ve made the right decision about their purchase. Let them know their purchase is a smart decision.

How welcoming is your website, contact form, chat widget? Let your customers know that they can count on you to listen to their feedback. Wherever your Hotel customers are, you should be.

After all, dissatisfied customers almost always (up to 98%) end up leaving without giving the Hotel any feedback. Don’t lose this opportunity – it can give you a second chance to delight them and win them over – so they repurchase.

Get into the habit of showing appreciation when customers come back. It doesn’t matter if it’s for a product clarification or an upgrade. When you back up your words with actions, no matter how small, your Hotel customers will remember and share that experience with others.

Sometimes the easiest way of getting customers to come back is with a nudge – a loyalty program. A help desk makes communicating with customers easier. If you want your customers to come back, your communication should be prompt, personalized and carefully organized.

Many Hotels gain new customers, but very few of them actually are able to keep them. Customers that join you can leave just as quietly. The question you should ask yourself is … How well do you know your Hotel Customer?

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My posts are intended for hotel workers, supervisors and managers around the world, who are (or want to become) actively engaged in learning and development.