Hoteliers are perpetually stuck in various stages of customer acquisition. The loop continues because most hotels fail to generate healthy revenue per available room (RevPAR) and their customer retention rate is subpar at best.
One-off purchase is a unique feature of B2C industries and hotels are the biggest victim of it. However, successful hotels are retaining customers and improving revenue while building resiliency with one simple trick: offering contactless in-room services to hotel guests. Guest apps are underrated tools for revenue management and when done right, they can elevate messy in-room services. They work because:
Guest convenience and operational efficiency have a quantifiable impact on a hotel’s RevPAR and here are three ways you can improve it:
If you're planning to upgrade in-room services, chances are you already have zero-party data at your disposal. Use CRM and PMS tools to process and analyze historical data and narrow down on the most popular requests. You can also check customer reviews online to see which services they like and prefer in your hotel. It's important to look beyond food and beverages and closely monitor all kinds of guest requests.
Build on existing data to create a new and improved service catalog. Even if you have a tried and tested strategy, it's a good idea to reevaluate them since customer expectations and preferences have shifted drastically post-covid.
High-performing in-room services are curated to fit the different needs of travelers. For example, families might order in more desserts while bleisure travelers opt for standing desks or coffee runs. Customer segmentation is the process of grouping people based on similar traits. Segment guest profiles and precisely understand how and what they order most.
Since you'll eventually use a contactless menu, you can customize the offers based on guest types. You will get the data by looking at their booking history and length of stay.
Newer iterations of in-room services have all moved to mobile and it's easy to see why. A mobile guest app acts as a single point of contact for guests—it can offer booking, trip tracking, mobile keys, virtual check-in/check-out, valet parking, in-room services, and much more.
Manual in-room services are often a broken experience when guests and staff don't speak the same language, leading to sub-par services and resource wastage. It also restricts staff’s ability to add a personal touch. Contactless apps, apart from being hygienic, are also intuitive to use for both parties. Entire orders can be completed without talking to staff and most guests appreciate the convenience.
Mobile apps also allow you to offer richer in-room services. Instead of simply listing down menu and housekeeping services, you can proactively recommend them based on usage history, time, date, and order data points. On top of that, the myriads of customization allow you to show how much you care about your guests. Beyond price and location factors, these small things make a huge difference in customer retention.
Finally, guest apps are a goldmine of authentic data. You can track the order patterns and integrate them with PMS to derive new strategies going forward.
Not sure where to start with in-room services? MyConect's digital guest app is made specifically for thoughtful and rich experiences. We allow guests to use all the services of a hotel on a digital platform and it even works as a staff app. To drive revenue with a contactless hotel app, get in touch with us.