The rise of millennial travelers has had drastic implications of the landscape of hospitality. No longer do the evolved chains hold all the aces when it comes to attracting guests from around the world – millennials are after experiences, and will choose even an independent property if it can guarantee them a great stay. However, they still do expect a minimum standard of service.
The writing is on the wall – make sure your independent hotel can meet these modest requirements and you’re on your way to establishing your property’s long term future.
Fortunately for hoteliers, the onset of cloud computing has opened the floodgates to technology adoption. With service providers investing in all the infrastructure and hosting the software in off-shore servers, owners today have the opportunity to drastically cut down on their investments and pay on a monthly basis for just the software.
However, it’s important that you invest in the right areas.
Prioritize the guest experience
Providing guests with an unforgettable experience is the key ingredient to building a successful hotel business today. By engaging guests properly, your hotel can leave a lasting impression on them that leads to so much more than just a positive review. Personalization of the guest experience is a powerful tool today – millennials love personalization. With a cloud-based property management system, all your reservation details are recorded in the server, enabling you to replicate a guest’s preferences when they come back to your property. Additionally, personal information regarding say their anniversary or birthday can be leveraged to provide them with a pleasant surprise. This isn’t very expensive to do, and the long term advantage of acquiring a loyal customer trumps any negligible costs.
Your hotel doesn’t need to be huge and luxurious, if it makes guests feel special, you’ve already covered the most important aspect of your business!
Make life easier for your employees
With so many manual tasks being carried out in a property, human errors are always an inevitability. However, a property management system significantly decreases this possibility by automating core functions are the hotel. Not only does this put less pressure on your staff, it also frees up more time for them to better manage their tasks for the day. In turn, this also allows them to better attend to guests. In an industry where turnover numbers are not pretty, anything that can be done to slow the revolving door can have a major impact on a hotel’s training and hiring costs. Moreover, creating a happier work culture also manifests itself in the work your staff do.
When looking to invest in a property management system, look for one that offers included house-keeping and POS modules. These allow you to track staff activities and delegate tasks based on staff responsibilities, enabling managers to get a better idea of each employee’s daily capacity.
Take TripAdvisor reviews seriously
It doesn’t matter if your hotel has a presence on all the top OTAs around the world – if there aren’t enough positive reviews, guests will always be wary. Reviews are a major factor in driving conversions for your hotel. Additionally, the extra demand generated by a high review score gives your property the authority to increase prices. Review collection can be challenging, especially considering the number of guests who check-in and out of a property on a monthly basis. However, by investing in a PMS that integrates to a review collection tool, you can automate this process. TripAdvisor’s Review Express tool offers hoteliers the opportunity to remind guests to leave a review after they check-out of the hotel – the tool will systematically send periodic emails reminding the guest to leave a review.
Review collection is not an overnight process, it can take weeks to months but the long-term benefits are certainly worth it.
In today’s digital age, history and prestige count for little in a hotel’s global competitiveness. While the older properties do have deeper budgets, they don’t always have the guest’s attention. It’s easy to overdo technology too – as we’re seeing with certain high-end brands experimenting with gimmicky front-desk robots and machine butlers. At the end of the day, hospitality has always involved a certain level of human connection.
What’s important is that your property keeps up to date with the pace of the industry and mindset of travelers today. Millennials are willing to give any hotel that’s good enough a chance – and that hotel could just as easily be yours!
If you’re looking to invest in a complete, all-round property management system, why not give Hotelogix a try? The free trial takes less than a minute to get started with!
