Dear Hoteliers: Personalization is the Key to Our Hearts

By the year 2020, nearly 30 billion devices will be connected to the internet! That number is expected to grow exponentially as our world becomes more interconnected. These changes and the resulting influx of data has revolutionized customer service across countless industries. Yet, despite the pace of advances, hotel customers expectations are largely unmet.

This isn't surprising, as it's no secret that hotels have historically been slow to adapt to change. Disrupters like AirBnB, have happily exploited this weakness. In fact, HVS estimated that hotels lose approximately $450 million in direct revenues per year to AirBnB in New York City alone. Key to the success of disrupters like AirBnB has been their ability to personalize the guest experience.

Hotels must follow suit and shift their old adage of just collecting instead of thoughtfully acing upon the mountain of guest data they have at their fingertips. Currently, most hotels use disparate platforms for daily functions like POS, PMS, CRM, email marketing and analytics, etc. The lack of integration makes it difficult for employees to quickly piece together all data points that should feed into one comprehensive guest profile. This prohibits the front desk to take the next step in their customer service delivery and anticipate guest needs. 

For example, if Mrs. Jones has scheduled a hot stone massage during each prior stay, upon check-in the front desk could proactively offer to make that reservation for her! Mrs. Jones is thankful her hotel knows her well, she gets her appointment booked in advance and the spa staff has one less call to worry about. This could be a win-win proposition for hoteliers and guests.

Now, there's definitely a need to balance the potential creepiness effect personalization provides. That's why a human element will always be needed in the hospitality industry to ensure customer satisfaction. In fact, according to the 11th Annual Accenture Global Consumer Pulse Survey, 83% of consumers prefer dealing with humans versus digital channels. So hotels must find the right balance of human and digital interaction. One of the first steps they can take is to empower their employees with the technology to act upon the guest data at their fingertips. This can most effectively be done by seamlessly integrating their platforms.

To cater to the constantly evolving and tech savvy consumers, hotels must be make every effort to understand their guest.  Really get to know them, love them or leave them alone - there won't be an in between for long!