The hospitality industry, along with many other sectors has been affected negatively since the introduction of Covid-19. Hotels, restaurants and bars around the world have had to constantly shut down, reopen and rearrange tables and rules. It’s hard to imagine life without this continual change. However, the hospitality and tourism industry has previously bounced back from similar setbacks such as SARS in the early 2000s. By late 2004, hotels were recording pre-SARS occupancy levels which is promising news for the current future of hospitality. Nevertheless, we missed a critical opportunity to reflect on how new technologies and standards might reduce the impact of a future pandemic. Here are some tips on how you can help your hospitality business recover from the current pandemic.
Feedback
Managing customer feedback is useful to keep on top of the most important aspect of any hospitality business, the guests. Even with limited occupancy and various restriction being implemented, it’s essential that customer needs and expectations are met. Do this before, during, and after the customer experience. Here are the various ways you can collect feedback.
Post-stay emails:
Using post-stay emails as part of your communications is a great way to contact guests and thank them for staying. Even better, this entire process can be automated and personalized to save you time. By keeping an open line of communication, customers can give relevant feedback on their stay. With the implementation of systems like Akia, hotels can make B2C communication a lot more efficient. It also eliminates stress and extra work by cutting out email processes.
Guest surveys:
Send guest surveys via post-stay email, usually within one to three days of the guest’s visit. Platforms like Revinate make surveys easy to create and share with PMS integration. In this case, open-ended feedback is a priority so that the guests can inform your future business operations. Items such as services they’d like to see or what would increase their likelihood to return to your hotel.
Guest reviews:
Behind every successful hospitality business is positive online reviews. It was found that, 87% of consumers read reviews online for local businesses in 2020? This was a 6% increase from 2019 and a 20% increase from 2010. Its important to make sure you manage the reviews that are being posted about your business online. If a customer has an issue, respond to their problem on the review pages. This will show people that you care about them and strive to be better in the future. Online platforms like BlueJay Reviews help hotels generate reviews with automated email or text messaging. They link out to third-party review sites such as Google, Yelp, TripAdvisor, and Facebook, montoring those review channels from one centralized dashboard. Platforms such as these are what will help maintain your hotel’s reputation as you begin to recover from pandemics backlashes.
How Technology Can Help
The adaptation of technologies will help your business processes become more streamlined and safe. In the midst of this new normal, companies have to alter the way in which processes are carried out. Technology and software can eliminate time-consuming practices and create a safer environment for your employees. Hospitality businesses would benefit from the integration of new technological systems especially with the ease of restrictions. They will allow managers to focus on more important issues. Instead of spending time on admin processes etc. such as weekly employee scheduling, they can help the business grow.
How Celayix Can Help Hospitality Businesses
With the adoption of systems such as Celayix, hospitality businesses can cut down on heavy admin duties. They can focus on more pressing issues such as looking after guests and improving their experience. Celayix can cut the time it takes to create a shift schedule by 95%. The cloud-based platform also allows employees to check-in and out of work seamlessly through the TeamXpress app. This eliminates any form physical of check-in process such as fingerprint systems that may be of risk during the pandemic. The ability of employees to do this remotely through Geofencing helps maintain a safe work environment for your hospitality employees. This also reduces the chances of the spread of Covid-19.
Technological Advancements
It is difficult for hospitality businesses to see an end to this damaging time and with the constant re-introduction of new regulations, staff are leaving too. It’s time for hotels to start transforming their operations with the help of AI. From the moment the guest arrives until their first meal, hotels can now implement technology that will allow their customers to stay in their premise with minimal physical interaction with staff.
Through the power of advancements such as Mews employees can check in, checkout, and interact with staff entirely through their online platform with 0 staff contact. However, high-end hospitality businesses pride themselves off their excellent standard of customer service and depend on physical interaction. Mews has created this platform so hotels can choose what areas of the guests’ hotel experience they would like staff free or not.
This can possibly be the way forward for many hotels in the future due to the current state of hospitality and the challenges it is causing.
Meal Delivery
One major way restaurants and bars have kept afloat during the pandemic is the use of services such as ‘UberEats’ ‘DoorDash’ and ‘Deliveroo’. Due to the closure of eat in dining, most hospitality businesses around the world have relied on food delivery services to make sales. For entities such as hotels, this may be a more difficult task. For hotels to adopt this method they may have to introduce food deals and discounts. Hotels are not usually used for takeout and so this is a good way to attract new customers to the hotel’s restaurant takeout page.
Target Millennials
It is no secret that millennials are the most eager to travel during the pandemic. According to the New York Post, millennials are also going to be the first to get back out and explore the world after the coronavirus ends too. This is a huge opportunity for hoteliers to explore and begin retargeting their marketing plan if it wasn’t part of it already. Hotels around the world can adopt ways to accommodate the younger demographic by focusing more on social media messages and offering deals and discounts to suit their budget.
Millennials are more fearless than other generations, more in tune with advances in mobility and social media, more price conscious, and more desiring of unique experiences. Hoteliers need to take these aspects into consideration and prepare a plan to exploit this market for when restrictions allow safe travel.
So What Should your Hospitality Business do?
Adopting all these techniques may be too much to do, so why not take what area you feel needs improving in tour business. Whether it’s the adoption of meal deliveries for your hotel or maintaining customer loyalty through reviews and surveys for your restaurant, it’s important to adopt your processes to manage the ongoing pandemic.
