Tips for Inspiring and Maintaining B2C Guest Loyalty in Hospitality

“Nowadays, it is all about building communities for brands. The sense of belonging to a group is sometimes part of one’s identity – a way of life. This can only be achieved by brands that have a distinct personality and who target the audience that fits that.

By personalising your marketing messages you can create a bond with your guest. Make them feel special by remembering their birthdays or wedding anniversaries that they might have celebrated at your property – or simply welcoming them back. Also, give them extra reasons to return and seek collaborations with brands that they like and organise events in your property that you would not want to miss.”

“Personalised experiences are essential for building guest loyalty. Designing services to each guest’s unique preferences creates a strong sense of value and connection. Collecting first-party information from guests during their stay, or pulling details from the loyalty program for repeat visitors, allows hotels to remember specifics like a guest’s favorite room type or special requests. These thoughtful touches significantly enhance the guest experience, delivering the surprise and delight that converts bookings into lasting loyalty.

A well-designed loyalty program is another key strategy. Reward guests for their continued patronage with points for direct bookings, stays, and other interactions that can be redeemed for discounts, free nights, or exclusive experiences. Ensure the program is easy to use and promote it through your website, app, and email campaigns to encourage direct bookings.

Exceptional customer service is fundamental to maintaining guest loyalty. Providing outstanding service at every touchpoint ensures guests feel valued. Train staff to be attentive, friendly and proactive in addressing needs. Quick responses to inquiries, personalised welcome messages, and seamless check-in/check-out processes enhance guest satisfaction and foster loyalty.

Digital engagement is a powerful tool for connecting with guests. Use digital marketing and social media to engage guests before, during, and after their stay. Share behind-the-scenes content, special offers, and upcoming events to keep guests interested. Personalised email campaigns can also play a significant role in keeping guests informed and enticing them with exclusive deals.

Creating memorable experiences transforms one-time visitors into repeat guests. Go beyond the basics with unique touches like personalised welcome gifts, curated local experiences, or special events such as wine tastings or cooking classes. These memorable moments encourage guests to share their positive experiences and return in the future.

Gathering and acting on feedback is crucial for continuous improvement. Encourage guests to provide feedback through surveys, reviews, and direct communication. Use this feedback to identify areas for improvement and respond to reviews to show guests that their opinions matter, demonstrating your commitment to exceptional service.

Consistency and reliability in every guest experience are vital for building trust and loyalty. Delivering high-quality rooms, amenities, and service consistently establishes a reputation for reliability. Guests are more likely to return when they know they can count on a consistently excellent experience. By focusing on personalised experiences, a robust loyalty program, exceptional customer service, digital engagement, memorable experiences, and consistent quality, hotels can effectively inspire and maintain guest loyalty.”

“In my view, the best demonstration of brand loyalty in hospitality is the share of repeat business. Travel consumers are buried under an avalanche of options and offers, and if they repeatedly choose your brand over the competing alternatives, it’s clear that your brand has an appeal above and beyond the competition. This appeal is a result of the perceived value proposition of your brand and the travel consumer’s emotional attachment to your brand.

Today you cannot instill any loyalty among travelers without CRM technology and its associated guest appreciation or loyalty program in place. Only a meaningful CRM technology application – as part of your hotel tech stack – can ensure deep engagement with your past and future guests. CRM tech not only provides automated pre-, during- and post-stay communications, guest satisfaction surveys, guest retention marketing automation and drip marketing campaigns but takes it a step further via guest recognition program management and loyalty marketing. All of these fully automated CRM initiatives keep “the conversation going” with your upcoming and past guests. It keeps them engaged and steers them in the right direction: to book your hotel when it’s time for them to visit your destination again.

In addition, you can use your CRM first-party data about your best guests to launch similar audience marketing on Google, Facebook, Instagram, etc. to target potential customers with similar characteristics as your best guests. CRM initiatives in combination with ORM (Online Reputation Management) tech can turn your happy guests into brand ambassadors and avid social media influencers.”

“I believe this comes down to the guest loving the property: the location, the vibe, the offerings and the overall experience. You want each guest never to want to stay anywhere else.”

“In my experience, loyalty is created through personal relationships. Someone who takes the time to say “hello, how are you?” and then listens to the answer. The most successful sales conversations are 90% fun and frivolity and 10% business.

Our recommendation for small independent hoteliers is to really get to know your regulars. What room number do they like? What drink do they like? What chocolate do they like? The small things can turn them into a regular customer just because they know that when they arrive, it will be like their second home.
Many customers don’t care about a discount as their company is paying. They may not want the upgrade as they find the room too big. But a small token that shows you know them and care about them can make a world of difference.”

“Seasonal drip email and text campaigns are the #1 way to be top of mind. However, these should be segmented based on a customer survey that gets more details from each prospect regarding their stay and their reason for travel. The more granular you can get, the more creative you can be in terms of staying top of mind.

Another way to maintain guest loyalty is by leveraging a top-of-mind ad campaign whereby you don’t instantly make an offer but you provide inspiring content. Whoever watches the content more than 50% or interacts with it via likes, comments or shares should then be shown a unique offer to book their stay.”

“Focus on personalised experiences by using guest data to tailor offers and services. And how do you get that data? Through a top CRM system, and a deep belief that the customer journey is a never-ending process. A loyalty program can be a great idea, and it’s easier than it might seem to get it established. Just find the right tech partner – and with a good marketing team, things can start smoothly and you can reap the rewards really soon.”

“To me, this is ALL about the service level. Be there, be transparent, listen, and be RESPONSIVE. I find that if people regularly create relationships, you will inspire guest loyalty by being THE most sincere. For example, don’t lie or “sugarcoat” your real offering. If your building is 20 years old, state it. For example, saying something like this: “Our rooms are newly renovated and beautiful, but our public areas are a bit dated. If you’re more interested in the size of our rooms and spaciousness, this IS the place for you” – versus “We’re newly renovated.”

I find that loyalty comes from honesty. Plain and simple. So, I suggest going “old school” and staying away from lofty, beautiful ChatGPT-inspired marketing messages and being authentic.”