Why is a Chatbot not Enough for Your Hotel Anymore?

When chatbots first appeared, they soon became part of many industries, and hospitality was no exception. They became a great tool to help hotel staffs deal with their high workload and the repetitive questions they must reply to daily. To provide guests with quick and instant answers in a fast way, instead of leaving them waiting for 24 hours. And during a few years, that was enough to create a great guest experience. However, the situation has changed.

Guest Expectations are Far More Complicated than a Few Years Ago

The guest experience goes even further today, and guest expectations are far more complicated than a few years ago. Now it is not just about quickly answering guests’ questions but also about personalization and relationship.

They want to feel heard, seen, and taken care of. A chatbot is an excellent start to streamlining your operations. Still, it is not enough to boost the results of your accommodation business, increase guest satisfaction and make your guests return to your hotel.

Why is this happening, and how can you make the most of a chatbot and still pay attention to the other areas? Here are some points to keep in mind.

Chatbots React to the Guests’ Initiative

A chatbot is a reactive tool. It reacts to an initial message; it answers what others are asking. If guests ask a question, the chatbot replies.

With this, hotel operations are more efficient, and the customer effort is lower, but you don’t add value to their journey. In other words, you are not taking control, only reacting and answering what they ask.

Chatbots are great for answering your visitors when your staff is busy. They help you improve the guest experience and make life easier for hotel staff.

However, it would help if you took it further. To boost your results, the key is to focus on the entire guest journey. This is what will help you to build an outstanding guest experience.

In a survey conducted by Deloitte, 75% of travelers said they would return to the hotel more frequently if they had a great experience. This means fast service is good, but also taking care of guests at every stage of their journey: from booking to post-stay.

Suppose you want to be unique and stand out from other accommodation businesses. In that case, you must provide your guests with an unforgettable experience, and using a chatbot is just one of the several pieces of the puzzle.

Why Look at The Whole Guest Journey?

The question that matters is: how can you personalize each stage of the guest journey? And what tools can help you with that?

There are many examples of how you can personalize communication with guests, but summing up, you must send the right message to the right guest at the right time. And for that, you need the right tools to complement the chatbot.

1. Gather and Organize Guest Data to Know Who your Guests Are

Guests have different needs and goals with their stay, so you need a tool to gather and organize reliable guest data from several platforms, such as the PMS system, F&B, and OTAs. By doing this, you can have real guest profiles to base yourself on and know your guests.

2. Send Personalized Offers

59% of customers claim that receiving personalized content significantly impacts their purchasing decisions. Once you know who your guests are, you can personalize the messages you send them instead of using a “one-size fits all” approach.

By sending relevant offers to the right guest, you enhance your upselling opportunities while showing guests you care about them and want them to have the best during their stay.

3. Enable Two-way Communication

It’s not about sending an e-mail or message that will never get a reply or a reply that takes days; it’s about sending and receiving messages almost the same way you do when texting with friends.

This goes from the hotelier and the guest sides; if you send a message and start a conversation, you build a connection and engage with guests. An excellent way is to reach guests through several communication channels (such as WhatsApp, SMS, etc.) rather than simply e-mail. This has proven to have 8 times higher conversion rates.

4. Make the Guest Feel in Control

Enable guests to have full access to every single detail of their reservation and events in the hotel at all times. This should not be all the information regarding the booking, but also for additional services and information or any other relevant access they need. In this way, they feel safe and in control.

One way you can do this is with Bookboost’s Guest Webb App, where guests can access all the information they need without downloading or installing anything.

From Reactive to Proactive – the Key to a Successful Guest Journey

Using a chatbot allows you to ensure your routine operations run smoothly and react to what guests want to know efficiently.

However, by complementing it with other tools that personalize guests’ experience further, you can have a holistic approach, take care of the whole guest journey and make them feel special. You increase guest satisfaction, loyalty, and revenue opportunities by making them feel heard and seen.

Now it is all about taking the right steps. Do you have the right tools to make it happen?

Free Guide: How to Personalize the Guest Journey for the 2023 Guests