hospitality Archives - Page 12 of 14 - Public Relations, Advertising & Social Media

Five Tips for Better Email Marketing in Hospitality

Posted on September 14, 2017January 9, 2020 by Jaimie Onasch

INTRODUCTION

Ctrl email - keyboard key Effective email marketing campaigns can help your hotel build long-term relationships with guests by making personal connections, understanding their interests and establishing trust. They are also good for your bottom line.

According to a 2016 survey conducted by the Data & Marketing Association (DMA) and Direct Metric, email marketing had a median ROI of 122 percent, which was more than four times higher than social media, direct mail or paid search efforts. As with any strategy, the best email marketing for hotels starts with a well-designed plan.

Following are five tips for successful email marketing in the hotel industry: Continue reading “Five Tips for Better Email Marketing in Hospitality” →

How to Handle Common Guest Complaints

Posted on August 11, 2017 by Jaimie Onasch

INTRODUCTION

free guest services photo (pexels) In hospitality, customer complaints are to some extent, inevitable. While complaints may seem like a burden, you should embrace them as a way to collect direct feedback about how your operation is running. Complaints can provide insight to a problem with facilities, services, staff, training, internal processes or even marketing.

Furthermore, guest complaints offer an opportunity to correct immediate issues, restore goodwill and protect your reputation. You will not always get this chance. Only 1 in 27 customers will voice their concerns to you directly, according to the White House Office of Consumer Affairs. The rest will simply keep quiet and stay with your competitors in the future.

Guest feedback should be encouraged in your hotel or resort, and any problems should be identified and resolved in a prompt and fair manner. Here are some tips on where to start.

DEVELOP A CUSTOMER COMPLAINT HANDLING PROCEDURE

Demonstrate a commitment to complaint management by making it a priority in your hotel. Create policies and procedures for logging, categorizing, tracking and resolving guest complaints for the five main ways complaints are expressed–in person, via email, online (including social media and review sites), over the phone or by mail. A clear, flexible and open plan is best.

Share your strategy with front-of-house and customer service staff and establish incentives for all personnel to strive for guest satisfaction. Emphasize the accountability of individual employees and give them the skills and confidence needed to identify and resolve common issues.

Hilton, for example, has established brand standard documents and service recovery guidelines for each of its brands and regions. One policy specifically focuses on onsite complaint management for elite status guests. It defines what compensation means, establishes a timeline for record-keeping and follow-up and even outlines specific plans of action for various recovery scenarios.

STRATEGIES TO HANDLE CUSTOMER COMPLAINTS

Best practices for handling customer complaints involve prompt acknowledgement, reliable tracking and timely resolution. Your communications staff–especially the people who manage your online presence–should follow these steps:

Monitor online complaint channels. Rather than expressing complaints privately, many guests share their experiences on public social media platforms and online review sites. These should be monitored frequently for guest feedback, as they can have a much larger impact on your hotel’s reputation than more traditional forms of complaint communication. Create email alerts and push notifications to help keep track of this information.

Acknowledge the complaint. Effectively handling customer complaints first requires understanding their foundation. Negative feedback should be shared with the appropriate personnel to gain insight about the underlying issue. Clear up any areas of confusion and respond to the guest in a polite, professional and timely manner. Trip Advisor recommends replying to all reviews within 24 hours, and several social media sites encourage a response within a few hours.

Apologize and take ownership of mistakes. Never underestimate the importance of an apology. Guests are more willing to forgive an establishment that offers an apology as opposed to being compensated alone. Thank the guest for taking the time to voice his or her concerns, recognize that he or she has suffered an inconvenience and take responsibility for shortcomings as an establishment.

Outline a solution and follow up. Explain the steps your hotel plans to take to fix the problem and provide a timeline for resolution. When possible, move the conversation offline and make the guest a partner in the problem-solving process. Monitor the progress of the corrective action and check back with the guest.

Invite the guest back. Once the source of the complaint has been identified and resolved, invite the guest back so he or she can experience the improvements you made. If appropriate, offer an incentive, such as a discounted room rate or a special offer. By taking this next step, you may turn a dissatisfied guest into a loyal customer or even a brand advocate.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Revelation PR, Advertising & Social Media offers hotels, B&Bs and resorts services related to media relations, community relations, branding, group sales, SEO/SEM and social media management. Please contact Brian Lee, brian [at] experiencerevelation.com or 608-622-7767.

How Hotels Can Measure Internal Communication Efforts

Posted on July 18, 2017 by Taylor Kennedy

INTRODUCTION

A study by Staffbase revealed that good internal communication provides constant feedback and purpose, which increases employee engagement, which in turn decreases turnover rates and ultimately saves the company money.

At the same time, when your hotel employees are happy, so are your guests, according to Forbes.

Here are ways hotels can measure its internal communication efforts.

COLLECT OUTPUT METRICS

Communication efforts–specifically output metrics–need to be measurable. For example, did your hotel’s employee newsletter have a high open rate? Did your hotel’s employee group on Facebook have an increase in page views? Knowing these key performance indicators (KPIs) will help see if progress is being made toward your goals.

Here are various metrics you can collect and how to collect them:

Awareness: Post/page views (Insights on Facebook, Google Analytics for your website)
Interest: Open and click rates (all third-party email providers, like MailChimp, offer analytics for each email)
Engagement: Comments and feedback (if you use tools such as Trello, Yammer or Slack, how often are employees adding input?)

Make sure to act on this data. For example, if you see a downward trend in open rates, experiment with sending communications at different times of day, or change the subject line.

SET YOUR OUTCOMES

Metrics by themselves mean nothing. For example, did a higher open-rate for your internal emails lead to staff better parroting your key messages? Ultimately, you’re looking for behavior changes that benefit your hotel.

As Dr. Stephen Covey once said, “begin with the end in mind.” Create your outcomes clearly, prior to executing any internal communication strategies. What does your hotel want to achieve? Win a Torchbearer Award? Keep turnover to less than 31 percent? The more and more your KPIs improve, the more likely you are to reach your outcomes.

Let’s say you wanted to increase morale and employees’ confidence in management. Your HR and communications teams could survey employees or conduct focus groups to gain deeper insight into their feelings and what resonates with them. The results can help you make informed decisions and steer you in the right direction. A tactic could include a weekly employee showcase on the Intranet site, and a KPI could include reduced complaints.

In a case study by Marriott, one of its business models showcases how they value its employees/internal communication, ultimately leading to financial success: “Take care of the associates, the associates will take care of the guests and the guests will come back again and again.”