How Hotel Pre-Arrival Messaging Can Boost Its Operational Efficiency

What’s in it for me?

If you’re looking to capture your guests’ attention right from before they arrive at your doorstep, this article is for you. From the right kind of messages to be dropped at the right timing, this post will teach you how to up your pre-arrival messaging game both externally and internally to provide an unparalleled guest experience.

‍

‍

Enhancing operational efficiency is a must for a top-notch and faultless experience right from the pre-arrival stage in guest cycle. Hence, optimal utilization of resources at hand, especially with features like hotel pre-arrival messaging can not only help increase operational efficiency but, in turn, enhance the guest experience.

‍

BECAUSE…

‍

To succeed in the fast-paced hospitality industry, a hotel needs to be as efficient as possible when it comes to its operational capabilities. 

‍

What Is The Hotel Guest Cycle?

‍

The guest cycle can be regarded as the distinct or different stages of interaction between the guests and the hotel. Based on the activities involved and the different stages of interaction, the guest cycle can be broadly classified into the following four stages:

‍

• Pre-arrival
• Arrival 
• Mid-Stay
• Departure & Post Departure

‍

What Is Pre-Arrival In Hotel?

‍

‍

It is important to remember that the pre-arrival stage is the first point of contact between the guest and the hotel.

It also forms the initial impression of the hotel in the minds of the guests and stands to impact the online reputation of the hotel in the long run. 

Nowadays, guests prefer a personalized service and quick response to their queries. Hotel pre-arrival messaging can help you in this regard by helping to create a great first impression on your guests by responding to their queries instantly. 

These queries may range from a wide variety of issues- something as obvious as the room availability, shuttle service, the type of breakfast to weather details, exact location, value-added services, etc. All of this provides a unique opportunity to solidify the reputation of the hotel with proper handling of the entire guest cycle journey even before the visitor books with you. 

‍

A Pre-Arrival Checklist For Providing The Perfect Guest Experience

‍

‍

The pre-arrival procedure in hotel begins the very moment a potential guest comes in touch with the hotel. This helps hotels lay the groundwork for providing their guests with memorable stays. 

However, ignorance of this aspect can lead to serious consequences. To ensure that your establishment belongs to the very first category, it becomes necessary for you to incorporate this pre-arrival checklist and ensure proper implementation close to the arrival of the guests to enhance operational efficiency:

‍

• Optimized for mobiles: 70% of all customers do their research on a smartphone.

Mobiles have become one of the most relied upon tools for guests all over the world to research their destination and book hotels among others. It is the responsibility of the hotel to ensure everything is optimized well for mobile devices.

‍

• Customized communications: To ensure an unhindered and smooth guest experience, it is important for you as a hotelier to establish a clear line of communication between both parties. The pre-arrival touchpoint should emphasize the individuality aspect of the guests instead of anonymity. 

Using the first name of the guests during the course of interaction while referring to their itinerary along with customizing the amenities and attractions according to their preferences can help create and maintain a great relationship. For example, offering a family any information related to a pool or local restaurant can be more beneficial than offering them a romantic dinner for two. 

‍

• Reservation confirmation: The first point of interaction between the guests and the hotels is usually when guests visit your website or book a stay. The aim should be to keep your potential guests engaged and provide them with information that might come in handy while attending to their queries instantly. 

This is usually a make-or-break point for hotels as the majority of the hotels lose their clients at this particular stage even before securing a booking. 

Hotel pre-arrival messaging can help you a great deal in this regard along with attending to the specific needs and wants. In addition, this will not only help you secure more bookings for your hotel but also ensure that your staff is utilized more efficiently and, in turn, boost operational efficiency. 

‍

• Strategic upselling: Effective usage of a pre-arrival strategy holds the potential to significantly improve the quality of customer service while simultaneously increasing the revenue of the hotel. 

Having a positive impression among your guests can help you strategically upsell features and add-ons that might help enhance their experience. The offers presented to your guests would feel more like an upgrade instead of a cheap sales tactic. 

‍

• Scheduling verification: The very last pre-arrival communication should be sent on the day of their arrival or perhaps the day before (in short, ahead of time). Confirming reservations or reminding them of the same helps remind your guests of your organizational policy for check-in along with subtly emphasizing that you are ready and eager to serve them. 

‍

• Offering mobile check-in: If you have excelled in the pre-arrival process, a guest will walk through the doors expecting a seamless experience. 

Using mobile technology and various technological tools such as hotel pre-arrival messaging and express check-in facility will help the guests to either avoid the front desk or expedite this interaction by confirming the fact that your hotel has worked so hard to cultivate this aspect beautifully in advance.

‍

How Automated Guest Messaging Facilitates Communication

‍

‍

As the hospitality industry is moving toward emotions and emphasizing the guest and their needs, the host's ability to communicate is becoming increasingly important. To forge a meaningful experience that will resonate with guests and turn them into loyal customers for life, you should focus on authentic in-person interactions and personalized communication. 

Guests expect immediacy, whether it’s quick to search and book options, respond to their pre-stay or in-stay inquiries, or deal with cancellations. However, hotels often fail to anticipate the needs and expectations of the guests at the very first point of interaction, namely the pre-arrival stage. 

‍

Pre-arrival communication solutions such as hotel pre-arrival messaging or automated guest messaging allow optimal utilization of available resources by engaging with the potential guests at the pre-arrival stage and remaining connected through the process of the guest journey. 

Guest messaging solutions give the additional boost hotels need to secure bookings, manage online check-in, and provide guest services digitally. Moreover, it helps in establishing a clear line of communication between the hotel and the guests and helps serve your customers swiftly.

‍

‍

How Automating Pre-Arrival Welcome Messages Can Amplify Guest Experience

‍

‍

Today's guests are not just looking for a roof over their heads or delicious food but a unique experience. Emotions crystallize as one of the most important factors for the individual well-being of guests. Therefore, the hospitality industry must emphasize creating experience-oriented services. 

To create conscious and positive emotions for guests, the entire sensory spectrum must be activated while considering verbal and non-verbal communication. Because only emotionally charged experiences succeed in anchoring themselves in the long-term memory of guests, creating guest satisfaction and loyalty is significant for generating a decisive competitive advantage.

An entire generation of guests prefers not to pick up the phone to call the reception. 

‍

They are also not accustomed to waiting for someone to answer a question about something as simple as a WiFi password. Pre-stay communication solutions can easily deal with this aspect of the stay by letting the hotels not only address the queries of the guests but also provide additional information such as the WiFi password, relevant offers, and so on. 

Just a decade or so back, hotels had to call each of their guests respectively ahead of the reservation to get a confirmation from their end. It would consume a lot of time which could have been utilized better. In addition, some guests would remain unreachable as their calls would go unanswered. 

‍

However, such instances are a thing of the past as modern guest messaging solution provides you with the opportunity to reach your guests simply via text message. Hotel pre-arrival messaging allows you to remind your guests regarding their booking and confirm their reservation while simultaneously preparing for their arrival. 

As if this isn’t enough, hotels can also schedule these pre-arrival messages ahead of time for the day they desire to let their guests know they are expecting them at their property.

‍

‍

The following are the areas where one could maintain efficiency by scheduling pre-arrival messages ahead of time:

‍

1. Scheduling Messages To Be Sent On The Day Of Arrival

Hotel: Dear Ms. Smith, we look forward to welcoming you to Brownpoint Hotel today. Feel free to text or call us on this number if you have any specific questions or special requests to be accommodated during your stay. As a friendly reminder, the check-in time is 3 pm. If you plan to arrive late, please let us know in advance to prepare accordingly. Warmest regards, Jennifer- the Brownpoint team….

Guest: Thank you, Jennifer. We should be there by there by 2:30 pm

‍

2. Alerting Hotels About Cancellations Ahead Of Time To Fill In Rooms With New Reservations

Instead of losing out on new reservations due to last-minute cancellations, with hotel pre-arrival messaging, properties can deal better with surprise cancellations. In addition, they can provide a better experience, and accommodate changes in plans, thereby anticipating the needs of the guests better. 

‍

3. Prioritizing Housekeeping Operations

Gaining an insight into guests’ travel logistics and the estimated time of arrival, housekeeping can schedule effectively the room preparation timings, setting the stage for a flawless check-in by making seamless provisions. 

‍

‍

Benefits Of Hotel Pre-Arrival Messaging

‍

• Less manual/strenuous effort
• Reduction in the number of phone call inquiries
• Improved operational efficiency
• Streamlined housekeeping operations
• Personalized guest experience
• Improved brand reputation

‍

Enhancing Operational Efficiency Through Automated Guest Messaging 

‍

Travelers look forward to a friendly, instant, and consistent service when it comes to hotels. Guests are at the center of attraction in the hospitality industry as they are considered to be the king and the aim is to take all the possible measures to keep them happy and satisfied. 

However, deploying pre-arrival messaging allows hotels to deal with such instances swiftly and instantly through a mere text message. Leveraging messaging technology and system integrations to deliver a better guest experience can be greatly beneficial for both the guests and hotel staff. 

‍

‍

This is a win-win situation as guests get faster and more personalized service while hotels maximize operating efficiencies and workflows to reduce resources and costs. 

By leveraging guest information, the hotel staff can send personalized messages based on the guest profile and utilize the data to ease the guest arrival procedure at the pre-arrival stage. 

Automated pre-arrival messaging solutions also help focus on the entire process of the guest journey mapping. In addition, this saves precious time for the guests coupled with the fact that it minimizes meaningless human interaction. 

Moreover, hotel pre-arrival messaging helps provide a contactless service along with the option to reach out whenever your guests need you. Another important aspect of guest messaging is that it allows your guests to communicate in their preferred language and effectively removes any language barriers.

Ultimately, the implementation of automation relieves properties from the hassle of micro-managing things, thereby focusing on areas that require real work.

‍

‍

Conclusion

‍

Hospitality institutions have been forced to cut costs to survive and provide quality service with limited resources. On top of that, it is important to remain in touch with the ever-changing consumer psychology whereby people expect a personalized, smooth, hassle-free, and contactless experience. 

‍

In this regard, hotels can immensely benefit by utilizing various tools such as automated guest messaging and hotel pre-arrival messaging which aim to engage potential guests and attempt to convert them into long-lasting clients. 

‍

This can be regarded as one of those essential tools that can help address a wide variety of issues such as engaging potential guests when they explore your property as a viable destination, providing instant responses to customer queries, being available 24x7, providing a list of pre-arrival activities and additional information such as WiFi password, ongoing offers, local tourist attractions and so on. 

‍

With GuestTouch, Connect With Your Guests Even Before They Arrive

‍

‍

• Communicate with guests during the booking process with WebChat
• Connect with guests via text message pre-arrival
• Send concierge page with details your guests need
• Send your digital marketplace to upsell and sell your services and amenities

‍

‍And There Are Endless Possibilities!

‍