What was predicted to be a $700 billion industry in 2020 is now estimated to be $396 billion in 2020. It is also 42.1% less than the previous year.

However, the travel and hotel industry is opening up as people are starting to travel. And to make the most out of this opportunity after a difficult year, hotels must understand that traveller expectations and demands have changed and they MUST boost guest confidence even during these times of COVID chaos.

In this article, we are going to look at some of the effective strategies on how to regain customer confidence post-Covid-19 and increase guest satisfaction.

Sentimental and Behavioral Changes in Consumer

Before we jump right into ‘how to boost guest confidence in covid 19’, let us understand how the consumer and traveler preferences have changed amid the COVID phase.

Be it about buying groceries at the local market, commencing work from the office, commuting in a metro, or even for a morning walk, people are thinking twice and more. And it’s the same when it comes to travel. There is a dramatic change in consumer behaviour — new habits and expectations have arisen, and spending patterns have changed.

However, there are also groups of people who are not seeking reasonable flights and hotels; rather, they are now more concerned about safety while boarding a flight or checking into a hotel.

So here’s what savvy hoteliers should do when it comes to reviving their hotel business and serve guests:

• Understand and respond to consumers’ changing behaviours
• Reimagine the customer experience and re-engage with customers 
• Take the necessary steps to build and maintain the trust of their guests
• Improve operational agility and financial resilience
• Turn to new-age technologies to cope with the new-normal challenges

Ways to Boost Guest Confidence and Enhance Trust

2020 has dramatically transformed travel and tourism. People are skeptical about travelling and staying in hotels. But there are ways to cope with it. 

Here are some strategies to boost guest confidence

1. Understand Your Guests’ Concerns

Empathy is said to be one of the most important traits of a business. When you intertwine empathy and business, you are able to nurture in a genuine way, you’re able to connect with the customers on an emotional level, and build a relationship.

This also applies to hotel businesses. Let folks know that your hotel understands the social circumstances and cares about the guests as well as the staff. 

How to do that? There are several ways to connect with your guests and one of the most effective ones is your social channels. Drop lines to your guests about the steps you are taking at your hotel to cope with the situation — be it retaining employees while there are major layoffs happening in the industry or be it offering discounted prices to your guests or be it just a personalized empathetic email to your guests.

Word to The Wise: Do not overplay empathy. Make sure your messages are brief and on-point and actually deliver value. Just like hotel businesses, individuals are going through tough times as well, so connect with them genuinely.

2. Educate Guests About the Circumstances In-Play

Marketing is your magic wand when you are on your hotel revival journey. But while you’re investing a lot of time and effort in marketing tactics like social media, websites, etc., do not forget to explore the education domain.

Without an inch of doubt, educating customers is one of the best ways to build relationships and develop customer loyalty.

Use your marketing channels like social media, blogs, emails, newsletters, etc. to educate your guests. Tell them about all the changes you are making to your hotel operations — whether it’s about the stay duration, safety protocols, facility closures, customer service availability, or anything that you feel your guests should know about.

That’s not all. Many hotels educate their guests about their property and services. However, it shouldn’t always be about that; delivering knowledge and value of things outside your business is also a good practice.

For example: Send a newsletter to your guests that include each and every information about all the tourist destinations that are safe to travel amid this COVID episode. Or, publish a blog on “What to look for when booking a hotel during COVID” or “Top safety measures every guest should take while staying in a hotel.” Just make sure, you are not driving them to book a room with you, but also delivering genuine value.

Remember, Empathy?

3. Assure Excellent Hospitality

Lately, many hotels have reduced the level of service quality. There are several reasons for hotels to take this step. It could be because of the cash crunch, employee layoffs or the lack of necessary technologies in their hotel infrastructure.  

But whatever is the reason, it is something that hotels should avoid. Hotels must stay true to their services and continue to deliver at the same level. Tweaks and adjustments in your operations can be done, but eliminating a service might adversely affect the brand image.

Even though there’s upheaval in how you operate, when you continue to provide the same level of services, you enhance the guest trust and definitely boost guest confidence.

This is where certain steps like operational adjustments and technological inclusions come into the picture. And that brings us to the next point.

4. Serve Guests in New Ways

Hospitality is one such industry that involves a lot of human touches and this is what makes it special. But the ongoing pandemic has dramatically changed everything.

Physical distancing is now our shared reality and hotels are advised to incorporate all the social distancing protocols. It seems like the new normal is the biggest test the hospitality industry has ever faced.

Managing an entire hotel without little to no human contact is definitely a challenge. But the hotel industry is getting back on its feet and they are starting to efficiently manage all of it.  

Here are some of the things you can do to serve your guests safely and boost guest confidence in a COVID-19 environment.

• Invest in health and safety: It’s not just a protocol, but even guests will demand higher hygiene standards. Install hand sanitizing stations, place masks, and even PPE kits (if required) in every possible corner of your hotel.
• Minimize the use of elevators: It is important for hotel owners to reduce the use of the elevator. However, if minimizing the use of elevators isn’t possible, hotels can set certain guidelines to regulate.

For example, hotels can set protocols such as more than two people are not allowed inside the lift, use of a mask (one time use) inside the elevator is mandatory, guests must stand on designated spots marked inside the lift, etc.

• Cleaning with colours: It is a colour-coded program where housekeeping inventory such as rags, towels and cloths with different colours are used to clean different items.
• Alternative dining options: Even if you have dining facilities at your hotel, try to look for an alternative. Delivering food to the room is also a good idea.
• The 24 hours window: It is a good practice to hold a room for at least 24 hours when a guest checks out. This would give the housekeeping staff enough time to clean and sanitize the room for the next check-in.
• Contactless check-in: Touch-free hospitality is considered to be a great option for hotels amid COVID. By incorporating such a system, you can mitigate the spread of the virus. (We will talk about the technology aspect in the next point.)

Word to The Wise

While you are doing everything possible to make your hotel the safest place for your guests and increase guest satisfaction, there is one more thing you must keep in mind — DO NOT get offended by harsh reviews.

People have a completely different sentiment at this point in time, so they might not be happy with all your efforts and can leave a negative review. But do not dwell over it and get offended. Rather, take a look at what the guest has complained about and try to fix it

5. Incorporate New-Age Technologies

One of the imperative things to consider when you’re trying to boost guest confidence is to turn to technology. Hotels must invest in digitalization as it would help them make their daily operations efficient and deliver a great guest experience.

• Contactless solutions: Many hotels around the world are doubling down on contactless check-ins and check-outs. The need for this solution is much more than ever.
  
  When you have a touch-free solution in place, you allow your guests to bypass the front desk — guests can check-in, choose their room, access their room, and check-out. There’s little to no human contact involved.
  
• Optical character recognition (OCR) technology: OCR technology helps in converting text into a machine-readable form. This technology can help you make your front desk operations faster.

For example, when a guest walks into your hotel to check-in, the front desk staff manually enters their details in the system. But when you have an OCR system in place, the front desk staff can simply scan the guest ID and auto-fill the required information. Also, the ID doesn’t have to change hands. Zero contact!

• Kiosk: These are another great device that makes hospitality really simple. When you have multiple kiosks placed at your property, guests can self-check-in — the hotel staff doesn’t have to come in contact with them.

#ProTip: Equip the kiosks with a thermal scanner to check guests’ temperature and OCR to scan IDs.

• Mobile App: Mobile app has been around for a pretty long time. However, hotels are now realizing their importance. A hotel PMS app acts as a blessing to both the hotel and its guests. It not only helps hotels streamline many operations but also helps in enhancing the guest experience.

The post 5 Steps to Cultivate Guest Confidence Post COVID-19 appeared first on eZee Absolute.

The entire world today has turned upside down by the COVID-19 outbreak. Earlier this year, hoteliers were planning about their revenue strategies for 2020, searching for the emerging travel trends and more. But, who would’ve imagined that 3 months into this new decade, global travel will be shut down? 

Nonetheless, deep down we all are aware that the travel and hotel industry is the most affected one currently. And, we see no sign of hope when people would resume travel. 

So, in this blog, we’re going to talk about how to lift your hotel business after COVID19 outbreak.

What is the impact of COVID-19 on the hospitality industry?

The sad reality of COVID19 is that it is spreading quickly and will continue to spread for a while. All the more, not even WHO (World Health Organisation) knows how many people will be infected (or will pass away), or when this will come to an end.

Well, Neil Patel presented the impact of COVID19 on the traffic of various industries. Check the graph below: 

Clearly, the impact of COVID19 on the travel, and eventually, the hotel industry is as deadly as the virus. Air travel, transportation, and borders are shut. Bookings have been cancelled, people are continuously asking for a refund and there are no new bookings currently. 

Also, the world’s most crowded destinations are now seen as empty. As most of them have postponed their travel plans or are not even thinking about going anywhere for now. 

And, the peak seasons have turned out to be the weak ones as the world is under home quarantine. 

But, “Success always lies on the other side of the shore.” 

So, even if the worst hits you now; stay calm to witness an enriching scenario ahead. 

What should hotels do to survive COVID-19? 

As we see, economies are going down, people might lose their jobs, businesses might close down and the list of consequences is endless. Even business travelers, for a while, would prefer to have online meetings rather than one-to-one. 

So to cope up with these crisis, hotels like you would be taking various steps these days; which look most promising and would help your property survive this crisis in the long run. Some of them would be: 

• Implementing cost control
• Adopting technology and automation
• Focusing on staff training 

Further, here are some more and effective survival tips for hotels during COVID19. 

So, now is the best time to stand strong, take suitable measures to lift your hotel business after COVID19 and be ready to welcome your guests again.

Why is it important for hotels to focus on business after COVID-19?

In the current situation, the most important thing is to “survive” and if you are able to do so, you have achieved your milestone of success. 

Adding on to this, it is also not a hidden fact that once this gets better, it is going to be even more difficult for you to attract guests to your property again.

And so, it is very important for you to plan for the future of your business. 

Hence, by the time this pandemic recedes; you should be well prepared to have your business back on track.

How to lift your hotel business after COVID19 outbreak?

Presently, while you are in home quarantine, it is the best time for you to plan, strategize and prepare yourself for a post COVID-19 era.

We know, it will be more challenging for you to reach out to new guests than to keep current ones. So, if you remain silent now and prefer not to stay in touch with your guests; then surely you’ll be forgotten by the time COVID-19 is under control. 

Here are a few things we recommend:

Let us help you with each one.

1. Apply low season strategies

Well, at the beginning of this year, you might have worked on your peak and weak seasons. But, who knew that this year would be a weak season year entirely. And we know it is difficult to achieve full hotel occupancy during such times, but this too will change soon. RIGHT? 

For that reason, applying your low season strategies after this pandemic would be the smart thing to do. So, make sure you do this with some creativity.

For example, highlight unique amenities of your hotel, offer competitive promotions, organize events like music concerts (after public gatherings are allowed), food festivals and such likes. 

If you plan this correctly, then you will definitely gain profits and stand ahead of your competitors in no time post this phase. 

Tip: We have some effective ideas to increase your low season occupancy. 

2. Get listed on OTAs

Your presence is one of the most important things to consider post COVID-19 era. If you are available for your guests where they want, then it is the best and most simple way to get connected with them and enhance your bookings as well.

So, though you might be focusing on reducing your expenses, but it’s the best time to get listed on as many OTAs as possible. Having more OTA connections will help you to generate maximum revenue as well as reach out to more guests.

You must have already been listed on many OTAs. But there’s no harm in getting listed on a few more if they match your property type and get you bookings at a good cost. 

Moreover, getting listed isn’t the only important thing. Instead, you should also focus on showcasing the same number of total rooms, star rating, room types, cancellation policy, and check-in and check-out time on all the OTAs. 

Tip: It is most important to select the right OTAs for your property. Also, always consider listing your hotel on more than 8 OTAs. 

3. Improve OTA rankings

Nowadays, it is essential for you to take steps in improving your OTA rankings. Having a good ranking on OTAs will inturn lead your guests to select your property over the others (or your competitors). 

Naturally, the better ranking you have on the OTAs, the more bookings you would receive. You cannot ignore this if you want to lift your hotel business after COVID19.  

Moreover, the important thing to note is – the process of improving your OTA rankings is a continuous one. You cannot leave it after executing all the required steps just once. You need to constantly analyze the results of your steps, and continue with those that works the best for you. 

Your market managers would also be available at such times – so discuss your plans with them, and adopt what you think is the most effective idea. 

Tip: Implement the best ways to improve your OTA rankings. 

4. Focus on your online reputation

Your reviews and ratings would take a center stage more than ever before post COVID19. Are your premises safe and sanitized? Your guests would want to know about it.

So, make sure you closely monitor how your brand is being projected and perceived by existing guests as well as potential guests. Working on your reputation most definitely helps with long term benefits. So, even if you haven’t started with it until now, it is not late to do so. 

You can reach out to your past guests to give you reviews online; focusing on the cleanliness part if possible.

Thus, let your guests talk about their stay at your hotel on social platforms. This will ensure safety in the minds of your potential guests that are planning to book with you in the future.

For now, start responding to your reviews which are left unanswered; this will be beneficial to acquire new guests as well. 

Tip: You can have our ready-to-use review response templates to respond to your reviews online.  

5. Participate in OTA promotions

Well, in the pre-COVID times, until international travel was shut down in most countries; OTAs were running various deals, offers, promotions to promote hotels and acquire bookings. 

We understand that this would start (albeit with a fresh approach) after COVID19 recedes. So, this is one thing you should participate in. It will help in increasing your bookings as well as improving your OTA rankings.

Such discounts and free deals on OTAs will make your property preferable over your competitors. 

Do keep an eye on updates from OTAs when travelling resumes – they may push out new rules and protocols for promotions or bookings and you’d be able to get a clear idea on what steps to take. 

6. Enroll on metasearch engines

Meta search engines help travellers compare hotel room rates on different OTAs; and make a purchasing decision. This is not going to change after COVID-19.

Getting enrolled on metasearch engines will help to drive you more direct bookings, expand your reach and enhance your revenue.

Below are some popular metasearch engines you can enroll into:

• TripAdvisor
• Google Hotel Ads
• Trivago

Moreover, listing on these metasearch engines will not only boost your visibility, but also improve your brand value.

Tip: You can find effective ways hike your hotels’ revenue using Google Hotel Ads.

7. Make use of emails 

Email marketing has proved to be one of the best ways to engage and nurture readers.

Currently, you can reach out to your past guests via emails and stay connected with them. This will spread your brand’s awareness among your guests; and post COVID19, they will be nurtured enough to book at your property if they need to.

And, post the crisis, you can focus on emails like your hotel reopening date, special offers, deals, promotions and more.

Tip: Practice this exercise in intervals. Don’t send too many emails as they might seem irrelevant. For now, prefer sending it once in two weeks. 

8. Implement proper rates, discounts and promotions

Adopting a systematic pricing strategy is the key to get your hotel business on track. So, at present understand and focus on your guests’ conditions.

Post this phase when people resume to travel; the first thing they would prefer is an affordable stay or travel package. 

So, be prepared with some effective and reasonable pricing packages and discount deals. This will definitely help your hotel to receive bookings. 

You should start acquiring guests at a lower price than what you used to offer previously. Make sure you attract more guests by giving out better deals than what your competitors offer.

We know this would cost you high, but with time it will get your business back on track. 

Tip: Implement proper thought process on your hotel pricing strategies.

9. Create proper cancellation policies

A proper and fool-proof cancellation policy is a MUST before rolling out your availability on your website as well as other channels. This is going to be an important factor to get bookings after this outbreak.

Try not to be over flexible and ultra-strict with your policy. Having proper policies can get you more confirmed bookings and even reduce your cancellation ratio.

For example, you can implement a cancellation policy as below:

Tip: Learn the best ways to reduce your last minute no-show and booking cancellations.

10. Start social media marketing

Social media is the best way to get more bookings, improve brand value as well as connect and attract more guests. 

More than 60% of internet users research online before they make a booking or purchase travel plans.

JQ Digital

So, it is important for you to be socially active and regularly post about your offers, combo packages, and deals on all your social media profiles. However, if you haven’t been active on these platforms, then now is the best time to start. 

Currently, you can post about the steps you are taking to keep your property safe and sanitized. This will definitely help you in the long run when you want to lift your hotel business after COVID19.

We also have some ready-to-use social media templates that will be beneficial for you to do so.

This is one such powerful platform that will not only help you to connect with potential customers but also promote your property in a much more effective and affordable way.

Tip: Start applying these simple steps of social media marketing for your property. 

11. Optimize website and SEO performance

While staying at home during this lockdown, your hotel website and SEO is one thing you can start working on. An optimized hotel website can improve your hotels’ ranking and visibility on Google, Yahoo, and other search engines.

As observed, most of your audience lands on your website from the search engines. Hence, focus on appearing at the top of the search engine results. Perform good SEO to improve your website’s performance.

Both these practices provide results in the long term. So, if you execute these now, you’ll be seeing good results by the time COVID19 is over.

12. Train your staff

Now and even after the COVID-19 era, your staff is the ultimate point of contact for your guests. Thus, it is very essential for you to make them aware and train them for delivering excellent guest experience. 

Do this by conducting online training sessions for all your staff. Also, if you are using a hotel technology, get them trained on that as well. This will help you to stay engaged and guide them on ways to improve your hotel operations as well as deliver the best guest experience. 

All the more, make a list of all your pending and neglected tasks that you were unable to finish earlier. Start taking them up one by one. Further, communicate with your staff and take ideas from them as well – you might get some good tips in doing so. 

Tip: We have some best crafted ways that will help you to enhance your guest experience.

13. Ensure proper sanitation and cleanliness

During or post this outbreak, the first and foremost priority of your guests would be proper hygiene, sanitation, and cleanliness.

For this, do educate your staff about the preventive measures that they should take on your hotel premises. Moreover, sanitize your hotel thoroughly. Install the alcohol-based disinfectant hand rub dispensers at maximum areas of your property.

Also, post the crisis, even when things have settled down, give FREE masks and sanitizers to all your guests as a safety measure; be it at your reception or in the room.

And while doing all of these, highlight about it on your website, social media and every possible link that reaches to your guests. 

This will assure your guests a sense of trust in your hotel and make them aware that their stay will be safe and pleasant. 

Tip: Find some must-have things to do to keep your hotel safe from COVID19.

14. Connect with travel agents

Travel agents are a source of extra income when bookings from OTAs, meta search engines and other such likes don’t work out well. Getting connected with them will not only help in showcasing your presence to your guests’ but will also reap you more reservations. 

We are sure you might have been tied up with several travel agents already. However, if you did not consider this as a strategy till now; then it’s time you should! Also, look forward to getting connected to new as well as with inter-country travel agents (those are less impacted with COVID-19). 

Inform them about all the sanitation measures taken at your hotel and ensure that they convey the same to your potential clients.

Moreover, prepare a list of the ones that have got you more profits. Make sure you offer them best deals as well as flexible pricing options and eliminate the ones that seem not profit making. 

15. Monitor your guests’ travel history

Well, as you are aware that this deadly virus has affected the world mainly due to international travel and community transmission. And, we are sure you don’t want your hotel to be in the headlines post this era.

So, to assure your guests’ safety, it is your utmost priority to keep a track of your international guests as well as their travel history. 

Also, for time being, you can allot separate rooms to your international and local guests or even have separate floors for them. Well, we know you can’t stop them from exploring other areas of your hotel but definitely you can take preventive steps. RIGHT?

Hence, taking such precautionary measures and having a list of such travellers will also help you to keep proper sanitation of that room or area around it. 

This will pertain your guests from the fear of getting in contact with the virus and enjoy a scare-free stay at your property. Basically, this is just an added precaution that you can take.

Check out a quick video here about the above mentioned strategies.

Frequently asked questions

Let us guide you by answering a few of your questions that might arise in relation to this blog:

The post 15 Strategies to Lift Your Hotel Business After COVID-19 Outbreak appeared first on eZee Absolute.