What is Guest Management?
In the hospitality industry, guest management encompasses a comprehensive set of strategies and procedures that an operations manager implements to ensure that each guest receives the experience they desire. This involves the effective allocation of available resources, technologies, and human capital while navigating the challenges of time constraints and operational pressures. By prioritizing guest satisfaction through meticulous planning and execution, hospitality managers can enhance service quality and foster positive guest relationships, ultimately contributing to the overall success of the establishment. Understanding the fundamentals of guest management allows us to recognize its critical role in today’s hospitality industry.
The Importance of Guest Management
McKinsey (2024) highlights a remarkable shift in consumer spending, with a growing emphasis on experiences over traditional goods. As people seek more meaningful engagements, experience-related spending is becoming a prominent part of discretionary budgets.
Employing strategies focused on delivering unforgettable experiences drives up cross-selling opportunities by up to a quarter and promotes an increase of as much as 30% in customer satisfaction and engagement (McKinsey, 2024).
Advancing into 2025, hotel managers should aim to make the best out of this consumer momentum, and one critical strategy is empowering your staff to deliver an excellent end-to-end guest journey.
With a solid understanding of guest management’s importance, let’s delve into practical strategies that managers can implement to leverage this knowledge.
What are the Actionable Strategies for Managers to Capture such Momentum?
As managers, your hotel may have a comprehensive PMS in place that houses a wealth of guest data. However, your staff may struggle to utilize this information effectively or may not be able to access it in a timely manner. This can happen for several reasons, such as a less user-friendly PMS, insufficient data capture that triggers services, multiple pathways within the system, or a general lack of proficiency among staff in navigating large volumes of data. These challenges prevent organizations from delivering the five essential attributes identified by Deloitte (2018): engage me, hear me, know me, empower me, and delight me.
Rest assured, here are the 3 outlined key points to empower your staff and enhance their ability to deliver a distinctive customer experience:
1. Train your staff to continuously develop a knowledge-based customer experience.
Your guests will feel like they are spoiled when your talents handle their needs before they even say a thing.
2. Establish clear procedures for data collection & cleaning and implement robust methods to consolidate guest information
In the hospitality industry, fetching the right guest profile is essential for delivering exceptional experiences. Often, staff inadvertently create multiple profiles for the same guest, leading to fragmented data and missed opportunities to cater to their preferences. To resolve this, managers must prioritize consolidating information into a single profile so your hotels can create personalized experiences that make each guest feel valued and enhance loyalty.
3. Empower your staff with the necessary tools
While most software in the market helps you manage your guest data, you may want to ensure a tool for your talents to pull guest data within seconds and work on top of it to gain a proper understanding of your guest and eventually provide a personalized experience.
Implementing these strategies will not only enable your hotel to effortlessly provide a personalized guest experience as an essential component of your daily service but also significantly boost guest satisfaction. An example of such an experience would be outlined as follows, inspiring you to implement these strategies in your hotel.
Crafting Guest Experience in 2025
Pre-arrival: laying the groundwork
While your staff may handle dozens or even hundreds of guests each day, effectively managing guest expectations is crucial. Every guest arrives with unique preferences—their desired room ambiance, a refreshing welcome drink, or specific dietary needs. It’s essential for your team not only to meet these expectations but also to exceed them with warmth and personal care. If you choose to go the extra mile, consider sending a well-tailored and concise pre-arrival message to your guests. This message should express your excitement about their arrival and highlight any relevant experiences or offerings at your hotel rather than using a generic auto-generated message.
This approach becomes attainable when your organization effectively utilizes the customer data stored within your system. By streamlining this information into actionable insights, you can ensure that your front-line team has timely access to the details they need to create memorable experiences for each guest.
Neoma offers AI staff assistance, Gaia Pulse, designed to help your staff retrieve guest history from your PMS with simple prompts like, “Tell me more about Mr. Chan.” By doing so, your team can prepare adequately before your guests’ arrival, laying the groundwork for a seamless guest experience.
Arrival: greeting your guests by their name
As your lobby fills with arriving guests, timely service may become challenging for your team, potentially leaving some guests unattended. To address this, it’s crucial to prioritize effective coordination among your staff and concierge during peak lobby activity. By strategically positioning your team and leveraging real-time data insights, you can create a warm and inviting atmosphere that makes guests feel like their arrival was anticipated and valued.
As each guest enters your lobby, they should instantly feel at home. Imagine a staff member welcoming them with a warm smile, addressing them by name, and escorting them to the reception. This personalized approach elevates the guest experience far beyond a generic greeting. However, maintaining such personalized service can be challenging due to the constant flow of visitors and the limited staff at the front desk.
This level of personalized service can be made possible with Neoma’s AI-powered camera or using their Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) technology embedded in the room’s key card, which recognizes guests and connects to your PMS, POS, workforce tickets management systems, etc. This technology displays the guest’s profile on your staff’s screen, allowing them to greet the guest by name.
Post-arrival: exceptional experience with value-adding touches
Guests often crave more than just a place to stay; they seek immersive hospitality experiences that include indulging in spa treatments, lounging by the pool, or savoring meals at your restaurants. By reserving their favorite table at your seaview restaurant or offering their preferred drinks poolside, you create a truly regal experience. To deliver this level of personalized service, consider leveraging data-driven solutions that serve guests based on their journey. This strategic approach ensures that the right staff are in place to provide tailored experiences, making every guest feel truly valued.
A Case Study: how to transform guest experience through multiple touchpoints
Let’s take an example of a guest, Lucy Li, who is currently enjoying her inaugural stay at your hotel. The hotel is equipped with a variety of inter-connected solutions, including a guest management platform, AI cameras, and AI staff assistance. These tools work collaboratively to offer a knowledge-based, personalized guest experience.
Ms. Li has been staying for 2 days already, so you have been able to learn a few of her preferences, she frequents the gym in the mornings.
An illustration of this integration highlights the transformative impact of personalized service. Rather than asking, “May I have your room number?” your staff can engage more meaningfully by saying, “Can I get you an Early Grey with milk, or we also have an excellent energy boost smoothie?” This shift in approach not only elevates the level of guest management but also aligns with the concept of generating meaningful engagement that compels your guests’ discretionary budgets.
Furthermore, the potential for cross-selling is significantly enhanced through data insights. For instance, by recognizing Ms. Li as a fitness enthusiast, your staff can confidently and discreetly suggest a high-protein snack box, ensuring that the recommendations resonate with her interests. This typical but special interaction can also be extended to promote new offerings at your spa or restaurant. In this example, Ms. Li’s seamless and personalised journey creates 6 new personalisation and revenue opportunities.
The overarching benefit of this approach lies in empowering your staff with the knowledge derived from comprehensive guest data coupled with physical touchpoints. This enables them to access guest profiles in real-time, allowing for a thoughtful and highly personalized service experience that significantly enhances overall guest satisfaction.
Discover how our collaboration with the Peninsula Hotel enhanced guest experiences across multiple touchpoints, including the front office and concierge desks. This thoughtful approach created better guest – staff interactions, increased guest facing efficiency by 20%, and garnered exceptional reviews, with a perfect 10/10 on Booking.com.
Takeaways
Creating exceptional touchpoints within your hotel can significantly enhance the overall experience for your guests, making them feel valued and appreciated. By focusing on these critical moments, you not only elevate their stay but also encourage them to engage in more cross-selling, as they are likely to reciprocate the exceptional service they receive. When guests feel pampered and special, they are more inclined to share their positive experiences, which can ultimately lead to increased loyalty and repeat visits.
Moreover, investing in staff training and utilizing practical guest management tools can help ensure that every interaction is memorable. This investment transforms your hotel into a top-of-mind choice for guests seeking a refreshing and unforgettable getaway. A commitment to delivering an outstanding and personalized experience will set your establishment apart from the competition, allowing you to build lasting relationships with your guests and fostering a culture of excellence within your team.
Interested in learning more? Talk to Neoma Sales today.
