How to have your guests always return? Luxury is not enough!

Return guest are much easier to host than the new ones because they know you and they like you. They choose you again and that is a big deal. However, you needed to leave good impression the first time so it might not be that easy after all. The big advantage with your loyal guests is the data that you can use in creative ways to overdeliver confidently every time more and more and consistently.

It is one thing to be fully booked, but if it's with your return guests that feels like great validation that what you are doing is exactly what they need and want. The trick is that you need to exceed expectations that first time of theirs in order for them to return. Here are three steps that lead to loyal community.

This is how I see it.

Moral of the story: You can have fifteen starts from the outside even inside (including interior, exterior, awards, stars and recommendations) but your service will either make it or break it.

Genuine hospitality

Wait.

I know that you know hospitality, that is what you do all day long, but if you put that business wisdom on a side for a moment, can you really hear the guest, do you listen when they talk?

Do you speak the same language, metaphorically obviously but this touches on cultural knowledge as well (if applicable for your guests)?

Do you know what they came for? What are their intentions with the stay?

What do they miss the most when they are away from home and can you help soothe that longing?

The crucial question here is – is your vision of hospitality the same as the one of your guest? One thing is to set everything in place and run that big system but when it comes to serving your guests it is all about your vision meeting their needs and wishes.

Meeting point is neither too little nor too much of that amount of perfect vision of hospitality that your guest expects. It has to be just right to work out. If you fail to deliver what they call the great service, they will not return and will be disappointed. However, if you give them too much in a mission to overdeliver, they may be overwhelmed, not ready to receive thus enjoy it and eventually not under specific impression at best. It's complicated as always with people but luckily there is a way. It is making one step at the time.

Understanding your guest’s vision of their perfect stay, the reasons they choose you, their expectations and real needs is a game changer.

Being genuine is a way you deliver this vision of theirs in your own terms.

Follow your concept but always give them what they want! In fact, just a little bit more than that.

Practically, this means encouraging your stuff to find their way of being authentically genuine. Allow them to make inspired actions when seeing a guest in a need and teach them not to have prejudges towards a guest but humble attitude. Also, make sure they have energy to act in these ways since it takes attention, patience and will, which are all demanding. Don’t put too much on them, give them more leverage and make their mission more fun and meaningful.

Unique concept

Before they come, make sure your guests know clearly why they decided to stay with you and not someone else. In a world where everyone want to be remembered and liked, being unique is dramatically wrongly understood. No one should stay indifferent to your story, offer and concept. Let people either like it or hate it. This way, the ones who like it will surely come.

AND when they come, indulge them in your concept with all senses, make them hear it, feel, smell, taste, see, touch every part of hospitality in your way, the one that only you can create and share with them. Capture them in space and moment. Refuse to let them go as the same people they were before they entered your door. Make it easy for them to tell the story to be shared once they leave.

If you don’t have your unique selling point, it is high time you made one! The good news is that this will not require significant change of resources you already use. Think about the things that come naturally, maybe you already provide some specific experiences or things in certain ways that can not be easily found elsewhere, maybe it's a locality and the way you present it to foreigners to get to know it. Make sure you don't suppress some potential ideas, good selling points, thinking they are not a good fit in hospitality.

The smallest things are the ones that make the difference.

Show your guest how exactly you are different. Give them opportunity to love you and find you worthy of the whole trip, all because of the stay with you. Work on the before and after states of your guests, what are they missing if they do not stay with you? What is the experience you are selling when they choose your hotel as their home for a week?

Consistency

Now when you have their (guests) attention, don’t let them down, ever!

This may be hardest of all.

Consistency is the key for trust.

Every time you overdelivered and made them feel special, you set a new standard. This is great because this is why they return but you also need to deliver each and every time which means more work on you. And this is why you need systems, because you don’t want to overdeliver to lead your hotel into destruction and not being able to keep up but to provide top notch service always AND with ease.

Set your standards and always show up the same.

Be predictable to some level.

Overdeliver in surprising ways BUT as a bonus.

Start with advertising realistically, using the same visuals and describing the genuine experience they will get the moment they enter your facilities. Use the same communication style as you do in real life in your facilities. Create recognisable guest journey and even overdeliver in predictable ways by getting to know certain types of information about your guests. Make these your standard. Your guest will trust you and be excited to come back. After and only after think about evolving your offer/service.

Luxury is great but it is overestimated. Providing unique experience, meeting expectations and being trustworthy is what matters for loyal relationship.

I invite you to share your business wisdom! Tell us, what is the percentage of return guests in your hotel? Comment bellow.

ELEVATE your hospitality business.

Master consistent excellence DELIVERED in practice.

Be WORTH EVERY PENNY & every second of your guests.

Schedule a free discovery call HERE

Tell us YOUR story & get REAL feedback.