Returning Guests: How to Make Each Stay Better Than the Last

Guests who return again and again are “gold,” so here’s how to treat them like it to keep them coming back.

Repeat guests are the lifeblood of a hospitality business, so it’s important to nurture and build that relationship over time.

But a Statista survey found that the hospitality, restaurant and travel industries together have the lowest customer retention rate of any industry surveyed at just 55 percent – almost 30 percentage points lower than the industries with the highest rates. The good news? That means it should be easier for you to outshine the competition if you put a little extra effort into retention by recognizing your repeat guests.

“Repeat guest recognition does not stop with good computer systems and national frequent guest plans,” Roberta Nedry, president of GEM Journal, has stated. “In fact, it begins and ends with employee guest recognition on a personal level, and employee empowerment to nurture the relationship with repeat guests.”

Here are seven ways to make each stay better than the last so you can  turn repeat guests into deeply loyal customers:

1. Recognize their return. Designate repeat guests in your system and train employees to recognize them as such. Something as simple as saying “Welcome back, Mr. Jones,” or “Nice to see you again, Fran,” will go a long way toward making them feel noticed. Those personal connections will help to bring a guest back.
2. Take notes and show you remember. Create a way to easily keep and access notes on guest preferences so employees can make use of them starting before check-in. This will make it easier to offer an amenity or extra upfront. For example, if a guest always asks for extra towels, your front desk staff could acknowledge that they remember this and let the guest know that two extra towels have been placed in their room.
3. Consider a loyalty program. Everyone loves to get rewarded for their business. Adding a loyalty program at your hotel is a great way to make it clear to repeat guests that you value their business. And it can be an important way to compete with larger hotel chains, keep tabs on guest preferences and collect data about their actions, such as how often they return and which upsells they favor. Even a small property or chain can put together a simple loyalty program.
4. Get a handle on their habits. Whenever possible, try to collect a little extra information about your return guests. You could do this through a virtual concierge or chatbot, a guest survey or even having staff ask a few extra questions at check-in. Try to find out why they’re in the area and when they plan to return.
5. Entice them back with a small gift. You can use any knowledge you gain about future travel plans to offer a promo or special offer to entice repeat guests to book with you again the next time they’re in the area. This could be a text or email offer or even a coupon for a free appetizer or meal in the hotel restaurant for their next stay.
6. Let them know the manager is at their service. Do you remember a time when you were at a restaurant, enjoying a delicious meal, and the chef stopped by your table to say hello and ask how you liked the food? You probably felt a little special when you got that extra attention. Consider borrowing that concept by having the manager briefly greet returning guests, ask how their stay is going and check to see if they need anything.

The best part: these ideas are easy and affordable to implement at your hotel. “Being recognized and appreciated is really so simple,” Nedry says.