Personalization is a concept that lies at the very heart of the travel industry - the art of making people feel at home.
NB This is a guest article by Jeff Hiscox, CEO of Newmarket, an Amadeus company.
But the challenge with personalization when it comes to the hotel sector is that it’s not enough to know who your guest is. You also need to know the context of their travel. What the same person will want can be very different when traveling for business and leisure, or whether they are traveling alone versus as a couple, family or in a group.
The result can be a disconnect between the amount of personal information the customer feels they have provided and what the hotel actually receives and can use to deliver the guest travel experience. This raises expectations in the customer that the hotel can’t always meet.
So what are the information gaps between guests and hotels and how can they be fixed?
Let’s first explore the origins by looking at how a hotel room gets booked. There are three key areas to consider: the booking channel a consumer uses, the type of information they’re asked to input, and the type of price and package they’ll be offered.
The channel challenge
Perhaps the consumer books directly with the hotel itself, maybe they use a leisure online travel agency, they might even have someone else such an event organizer or their organization’s travel management company – making the booking on their behalf. But chances are that their choice of channel is dictated by the context of their trip.
So, from a hotel’s perspective, one immediate issue is that guest information is coming in from disparate sources and collated in all sorts of different ways.
Connecting the info
The data entered when a guest books a room is not just names and numbers; it includes information such as payment details and dietary requirements.
If a client is booking a meeting venue, plus some rooms for out-of-town guests, a hotel wants to be sure that the two sets of information are linked. For example, if one guest is allergic to gluten, there will need to be gluten-free catering options for the meeting, but the guest should also be offered gluten-free options in their room’s minibar.
Data needs to circulate freely between the booking systems for meetings and for rooms.
Package and price
And finally, the guest is about to select the package they want and the price they think is best. Again, depending on how many channels they’re checking, they’ll see a wide – almost bewildering – number of offers and price points on offer.
It can be frustrating for a guest to pay one price, and then realize that colleagues or fellow partygoers found a cheaper rate or a better package.
Payment options are also divisive, especially among leisure group bookings. Reconciling the bill and dividing fairly between a group of friends can be an awkward challenge.
Hotel companies are utilizing technology to close the gaps between guests, properties and ultimately the travel experience.
Technology fosters an “information connection” by helping hoteliers:
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