NB: This is a guest article by Martin Soler, marketing director of World Independent Hotels Promotion (WIHP)
Ever heard of the Second Moment of Truth, or SMOT? Here’s the proof of whether a hotel delivers on what it says it will do for consumers.
Are you the best hotel in New York, as you claimed on your website?
The second moment of truth happens as the guest arrives in the hotel, and then during their entire stay at your hotel.
Now it’s up to you to service the guest and make their stay something to write about. The second moment of truth is more than a marketing step, it’s what will determine the long term demand for your product.
As we mentioned in the Stimulus in Hotel Marketing article, guest reviews and the guest experience account for at least 55.8% of your new customers.
The proof of the pudding, of course, is always in the eating.
This infographic combines the previous illustrations from our posts on the Moments of Truth.
The Second Moment of Truth feeds the stimulus, social media, friends and family, online reviews etc. In short: SMOT is the key to generating new and getting repeat customers.
If you want word of mouth, if you want guest to talk to their friends and family about your hotel, if you want great reviews, it all depends on what you do at the second moment of truth.
That doesn’t mean that only luxury hotels will have a great SMOT, it means that you have to deliver the minimum of what was promised.
If you want to make things even better for yourself, go the extra mile and deliver a little more than what you promised.
I won’t labor the point with lots of text, every good hotelier knows all about it and every marketer knows that word of mouth is the best marketing in the world.
The infographic just illustrates where exactly the SMOT connects to how you use marketing in the future.
NB: This is a guest article by Martin Soler, marketing director of World Independent Hotels Promotion (WIHP).