“Rich Guest Profiling is a marketing term coined for the hospitality industry, which relates to the understanding and analyzing of guest information; not limited to contact and booking information. It also encompasses information such as demographics, preferences and interests and experiential i.e. reviews and feedback” says Louise Brace.
Identifying your ideal customer
Guest Profiling helps to create totally personalized and unique experiences for your guests. By collecting information from guests in the pre-booking, reservation and on-site segments of a stay, owners/managers can personalize the experience for their guests. Interaction with guests in each stage in the communication process of taking a booking is important. Each stage is an opportunity to engage your client in conversation and the more you find out about them, the easier it is to design a compelling and personalized experience.
How do you interact with guests ?
During Pre-stay
Reservations, Pre-arrival emails, Special needs and requests, Check-in, are the different opportunities to reach out to guests.
To find out their preferences you can check with previous reviews, social media or you can directly ask them.
During Stay
In order to engage with guests and to make sure they are getting the most out of the experience during stay you can provide them with Local area Guides, restaurant bookings, beaches etc, guide for different traveler types based on their preferences i.e. kid-friendly, singles, couples etc On-site information, guided tours, etc
Through on-site surveys, by asking them etc you can get their feedback.
During Post-stay
To know how they were valued: Encourage feedback, reviews, Check-out, Guest marketing, Loyalty/repeat booking incentives, Better engagement, Promotions etc
Through post-stay surveys, reviews etc you can get their feedback.
What are the benefits of harvesting information about guests and potential clients?
- You can offer a better service and thereby increasing guest satisfaction
- You can make business more efficient by minimal wastage, more savings etc
- You can instigate exceptional guest loyalty
- You can create parallel revenue streams
Listing 6 successful marketing strategy with Guest Profiling
1. Social Marketing
Social media interaction is one of the key element in Guest Profiling. It is important for you to get involved with social media if you want to understand who your guests really are and what they want. Following and sharing stories with your guests is an essential part of marketing your holiday rental. As a travel business you should also interact with travel influencers, as through these, you will have access to their followers i.e. travel consumers.
Nowadays many Travelers use social media to seek out advice on places to stay and to vet the travel experiences of others. Both positive and negative experiences are shared through social media and can go viral. Travelers also share their experiences with Google Plus, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram. Guests who have a high number of followers, should be noted as a ‘social influencer’. They will interact and share frequently with their followers, so it’s vital to create a positive experience for them during their stay.
2. Guest reviews
Exploring guest reviews lends another dimension to your guest profiling strategy. Socially active guests will be comfortable leaving a review about their experience. You can gain a lot of knowledge about the preferences of your guests, their likes and dislikes; using their feedback to create better rental experience. Even checking reviews about your competitors will provide great insight into what guests perceive to be positive and negative experiences.
3. Surveys
Surveys are an excellent way of finding out more about your guests. During the stay the survey should be about capturing their interests and special needs. Within post-stay communication you can add a follow-up survey.
4. Big Data
Big data can include information from reviews, surveys, social mentions, guest commentary. Collating the preferences, likes and dislikes of the commentator.
With this data you can make positive changes to your holiday rental. You will have actionable insights into what travellers are looking for and what they are absolutely not looking for. Combine Big Data with Guest Data and you will have a very powerful database of information.
5. Guest Data
Guest Data, is more specific than just your basic level data. When you are engaged in communication with an interested party, it’s important to get as much information from them as possible
There are at least seven types of guest data that can use to improve the guest experience:
1. Contact info: First name, last name, email address, physical address, mobile number
2. Demographics: Sex, age, nationality
3. Usage/History: Trip type, number of visits, average spend
4. Interests: Yoga, golf, spa, foodie
5. Preferences: Coffee, high floor, quiet room, newspaper, feather pillows
6. Experiential: Feedback from reviews or prior surveys, comments made to staff members
7. Social: Twitter, Facebook, review history, are they an influencer?
From all these above data you can take action.
6. Personalization
For taking the guest experience to the next level personalized marketing messages are nine times more effective than generic ones. Building a database of rich guest profiles will ensure you create a long-lasting impression on guests and potential clients.
A blog from Vafion – A preferred vacation rental technology partner
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