Tip #1: Mobile is your best friend
We've said it already, but it is so important that we feel like reminding you: It's a mobile world. Having an app and a mobile friendly website is something you cannot avoid anymore. Long gone are the times when you could afford having a non responsive website: Users are savvier, but most importantly they are constantly connected through their phones, which means you'd better solve this if you haven't yet.
Tip #2: Immediacy is the way
Communication has many faces, but for what concerns support matters it is getting more informal, immediate. People want you to be fast in answering to them, they want you to speak their language and for the process to be easy to reach you. This is why you can aim at immediacy thanks to the many instant messaging channels we now have at our disposal: WhatsApp, Messenger, but even direct messages on Instagram. Of course, in order to keep it "immediate", your response time needs to stay within 24 hours. Being reachable on several messaging apps is a great strategy to address different targets. Maybe you won't reach everybody, but you can try!
Tip #3: Happy guests, loyal guests
Communicating through mobile allows companies to personalize communication. It builds trust, therefore, loyalty.
The great advantage is that it's guests themselves who choose when and how to contact you; this way, they feel free and at ease. Some people might feel more like communicating via WhatsApp, some via Messenger, some simply via email. Let them choose and they will come back.
Also you can localize your communication by using specific channels, like WeChat for reaching the Chinese market, for instance.
Tip #4: In-stay communication
Make guests feel comfortable: Let them be lazy if they want to! You can use mobile to have them communicate directly with front desk from the hotel room; for example, they can request room service like this. They won't even need to lift the phone. You can also use this channel to give recommendations on what's around or what to do. Let them profit from your local expertise.
Tip #5: Experience at your fingertip
Guest experience is changing more and more thanks to mobile. Travellers can now use their phones, their most precious and closest objects, as a key to open their hotel door. This is surely convenient as it avoids waiting times and carrying heavy keys around; it avoids forgetting it as well, which means you don't have to take care of creating a new one. Also, offering a mobile check-in can help reduce queues at the reception because you can let guests perform the whole process through their mobile phone.
Tip #6: Be light
Having a dedicated app for your property is a great move. What you need to take into account, though, is that we are full of apps. What does this mean for you? That your hotel app needs to be worth downlading, and light. Nobody likes to use up too much space on their memory so be smart about it and try to think of exclusive features or news you'd include in your app to have guests download it and use it!
