Getting engaged is a life-changing event. From December to February, couples around the world are knee deep in engagement season, according to a recent study. For hoteliers, engagement season isn’t fleeting; rather it’s a 24/7/365 courtship of continual communication via email, mobile messaging, social media interactions and review site monitoring sprinkled in. In years past, hotel marketers were focused on popping this question: “Will you give me your email address so I can send you a one-time reservation confirmation?” Today, the big question has changed: “Will you opt in to receive personalized communication from my hotel filled with relevant content before, during and long after your stay?”
Communication has, and always will be, the key to any lasting/loyal relationship. If you want guests to engage with your hotel, they need to be “courted.” This requires knowing just the right thing to say and the right time to say it. The one-and-done days of sending out an email confirmation and then not speaking to the guest until they check in are over. To build loyalty and get guests eager to hear from you, a courtship must ensue between hotel marketers and their guests; that means learning about each person on the reservation and what he, she or they like and dislike along every step of the customer’s journey (from the research phase, booking and pre stay, to onsite, post stay, and through incentives to get them to return).
via Engaging with Customers Beyond Their Stays, by Shayne Paddock.