This is a guest post written by Flexkeeping, a hotels operations platform.

In today’s hospitality industry, personalization is key. Giving guests a tailored experience can help you stand out from competitors and generate glowing reviews. In fact, 71% of customers now expect brands to deliver personalized interactions.

Of course, offering personalized service takes time and effort. This can be a tough bar to meet in an industry already inundated with labour challenges. Enter: automation. 

Through innovative tools and digital platforms, you can find new, more efficient ways to anticipate guest needs, exceed their expectations, and show them how much you care.

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First, what does personalization in hospitality look like? 

Every guest has specific preferences and needs. Personalization is about catering to those needs as much as possible to create a feeling of elevated care and attention. That “wow I can’t believe they went out of their way to do that” feeling.

This form of guest-centric hospitality requires a deep understanding of who the guest is, their habits and behaviors, and what they expect during their stay. Automation can help you take all this guest data and do more with it. 

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4 Ways to Automate Personalized Guest Experiences 

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Detailed and dynamic guest profiles. 

Collecting guest data is one thing. Using it is another. By creating comprehensive profiles of each guest—their room preferences, check-in times, drink orders, and beyond—you can build personalized touches into their stay. 

Profile dashboard platforms can help you automate data collection so that important details about each guest are instantly stored after each stay. From there, you can easily structure segments, anticipate needs, and deliver amazing service without them even asking. 

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Intuitive guest communication tools. 

Being available to your guests 24/7 is crucial. It helps them feel safe, supported, and cared for from the moment they check in. Messaging apps and digital communication tools are a great way to give them that personal experience. 

The only problem? Texting with hundreds of individual guests at all hours of the day and night is time-consuming—if not impossible. 

Automation can help. For example, Bookboost’s Unified Inbox has smart features that instantly reply to guests based on their requests, saving teams up to 2 hours a day. You can also program personalized check-ins throughout the guest’s stay based on their real-time data. For example, asking how their check-in experience was or if they need transportation for the airport on departure day. 

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Task automation for bespoke services. 

It’s easy to have a great service idea. The hard part is getting it done—communicating across departments, assigning tasks, and scheduling deadlines. Automation takes the heavy operational lift off your hands so you can focus on guests. 

For example, Flexkeeping’s hotel operations platform has innovative task automation features that integrate directly with your PMS. You can input your bespoke service idea—let’s say, bubbles upon arrival to celebrate an anniversary—and the system will automatically create a streamlined chain of tasks to make it happen. Departments will instantly know what is needed (and when) so they can deliver on it. This saves the team a ton of time and creates infinite opportunities to surprise and delight.

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Personalized feedback prompts. 

Asking for feedback shows the guest that you care about their opinion. It also helps you understand how to meet (and exceed) their expectations in the future. 

By automating your feedback requests based on reservation data, you can reach out to guests while they’re still on the property. Not only will their experience be top-of-mind, but they’ll also feel valued and more likely to give useful feedback. You can even automate smaller feedback prompts to be sent after pivotal moments in their stay, like checking in or ordering room service. Meanwhile, your team can avoid the manual labour associated with email scheduling and follow-ups. 

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In this market, small touches go a long way.

Hospitality competition is no joke. There are countless hotels, all offering similar services, locations, and amenities. 

Personalization is one way to truly stand out, attracting repeat guests in the process. And with the right automation tools on your side, you can deliver unique, unforgettable guest experiences every single time. 

About Flexkeeping

Flexkeeping is a Hotel Operations Platform designed to help teams automate and collaborate like never before.

From housekeeping to maintenance and beyond, we’ve transformed hundreds of properties around the world with our easy platform.

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