Do your customers know you care about
them?
22 JULY 2020 12:20 PM
Hotels must do more to build relationships with and engage customers to differentiate and emerge stronger in this new era.
We all know these are really tough times for the hospitality business.
Demand is down as business travel has dramatically dropped. Few organizations—if any—are hosting meetings, and many people are simply staying home.
Leisure travel is slowly coming back, but while there is pent-up energy to travel, people remain uncertain and hesitant.
Brands have attempted to woo travelers by touting and even branding cleaning protocols, trying to assure people that they will be safe at their hotels.
Sanitization and safety practices are important, but not a differentiator. They are an expectation. To differentiate and emerge stronger in this new era, hotels
must do more to build relationships with and engage customers.
Connections matter
Customers form strong emotional connections with your company based on their experiences with your brand, whether through their inboxes or in person—
and those emotions strongly influence their near-term and longer-term buying decisions.
Think about the types of messages you are putting in people’s inboxes or on social media. Are they purely promotional
or are they helping to create a deeper connection? Do they demonstrate you care? Even guests who are not staying at
your hotel right now are watching what your brand is doing.
Amid the crisis, now is an important time to show customers through your actions that you truly care about them. Use
this time to enhance relationships, build trust and, most of all, show empathy. A recent study conducted by Ipsos for
PepsiCo found that 86% of respondents agreed that it is “critical” for brands to show empathy now if they want to
grow loyalty, because the actions a brand takes today will influence how customers engage with those brands in the
future.
What kinds of messages will demonstrate empathy and engage customers? The survey found that 86% said it’s
important for brands to help lift spirits, 74% said it’s important for brands to create a moment of escapism and 73% said
it’s important for brands to offer an outlet for entertainment. These are all sentiments every hotel can communicate and
deliver to current and prospective guests.
Reinforce your brand story while building emotional connections
Using the unique positioning of your hotel, share your brand’s story through the lens of empathy. Lift spirits, offer
moments of escapism and entertain guests who have been stuck at home for months. These actions reflect the essence
of your brand, and also show you care. Here are some thought-starters to help reinforce your brand story in this new
environment.
Lift someone’s spirits
If your brand promise is centered around friendliness, reduce the new strangeness and awkwardness that guests might
be experiencing during their stay. The hotel experience has changed. Employees are wearing masks, and there’s a
plastic shield at the front desk. Some hotels have tried to humanize the experience by having employees wear a photo
button of themselves smiling so guests can see what they look like without a mask.
Perhaps you can take it one step further and ask your guest to snap a selfie without their mask and have your staff make it into a button for the guest to
wear. This move demonstrates empathy by acknowledging the awkward experience, and it offers an opportunity for conversation and engagement.
Provide moments of escapism
If your brand is about exploration and discovery, open up your world and ask customers to do the same. People are tired of being in their same surroundings
for months. Could you offer them a different view? While your hotel may not have a beautiful ocean or cool city view, perhaps there’s a special view or
interesting architectural feature that’s unique to your location. You could share your hotel’s vista and invite people to share what they see from their home.
You can then create a montage or an inspirational online wall of these scenes creating a sense of belonging and community. You open your doors to them;
they open their doors to you.
Opinions
By Karen McSteen
Copyright © 2008-2020 CoStar Realty Information, Inc. Page 1 / 2
wear. This move demonstrates empathy by acknowledging the awkward experience, and it offers an opportunity for conversation and engagement.
Provide moments of escapism
If your brand is about exploration and discovery, open up your world and ask customers to do the same. People are tired of being in their same surroundings
for months. Could you offer them a different view? While your hotel may not have a beautiful ocean or cool city view, perhaps there’s a special view or
interesting architectural feature that’s unique to your location. You could share your hotel’s vista and invite people to share what they see from their home.
You can then create a montage or an inspirational online wall of these scenes creating a sense of belonging and community. You open your doors to them;
they open their doors to you.
Expand the view from your hotel by showing what’s in your neighborhood. Identify some local businesses that showcase the spirit of your region and consider
featuring their unique offerings in your communications. A memento or a piece of art may trigger a fond memory or give people something to look forward to.
Promoting local businesses addresses another key finding from the PepsiCo study: One of the most valued forms of empathy is to support struggling
businesses.
Offer an outlet for entertainment
If your brand is about giving people quality time together, there are many ways to achieve this from afar. You could have your chef share his or her secret
recipe for a special drink or dish the family could whip up together. Share a one-minute video on social media each week and encourage guests to post pics of
their results or tell you what they liked best about the recipe.
Let’s not forget about the couples who are finally ready to venture out for a getaway. This may be a time to rethink the rules. For instance, to make the most
of their time, consider offering free early check-in so they can enjoy a full day at your property, rather than making them wait until 4 p.m. To ensure social
distancing, offer guaranteed seating at your outdoor restaurant rather than first come, first served. People traveling may be spending more time in the room.
Maybe offer a free movie rental with snacks to enrich the experience and show you understand how much they need this away time together. If there was
ever a time to rewrite the rules, it’s now.
What ideas do you have?
While the past several months has been tough, people have learned that the little things matter more than ever. They matter to your customers and they
should matter to your brand. Seize this new opportunity to demonstrate who you are and what your business cares about. Show customers that they are at the
top of that list.
Karen McSteen is principal of consulting firm brandMatters and a member of the International Society of Hotel Consultants. Contact her at karenmcsteen@brandmatters.com.
The opinions expressed in this column do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Hotel News Now or its parent company, STR and its affiliated companies. Bloggers published on this site are given the
freedom to express views that may be controversial, but our goal is to provoke thought and constructive discussion within our reader community. Please feel free to comment or contact an editor with
any questions or concern.
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