If I had to summarize what it means to be in hospitality, it’s this: Our business is serving others. Your hotel guest experience drives everything from your brand reputation to your bottom line.

This is why we talk about online reviews, create clear SOPs for our teams, and communicate our hotel’s value proposition through sales and marketing efforts.

This is not to say that the work we put in to ensure hotel guests have a smooth stay isn’t important. It is!

But the customer experience doesn’t just start when a guest sets foot on your property. It doesn’t even start when they actually book their room.

Your hotel guest experience starts online. It starts the moment that person starts dreaming about their next trip and looking for inspiration on Google, social media, wherever.

What they find can and will color their perception of your hotel — and impact their booking decision. So let’s talk about a few ways your hotel can nail the guest experience online.

Mapping the online hotel booking experience

First things first, let’s give alllll of this some important context. What do you think the most important factors are for guests looking to book accommodation online?

Price? Location? Amenities?

There’s no one answer because every individual — and every trip — is different.

This makes it pretty hard to map a “typical” online customer journey. What we do know is that our hotel guests are increasingly using multiple devices to research, plan, and book their trips.

People use the internet in different ways during this process. They might read a wanderlust-inducing article on the Travel + Leisure website. Maybe they start Googling, “cheap places to travel in February” or have a scroll through their list of saved Instagram posts.

Google breaks the online travel customer journey into four key travel micro-moments:

Dreaming — “I want to get away” moments
Planning — “It’s time to make a plan” moments
Booking — “Let’s book it” moments
Experiencing — “I can’t wait to explore” moments

Technology touches every one of these micro-moments, from the content on your hotel website to the software you use to collect bookings and store preferences. So how do you improve the online hotel customer experience?

How to improve your hotel’s online guest experience

1. Show up where they are

Sounds simple, doesn’t it? Your potential guests are Googling, scrolling, and even poking around on Pinterest before they find you.

Understanding where your guests “hang out” online — and being present there — is a cornerstone of building your hotel marketing plan.

In today’s fast-evolving travel landscape, this means you may need to revisit your customer profile(s).

How much of your website traffic comes from social media? Which platforms?

How much of your website traffic comes from organic search? What keywords are people using the most?

Working backward like this is a good place to start, but you may also want to do a hotel content audit to find out what’s working, what’s not, and which marketing channels you may need to focus on more.

Ensuring your hotel website is designed with mobile-first features is also important.

Since people are switching from one device to another, creating a seamless, easy-to-use experience on desktop, tablet, and mobile is more important than ever.

2. Provide helpful content

It’s one thing to be present in ~all of the places~ but creating positive guest experiences online also requires adding value.

Use what you learn about your audience to create content that they actually want.

Tools like Answer The Public and Buzzsumo are great for finding out what content seems to resonate for any given keyword or phrase online.

Imagine being the first result when someone searches for the best hotels in your city. Or really when someone searches for the best anything in your city!

When potential guests are in those dreaming or planning stages, YOU should want to be the go-to, helpful resource they can trust.

Not sure what content you need on your website — or what will be most helpful to potential guests and clients?

I’ve created a NEW resource for you that will make writing your hotel website way easier — and more fun. Grab yourself a copy of the Hotel Page Content Planner and let’s whip your website into tip-top shape! ⤵

3. Be inclusive and accessible

If the summer of 2020 taught us anything (particularly in the U.S.), it’s that consumers care about a business’ values. They can and will be more selective about where they spend their money.

The images and words you use on social media, on your hotel website, and in all of your online communications have the power to be more inclusive.

Do some critical self-reflection:

Are you NOT using any people of color in your visuals?
Do you ONLY use phrases like “the bride and groom” or “his and hers” when you promote weddings or describe romantic offers?
Do you NOT write alt text descriptions on your images, so visually-impaired people can easily use your website with a screen reader?

If any of those items above apply…. stop and ask yourself… why?

In my personal point of view, unconscious bias is a big issue in marketing today. And frankly, all of us can and should do better.

Being even a little bit more mindful of what you put out there can greatly improve the hotel guest experience online for many, many global travelers.

(P.S. There’s sooo much more to say about inclusion, diversity, and website accessibility in hotel marketing… probably multiple blog posts’ worth! If you’d like to read more about these topics, please leave a comment at the end of this post and let me know.)

4. Embrace visual media

Experiences are a big part of why many of us travel. Nowadays, creative technology can really help hotels share the experience of their property or destination — virtually.

High-quality visuals are not cheap, though. Sometimes, this means revisiting your hotel marketing budget.

Make sure you’ve done that content audit I already mentioned. You might find that you DO have great visuals already that can be repurposed and reused — without cracking that marketing Piggy Bank open.

So what kind of visual media can improve your online guest experience?

Architectural photography
Lifestyle photography
Videos
Virtual tours
360° images

Most of these things are self-explanatory, I think, but I’ll touch on a few points.

Architectural hotel photography is a necessary evil, to be honest — guests DO want to know what the heck your hotel looks like, from the room itself to your public areas.

That’s why incorporating more “lifestyle” photography can really elevate a boring hotel website.

Videos, virtual tours, and interactive 360° images also help with the online guest experience because folks can visualize themselves experiencing your property.

Without being able to touch, smell, or even taste — our eyes (and if you’re using video, our ears) can do a lot of heavy lifting. It’s almost like we’re already there!

5. Automate some of your customer service

Automation can be a powerful marketing tool — not only to streamline our internal processes but to improve customer service in a hotel.

I’ve written before that I don’t want to see hotels replacing real people with robots. Like, ever.

But chatbots are another story!

More and more properties are catching on to the benefits of using a hotel chatbot. (< That link there is a handy “getting started” guide to chatbots for hotels, in case you’re interested.)

Messenger bots can streamline and greatly improve your hotel customer service at every stage of booking, from pre-arrival planning to on-property requests.

I’m willing to bet that you get asked the same handful of questions over and over again…

Is your hotel pet-friendly? Do you have any special offers or packages available right now? What time does room service end? Can you help me make an appointment at the spa?

Imagine being able to automate those FAQs with an on-brand, helpful response, instantly. 😍

If you want to know how to improve guest services in a hotel, I really think chatbots are the most underrated piece of hotel technology right now!

6. Keep track of guest preferences

Finally, remember that the customer journey doesn’t end after the guest checks out.

Another important piece of hotel tech that helps the guest experience is your property management system (PMS).

Your hotel PMS does a lot — it takes reservations, manages inventory, schedules shifts, and so many other key operational tasks.

It should also collect guest data and preferences.

(That component is often called a CRM or customer relationship management software.)

Keeping track of guest preferences is so important for customer retention and loyalty. And by the way, this applies whether you’re sharing information across multiple properties or just looking to increase a customer’s lifetime value.

We want our hotel guests to come back, after all.

Making note of (and acting on!) your guests’ preferences helps you personalize their next stay, anticipating their needs and improving the entire experience.

Final Thoughts

We can map a somewhat “typical” customer booking journey through Google’s four travel micro-moments: Dreaming, planning, booking, and experiencing.

These micro-moments represent opportunities to create a memorable hotel guest experience journey entirely online, long before someone even checks in.

Here are six ideas to enhance hotel guest experience online:

Show up where they are and engage on their preferred platforms
Provide helpful content
Be inclusive and accessible in your website content and marketing communcations
Embrace visual media with high-quality photography, videography, and virtual tours
Automate some of your customer service with a hotel chatbot
Keep track of guest preferences in your PMS

What are some other ways of improving guest experience hotel marketers should keep in mind? Leave a comment below and let me know what you think.

Don’t forget: I’ve created a NEW resource for you that will make writing your hotel website content way easier — and more fun.

Grab yourself a copy of the Hotel Page Content Planner and let’s whip your website into tip-top shape! ⤵

WHAT TO READ NEXT:

Your Hotel Guest Experience Starts Online (Here's How To Make It Better)