It’s a recurring topic, but an important one all the same! Your guests’ email addresses are a valuable resource, but one which is unfortunately all too often overlooked. Whether due to the difficulties encountered when trying to collect email addresses or the sometimes troublesome intermediary role played by OTAs, the task is not an easy one. However, you can get your teams involved and implement some simple methods to take back control of this aspect which is arguably the key to guest relations.
Your guests’ email addresses offer multiple benefits. You can keep a handle on guest relations, strengthen loyalty and therefore increase satisfaction, as well as your revenue and occupancy rate. Let’s take a look at how you can collect email addresses at the different stages of the guest journey.
Before a guest arrives
Even if there is no shortage of booking options, it can sometimes seem difficult to get hold of a guest’s email address. There are several possible scenarios. In the best possible case, your guest will arrive on your website after having carried out a search, and will proceed to make a direct booking with you via your booking engine. This way, you’ll gather precious information which will enable you to establish a dialogue with your guest and ensure that their stay will run as smoothly as possible. Some people still book over the phone, so you can take advantage of this and get hold of their email address by offering to send a confirmation email containing information about the hotel and the surrounding activities.
What about when bookings are made on Booking.com?
Don’t panic – you can still contact your guest via the email address which Booking.com have provided. In fact, you can communicate using this temporary email address for a varying amount of time. We therefore advise that you invite the guest to give you their real email address by utilising pre-stay communication options, with options to provide further information or perhaps a special offer.
During the stay
When your guest arrives at your hotel, you have several opportunities to collect their email address; this will facilitate communication and enable you to ensure that you’re meeting all their needs.
At check-in, your team at reception will establish the first physical contact with your guest. During this exchange, you can provide a comprehensive overview of the services you offer, but you also have the chance to collect their email address so you can continue the conversation during their stay. To be more precise, it’s a way of avoiding any inconvenience that could arise for the guest.
At Customer Alliance, we offer a feature which enables you to gather feedback rapidly from your guest during their stay so you can gauge their level of satisfaction: the Instant Survey. In addition to your receptionist, you can benefit from the WiFi connection you offer in your hotel to collect your guests’ email addresses. Ask our Customer Care team for more details.
After the stay
Your guest is getting ready to leave the hotel and it’s time to check out. This marks the final brief exchange with your reception, during which the usual question “How was your stay?” will surely be asked. Now you have the chance to complete the guest experience by offering to stay in contact via email, whether to ask the guest to leave a review on a platform like TripAdvisor or through a guest satisfaction questionnaire, or to send them special offers through a newsletter. This way, you’ll be guaranteed to receive feedback which will improve your online visibility and the quality of your services. What’s more, staying in contact with guests will help strengthen guest loyalty.
You have several options when it comes to collecting email addresses: you can ask for them verbally, or ask for your guest’s business card. Our tool, however, enables you to send a personalised email to your guests, in their own language, inviting them to leave a review for their stay in your hotel.
