CHARLOTTE, North Carolina — Developing personalized, meaningful messages to guests is vital to driving bookings at independent hotels, experts say.
During the "The Power of Personalization for Independent Hotels" session at the 2024 HSMAI Commercial Strategy Conference, Mercedes Blanco, chief partnerships officer at The Hotels Network, said success boils down to establishing a direct connection with travelers.
"We're talking about belonging and the importance of feeling that we belong and are part of something," she said.
Nancy Johns, senior vice president of integrated marketing and digital solutions for Crescent Hotels & Resorts, used the example of the Mayfair House Hotel & Garden in Miami's Coconut Grove neighborhood. When that hotel was awarded two Michelin Keys, it shared the news in a message to previous guests, to make them feel like they played a part in earning the distinction.
"We really wanted to say thank you to all of our customers who helped us get there," Johns said. "It was interesting because this was not a message to sell anything, but it sold a ton of rooms."
That kind of halo effect comes down to the psychology of building a sense of affiliation between guests and the hotel, said Ajeet Anand, senior vice president of commercialization and marketing at Pacific Hospitality Group.
Capturing first-party data is a key ingredient for making that happen — and that can be a challenge for independent hotels reliant on online travel agencies to drive demand. Anand said that was the driver behind launching Pacific Hospitality Group's own loyalty program.
"We knew we had to move in that direction to get email information, so that was our goal," she said.
Blanco said there are several psychological principles at play when establishing a more direct connection with past and potential guests, including:
- Loss aversion, which means guests are more motivated by a desire not to miss out on an opportunity.
- Scarcity.
- Reciprocity.
- Social proof, or the idea people need recognition.
- Identity labeling, or the concept that brands reflect a personals sense of identity.
- Relevance and convenience.
Johns said a big part of personalization is understanding where guests are in the overall booking journey at specific points when you're delivering messages.
"It's tailoring the message every single time, to the right customer at the right time, using all the different tactics that you have available to you to make sure that each customer feels special and you're able to close the business," she said.
Anand said her team likes to "lean into reciprocity," which is the concept that the relationship between a hotel and guest should be rewarding on both sides, similar to the message thanking guests for earning Michelin Keys.
"When we get [best hotel] rankings, we then go out with reciprocity, and we do it on every channel," she said.
At Pacific's Ko’a Kea Hotel & Resort in Hawaii, Anand said the hotel team often leans into social proof to win business since it finds guests are often "looking for validation" before booking.
"Because the rates are premium, the experience is premium and the investment is significant," she said. "So what we try to do is really address that in their first interaction with us."
That boils down to making customers feel secure in "we are what we say they are" before making that investment in travel, she said.