Understanding what makes a good ‘guest experience’

The probe on planet Mars by NASA reveals the existence of a dry lake that possibly held water thousands of years ago.

Describing the findings as ‘extremely exciting’, a biologist went on to explain that this latest discovery puts the question to determine whether life on Mars exists or ever existed, to being ‘twenty steps away from finding an answer’. Without doubt, these next twenty steps will need to be gigantic in stride.

Nevertheless, slowly but surely scientists are getting closer to the truth. Coming back to earth, and, in particular to the hotel industry, it appears that for more than 90 percent of the hotels, the elusive search for delivering the ideal guest experience is most definitely much more than twenty steps away!

One might ask, what exactly is a good guest experience? Years ago, a wise hotelier described it as ‘One where the customer thought it was so wonderful that they would be prepared to pay even more for their visit/stay next time.’ Another definition of a guest experience is that ‘it is the sum of all the individual experiences a guest has with a hotel’. Starting, way before the guest checks in to the hotel, then continues over the duration of the stay in that hotel and ends long after he/she has left. Throughout the journey there may be many different ‘touch points’ experienced and successful hoteliers are the ones who provide a consistently great experience across these touch points. The crucial key word here is ‘touch point’. The Oxford dictionary defines a touchpoint as ‘a point of contact or interaction, especially between a business and its customers or consumers’. Every touchpoint reflects, reinforces, and reiterates who you are, how you operate, and how you’re different from your competitors. Hence, touchpoints are important because guests form, either positive, neutral or negative perceptions of your hotel or restaurant and your brand based on their cumulative experiences.

All touchpoints are not created equal. Some will play a larger role in determining your hotel’s overall guest experience. If you run a hotel, a comfortable bed is more important than the view. Both are touchpoints, but each has a different effect on our guests’ experiences as a whole. Similarly, a glum looking doorman silently opening the door for you will project a negative touchpoint as opposed to a smiling doorman who, whilst opening the door, warmly welcomes everyone with a ‘welcome to our hotel’ or a ‘have a nice day’ greeting, It’s easy to guess which one of the two doormen is showing his guests, he cares and is building a rapport during the brief interaction. Every potential interaction with a guest is a chance to verify that they are making the most of their visit, to enhance it and to build on your unique attributes. Now that’s a huge step.

(The writer is the Editor of ‘Hospitality Sri Lanka)