What do hotel guests really want?

In times of online booking and rental via Airbnb More and more travelers are turning to private accommodation instead of settling in hotels. Airbnb, for example, has already taken over a fifth of the private accommodation market in the USA and thus achieves a higher turnover than the internationally active hotel chain hilton. But the demands of hotel guests have also changed significantly. Business and leisure travelers today have higher expectations with regard to various factors such as price, transport links, proximity to the city center, check-in or WiFi availability.

Due to the new competitive situation and the changing demands of customers, many hotels are asking themselves the question: What do hotel guests really want? A pool, a minibar and local television are, of course, no longer enough to stand out from the competition and offer guests a unique hotel experience. In this blog article, we'll tell you what demands customers have, especially in the digital age, and how you can meet them in order to attract additional visitors to your hotel to be able to greet.

Online presence and mobile optimization as the key to success

For most customers, choosing the right hotel for their next trip starts with the type of booking. Hotel reservations via travel agents or even by telephone directly with the hotel are no longer up to date and are therefore becoming increasingly less important. Online bookings via your own website or portals such as Booking.com On the other hand, it is hard to imagine both customers and hotel operators without them. This is also shown by an ADAC study According to which around three quarters of all short trips are booked online.

In today's world, when around 57 million people in Germany use smartphones, it goes without saying that the majority of reservations are made using smartphones or other mobile devices such as tablets. Of course, smartphones are also used to collect information such as prices, room amenities, etc. It is therefore extremely important for hotels not only to be represented online, but also to have their own website optimized for mobile devices. Too long loading times or a wrong display of page content makes potential customers uncomfortable and may cause you to lose them to a competitor.

Give hotel guests time with excellent service

In order to make the stay of hotel guests as pleasant as possible, the time factor also plays a decisive role. Long waiting times at check-in are particularly annoying for business travelers with busy schedules. Every minute wasted waiting means unused working time or less recovery from a busy day.

But holiday travelers also find long check-in queues annoying. After a long and hard journey, they often just want to rest in a hotel room or by the pool. Even for guests, such as families with grumbling children, eternal waiting is exhausting for the nerves, which in turn can have a negative effect on other hotel guests.

So that business guests and holidaymakers can avoid annoying waiting times, you should offer online check-in at your hotel. This should be available around the clock and should also be accessible from mobile devices. This allows guests to check in flexibly and conveniently with their smartphones while on the go, saving a great deal of time and effort.

Information on how to get there, available parking spaces and access to public transport also helps guests prepare their trip. These can be viewed online as general information or sent to the customer in person to facilitate planning.

Hotels can offer visitors another guest-friendly service by making table reservations at the hotel's own restaurant. This also avoids unpleasant waiting times and makes hotel guests feel more comfortable while eating, which leads directly to the next point.

Outstanding culinary offerings as a unique selling point

An often neglected but extremely relevant part of every hotel is the restaurant and the quality of the food and service. The culinary offerings in a hotel are one of the most important features for the majority of guests. This means that if the food is not good, it casts a bad light on the entire hotel. On the other hand, this also means that an exceptional selection of food and drinks can take the entire hotel to a new level. For many travelers, culinary diversity and good cuisine have therefore long since become an indicator of the quality of a hotel. Positive recommendations from your hotel restaurant on the Internet, such as recessions on TripAdvisor or Google reviews. The more good feedback, the more visitors come to your restaurant and the more guests choose your hotel.

This underlines the importance of hotel catering, which starts with breakfast, as the majority of guests don't miss out on their first meal of the day. Business travelers in particular attach great importance to a balanced, rich breakfast to start the day with strength. Business guests also appreciate ending a busy working day with a glass of wine without leaving the hotel. Having your own hotel bar with a diverse selection of high-quality wines can therefore be the decisive factor in choosing your hotel.

Sustainable concept and environmental protection as part of the hotel concept

In today's world, when awareness of environmental protection due to climate change and global warming is higher than ever before, a sustainable hotel concept is crucial to continue to attract guests. Travelers are increasingly using public transport, paying for the CO they cause when flying₂emissions and try not to burden their green conscience even when choosing accommodation.

Hotel operators can therefore take various measures to make their hotel more ecological and resource-efficient. For example, you can offer guests to cancel the daily cleaning service or to use their towel several times. This makes guests feel better and your hotel can also save on cleaning and water costs.

Since the topic of e-mobility has become more and more important in recent years and this trend does not seem to be abating in the future, the number of visitors who travel with electric cars continues to increase. When choosing a hotel, guests therefore pay attention to whether the hotel has a charging station. As a result, hotels that offer the option of charging e-cars can set themselves apart from the competition with this unique selling point.

Further energy costs can also be saved by using water-saving shower heads and upgrading to energy-saving LED lighting. Hotels should also be aware of their comparatively high waste production and handle it sustainably. Recycling, proper disposal and waste separation should therefore be standard and guaranteed by adequate infrastructure. In addition, the use of regional products of controlled origin in the hotel restaurant is an advantage for sustainably oriented guests.

Small free services with a big impact

Hotels can enormously increase guest satisfaction through various free services or small gifts. These range from free tea in the lobby to welcome snacks and a bottle of water in the room. An upgrade to a better room can also significantly improve a guest's mood and hardly causes any higher costs for the hotel operator.

According to one Study from World For 36% of travelers, a free parking space is one of the most important extra services. In addition, some holidaymakers want to sleep in on the day of departure and not check out at ten in the morning. A third therefore expect to be able to leave the hotel in the afternoon at no extra charge. Fresh fruit in hotel rooms or vouchers for the wellness area, bar or restaurant are also highly appreciated. In addition to all these services, however, one is more important to guests than all the others. Free WiFi was stated as desirable by more than two thirds of the respondents and is therefore the most frequently mentioned additional service. The necessity and relevance of good WiFi for your hotel is explained in more detail below.

Free, fast WiFi as an essential service for leisure and business travelers

Although for many people, holidays are not only a way to switch off their body and mind, but also to switch off Internet-enabled devices, laptops, smartphones, etc. are an integral part of most travelers. According to one survey From G-Data, a good two thirds of hotel guests use it to stay in touch with friends and family via messaging services or social media platforms. In addition, almost half of holidaymakers read news online to stay up to date on global and local events or to find out about the weather on the following days. As a result, smartphones and laptops also serve as planning aids and sources of information for the next excursion destination or sights for 50% of guests. A quarter also books tickets for buses, excursions or various events online. In addition, 17% of respondents do not want to listen to music or films and series from streaming services such as spotify or netflix abstain.

Just like holiday travelers, business travelers naturally also use laptops and smartphones in hotels and are often even dependent on them. It is common for business guests to use free minutes in the hotel to answer emails or prepare the PowerPoint presentation for the next day. It is therefore necessary to provide a desk and sufficient power outlets in the hotel room so that the guest can concentrate on their work undisturbed.

In order not to prevent business people from carrying out their activities and to give holidaymakers access to their various communication and entertainment media, it is therefore of utmost importance to guarantee its hotel guests free, fast WiFi. It is therefore not surprising that a free WiFi hotspot with a good Internet connection is regarded by travelers as the most important service in hotels. Even room service or garages or parking spaces are considered to be much less relevant. As a result, the availability of WLAN is a main exclusion criterion for hotel guests when choosing the right hotel.

Hotspot from Socialwave as a modern guest WiFi system

Although almost all hotels today have free Internet, this is often slow and therefore reduces customer satisfaction. It is also common to use outdated and outdated systems, such as coupon printers. However, guests have neither the time nor desire to enter long passwords with cumbersome user names. Instead, they want an easy way to log into the guest WiFi hotspot quickly and independently, such as Socialwave It with his Guest WiFi system with integrated marketing package for hotels offers. Hotel guests can log in easily with their social media or email accounts without having to ask for login details. Whether it's Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp or email, customers can decide for themselves which login suits them the most.

Once logged in, Socialwave's WiFi hotspot offers mutual benefits. On the one hand, your guests enjoy flexible, hassle-free access to the Internet. As a hotel operator, on the other hand, you benefit not only from satisfied hotel guests, but also from their positive online reviews, which is due to Social media and referral marketing is made possible by Socialwave. This in turn leads to more guests in your hotel.

You can also find further helpful tips on guest WiFi hotspots in the hotel here. You are also welcome to contact us for further information and sign up for our newsletter.

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