Experience economy in the hospitality industry is not a new concept. Guest experience and satisfaction are the basic fundamentals of the hospitality industry. But over time, the definition of experience has changed a lot.
A couple of decades ago, the prime focus of hotels was to provide a comfortable stay with basic facilities and services. In fact, guests opted for properties with feasible tariffs and a decent ambiance.
Currently, this scenario has been flipped over. These days, providing a place to stay is not enough. Guests are expecting a lot from hotels to make their stay memorable. Moreover, they are looking for something unique, exclusive, and exotic.
That’s why the concept of experience economy has gained momentum in the hospitality industry. If you are still unaware of it, this blog is a MUST-read for you.
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What is the Experience Economy?
Experience economy can be defined as a business generated by providing quality products or services to customers and creating a valuable experience for them. Moreover, it’s important that it justifies the investment made.
For instance, why are millennials and GenZ attracted to hostels these days? Obviously, the kind of guest engagement activities they offer, such as adventure sports (trekking, river rafting, etc.), music and bonfire sessions, local food taste tours, and whatnot.
This concept of business is what we can call the experience economy in the hospitality industry.
Why Should Hotels Adapt the Concept of Experience Economy?
You might wonder why adapting to the experience economy is a big deal. Let me explain this with an example.
I hope you’ve heard of Mahabalipuram in India. Apart from being famous for temples, this place is also known for promoting surfing culture.
There’s a well-known resort in that area that assists travelers by providing professional surfing coaching at their property. They have hired a couple of trainers for this.
In fact, the resort provides certification to the guests who opt for the surfing training course. This benefitted them in two ways:
- It saved guests from the hassles of looking for classes or an expert to guide them.
- The property had an edge over your competitors considering they were the first ones to introduce this unique service.
And not to mention, it increased their booking flow.
The point I’m trying to make here is that the experience economy in the hospitality industry is the need of the hour. And you need to adapt ways to build your business around the experience economy.
How can Hotels Tap into the Experience Economy?
I’m sure you must be eager to know the ways to incorporate experience economy in your hospitality business. So, let me save you the suspense and give out those precious tips.
1. Learning about your guests
If you want to provide a world-class experience to your guests, then start by understanding your guests. By this, I mean knowing every minute detail about them.
It could be their purpose of travel, food preferences, time of visit, services opted for, and whatnot. But how will you know that?
The answer is, by analyzing guest data. And for that, you need to implement various data-collecting strategies like Wi-Fi marketing, website chatbots, reviews, past booking records, and so on.
Once you have a concrete database, study it to get a better insight into your guests. Use your findings to curate personalized marketing campaigns and give guests a unique experience the next time they visit you.
2. Adding a personal touch to stay
Since you’ve invested time in learning about your guests, you would be aware of their likes, dislikes, preferences, and other travel habits. It’s time to put that to use. Let’s use a scenario to understand it better.
Suppose, you have a repeat guest at your property. Upon analyzing his past booking records, you find that every time he stayed with you, he has asked for a wake-up call, because of his early morning flights.
Now that you are aware of his travel habit, you can take an initiative to enrich his experience. And how to do that?
Simple, next time he arrives at your property, inform your staff to ask the guest if he would like to opt for a wake-up call service. Additionally, arrange for a drop if you can, as booking a cab in the early hours is quite a hustle.
You might wonder how it is related to the experience economy. Well, it is. When you start adding a personal touch to guests’ stay or helping them out in some or the other way, it enhances their overall experience at your property.
In turn, they become your on-ground marketeer. This helps you in generating business from your guests’ references. And that’s how you become a part of the experience economy in the hospitality industry.
3. Offering local experiences
One of the prime things that guests usually look for these days is indulging in local experiences. This could be taking part in any adventurous activity, tasting regional and exotic food, trying hands-on any special skills, or something else.
Here’s an amazing fact shared by Condor Ferries on experience economy in the hospitality industry:
Around 87% of millennials chose exploring new culture in comparison to partying and shopping.
Hence, you should try to include some form of local experience in your packages. For that, all you have to do is a partner with local activity providers, skill development coaches, and tour guides.
4. Introducing exclusive services
As I said earlier in this blog, travelers these days expect a plethora of services from hotels. And if you see, there are various services and facilities that used to be counted as a luxury but have now become quite common.
For example, a decade ago, free Wi-Fi was no less than a luxury for guests. During that period, many hotels promoted it as an exclusive benefit. In fact, there were properties that charged guests for Wi-Fi. And guests reacted like this:
The point is that free Wi-Fi was an exclusive service, and hotels providing it saw an influx of guests.
Similarly, you can find and introduce certain unique services at your property and give guests a chance to experience something they haven’t done before.
5. Connecting with guests individually on social media platforms
Next on the list is building personalized connections with your guests. Meaning, you need to connect with your guests on social media platforms.
Once done, you can send them greetings on special occasions like their birthdays and anniversaries. You can also send them personalized wishes at festivals.
Additionally, whenever any guest stays at your property, you can ask them for their social media handles and permission to click a couple of pics whilst they are enjoying their stay.
You can later use it on your social media pages to promote your property, and simultaneously you can tag the guests in that post.
Also, guests can share the photos and videos they have clicked at your property on their profile geo-tagging your property.
6. Creating unique moments for guests during the stay
Let’s say you are on a business trip and staying in one of your favorite properties. Unfortunately, your birthday falls during that period.
How would you feel if the hotel surprises you with a birthday cake and arranges a small party for you (Of course, with complimentary wine and dinner)?
That’s right, amazed and happy.
This is exactly what you need to do if you want to tap into the experience economy. Try to create some precious memories with guests and it’ll enrich the overall experience they had at your property.
7. Bringing in innovation
These days, people are becoming health conscious. Even when they visit hotels, a lot of them demand menus like vegan, keto-friendly, low-carb diets, and so on.
However, many hotels are yet to tap into such a customized menu. That’s where innovation comes into the picture.
You can either find and invest in such kinds of products that can cater to your guests. Alternatively, you can find a solution to a common problem faced by hotels.
These works in 2 ways:
- You are adapting the ongoing trends
- You have something exclusive to offer and promote
Note to wise: This kind of innovation can be time-consuming and expensive. So, invest your time and money wisely. Or rather stick to the ways mentioned above to be a part of the experience economy in the hospitality industry.
Conclusion
We all have heard this saying: Experience matters. When it comes to the hospitality industry, this stays true.
A good or bad guest experience can change the entire game of your hotel’s business. But, when we talk about generating an experience economy in the hospitality industry, the only option you have is to give your best. And for that, you’ve to think out of the box and go out of your way. After all,
Jokes apart, I’ve listed various ways that can make it easier for you to adopt the concept of experience economy in the hospitality industry. Give them a try and let me know the results. Till then, happy hoteliering.
