Social Media
Bootstrapping Guest-Facing Technology with Twitter
Twitter and the hospitality industry appear to be a match made in heaven. Twitter has become an established space in which consumers are able to quickly and easily state their experiences with brands within the public arena. But how else can Twitter help fuel a better guest experience?
Building a vital connection between hotels and customers, Twitter could be the marketing and customer experience tool that you’ve been looking for.
Opportunities Within Guest-Facing Tech
The emphasis has become more than ever upon customers achieving and expressing their freedom of choice via social media and Twitter is at the forefront of this. Twitter would appear to offer guests the chance to customize their hotel experience further than ever before, with guest-facing digital technology allowing for the expression and continued shaping of the traveller experience.
Customizing the Guest Experience
One way of using Twitter within the guest experience is by asking for a guest’s Twitter username – preferably during the check-in process or even during booking. It goes without saying that not all guests will be on Twitter but with the median age of a Twitter user currently standing at 37, there’s a good chance users within the 25-44 year segment will be engaging with this particular platform.
It makes sense, then, that a solid social media strategy for hotels would take this segment into account and plan accordingly. Twitter is used for a myriad of purposes from engaging with brands to planning careers. Accessing a guests Twitter handle allows hotels to engage in direct communication with the customer via a tweet, which can in turn help to make hotel stays a more personalised affair. It can be as simple as messaging to see how their stay is or you could even make local recommendations based on their activity.
Recommendations for Hotels Using Twitter
Staying in the good graces of your hotel guests will involve carefully avoiding bombarding them with information or sales patter and ensuring that no personal information, beyond a customer’s name, is given out during tweet activity.
There are a few inventive hotel marketing solutions that harness customer data in a direct, personable way – but nonetheless, customers and companies alike should be careful that their level of familiarity never extends beyond acceptable boundaries.
When you’re using Twitter to act as a customer facing piece of technology, you should ensure that it captures your brand and is still useful. It means creating a tone of voice that your guests will relate to, whether it’s friendly or professional. You should ensure that your Twitter activity encompasses both posting your own content and curated content and replying to Tweets that relate to your hotel.
Understanding Potential ROI
The potential for hoteliers using Twitter in their strategy is almost limitless, though the immediate return on investment (ROI) is more difficult to calculate. Connected consumers are enabled to state their wants and needs digitally. This could help cut costs and increase the usage of on-site services with customers wanting minimal human interaction during the ordering process. Twitter has the potential to keep customers connected but never feeling pressured into making a decision.