It is no secret that people in the United States use their smartphones for just about everything. More and more people are using this technology to book travel. At least 53% of travelers say they used their phone to find the information they needed for trips. Increasingly, it is not the technology in hotel rooms that makes a difference but the hotel property management software that is in place to help people do a host of things. Here are some reasons the right software package can help you improve your bottom line:
- You will provide better customer service. When people have a good experience with a business, they are not only more likely to tell their friends and family but they will become loyal to the brand. It has been estimated that about 74% of travelers say they plan to go back to a hotel they have already visited. It costs less to keep a customer happy than to get a new person through your door. By keeping your customers happy, you can develop relationships with your customers and create brand loyalty.
- Happy customers spend more. As a corollary to the first point, when you go beyond supplying the best technology in hotel rooms and use a hotel property management system that allows guests to do things such as check-in from their phone, you make people happier to stay at your hotel. When people have a good experience, they spend more money. The Harvard Review has reported that when people are really happy with a customer experience, they will spend 140% than people who are not as happy. When customers are unhappy, they can either spend less or just cancel their purchase altogether. Nearly 86% of consumers say that stopped doing business with a company because they had a bad experience, this is according to a Harris Interactive/Right Now poll put out in 2011.
- You will sell more “extras.” There is the fee you charge for your hotel room but then there are other things you hope the people who stay at your hotel will buy. In 2011, hotels around the nation brought in about $1.85 billion in revenue from selling these “extra” products. Again, happy people are more likely to buy more of these products than people who are not happy. Whether it is on the technology in hotel rooms or the use of hotel software, you can give your bottom line a big boost by using the right system.
- You give your customers more control. People like to take charge of their own vacation and the arrangements. When people can do things like check into a hotel using their phone, they feel more empowered. Empowered consumers are happier consumers. By giving your customers the chance to do these things for themselves, you will make the process easier and less stressful.
- You can cut your costs. One of the benefits of property management systems is that they allow hotel owners and managers to streamline their operations. The more smoothly your operations are running, the better for you, your employees and your customers. This can keep everything from your housekeeping to your check-in and out running smoothly and efficiently. That helps everyone. The less time you have to spend on the day to day minutiae of running your hotel, the more time you can spend tending to your guests’ needs and wants. That means even greater customer satisfaction and more loyalty and greater profits for your hotel.
A lot of hotel managers and owners see the importance of having the best technology in hotel rooms but do not always see the value that is added by installing a new, advanced hotel management system. People sometimes stick with an outdated system because it is familiar and because using it is the way business has always been done. That is not a good reason to stick with a software package. By upgrading your hotel property management system, you can improve your efficiency, streamline your operations and increase brand loyalty. Doing these things will improve your profit margin and bottom line.