Guest personalisation: providing amazing tailored experiences pre, during & post-stay

Personalisation is at the heart of great guest experience. From offering bespoke accommodation options after an initial enquiry to building long-lasting personal relationships after check-out, serviced apartment and co-living companies can deliver jaw-dropping tailored experiences pre, during and post-stay. Here’s how. ‍

Pre-stay‍

Guest experience kicks off when a potential consumer first encounters your brand. That could be through an OTA, your website, a webinar or even an industry event, but personalisation begins as soon as that potential guest makes contact. 

• Enquiry-to-quote. Let’s say you receive an enquiry for a two-bed apartment in central London. What do you do? A) Reply two days later with a template format offering a three-bed on the outskirts or B) respond minutes later with a personalised email, offering three suitably-located two-beds with bespoke rates and a carousel of photos, maps and floor plans? If you like the sound of option B, check out our Quote Portal.  
• Communication. Personalised communication is not about using a template email with the guest’s first name. It’s about sending tailored pre-arrival information, such as restaurant tips, nearby attractions and upcoming events for their stay. It’s about having a communication hub where both operator and guest can see previous correspondence and chat live. It’s about automatic translations so guests can use their first language. With res:harmonics features, you can deliver truly bespoke contact. 
• Payments & reservations. Monthly installments? Upfront payments? Security  deposits? With res:harmonics, operators can offer a range of payment methods and options that best suit the guest, while also boosting their income by providing room upgrade discounts and personalised upsells along the booking process. ‍

During stay‍

Gone are the days of a concierge and a generic welcome pack. Now, innovative living companies can give guests more control, choice and customisation during their stay. 

• Keyless check-in. 74% of serviced apartment guests prefer touchless check-in with their smartphone, but with res:harmonics partner Wishbox, operators can go further by offering a seamless, customisable check-in process to guests. Taking just 2-3 minutes, guests can scan their passport, sign Ts & Cs and provide track and trace information. They can arrange a taxi pick-up, upgrade their room and pay for early check-in. Before arrival, guests then receive their personalised door code and they’re all set. 
• Cleaning and maintenance. Guests can use a web-based app (no need to download) to access their booking information and update their preferences. From setting their own cleaning checklists and rota to reporting housekeeping issues with photos and getting responses in real-time, guests can tailor their experience to their liking. 
• Apartment services. Using the Space-as-a-Service (SPaaS) concept, operators can use empty building spaces to offer guests a range of exclusive services, from classes to cafés to film screenings. Guests can use their keycode to register and join classes in the buildings, which not only improves their experience, but also allows operators to get data on guest preferences for further personalisation. ‍

Post stay‍

Guest experience continues long after their departure and operators can use personalisation to roll out the red carpet for their return booking. 

• Guest preferences. Data is ingrained within apartment management software and operators can build profiles on each guest’s preferences to offer a more customised experience next time around. From looking at correspondence, services used, length of stay and transport, serviced apartments can also tailor marketing for specific guests. 
• Loyalty deals. Rewarding return bookings facilitates return bookings. Using knowledge of guest preferences, operators can offer bespoke room upgrades, rate discounts and VIP treatment to guests for their next stay. ‍

Personalisation made simple‍

Personalisation used to be time, labour and cost intensive for operators, as well as underused by guests getting to grips with new technology. However, with the tech revolution over the last decade, these high impact features are now simple and cost-effective with guests of all ages also adept at smartphone apps and digital correspondence. With res:harmonics platform, operators can set up customisable features at every step of the customer journey leading to greater guest satisfaction and more bookings.