The introduction of SMS to businesses has changed the landscape of the hospitality industry. Ensuring your customers have a positive and enjoyable experience is no longer limited to the time they spend at your venue. Whether you’re a hotel, restaurant, spa, or other service-oriented business, SMS gateway allows you to reach out to your customers before they walk in and after they walk out the door.
Streamline and automate key processes such as scheduling, reservations, and loyalty programs, while maintaining face-to-face interactions with customers to answer questions and encourage them to visit your company.
Hospitality
Special offers and promotions are a great way to attract new customers to your bar, restaurant or hotel and a great way to reward existing customers’ loyalty to returning customers and encourage them to keep coming back.
But your generosity is useless if those customers don’t know about these deals in the first place.
SMS for Staff Management
Popular bars, restaurants and hotels can get crowded quickly. This gives you a great opportunity to delight your guests with top-notch service, reinforcing their loyalty and most importantly your reputation.
Or you could disappoint by falling short of their expectations through a lack of staff, leading to a poor experience with long wait times or mishandled orders, resulting in the declining reputation of your business.
This does not apply if you receive SMS alerts regarding employee schedules. This allows staff to be notified of open shifts, fill shifts quickly, and ensure a full roster of the dedicated hotel staff that can stay full.
Ease the Customer Experience
Any hospitality professional knows that your customers expect a lot from you and expect first-class treatment. The best way to go beyond that is to remove as much stress as possible before it comes in.
Eliminate the unnecessary frustration associated with waiting in queues, being transferred from agent to agent, and making multiple phone calls by allowing customers to create or change plans without having to keep calling ration can be avoided. Too many things to coordinate when travelling.
From booking flights to packing luggage to arranging activities, a relaxing vacation can quickly become a stressful event. So much so that 37% of US travellers admitted to cancelling or postponing trips due to stress.
Adding SMS as a customer service channel means customers don’t have to deal with logistical changes and can focus on all the fun and relaxing things to do.
Confirmations and Reminders
Another simple yet powerful advantage of SMS in hospitality is the ability to instantly send automatic reservation confirmations to all customers as soon as the reservation is entered into a computer system. This helps reduce costly no-shows and maximize room and table availability on specific dates. A study found that SMS reminders can reduce missed appointments by up to 50%.
Similar stresses can arise when dealing with restaurant reservations. Nothing leaves a more negative impression than trying to talk to the hostess on the phone in a noisy restaurant or finding a place to wait for a table while hoping for the buzzer to go off. Given that 70% of restaurant customers don’t make their second visit, it’s clear that many restaurants fail to engage with their customers in the right way.
Allowing your guests to spend their time the way they want and send a message when their table is ready is a new experience. Then text her to ask how she felt about her visit or to let her know about upcoming specials to help keep the venue memorable.
SMS is a quick and easy way to get in touch with your guests. By automating mundane travel and booking tasks via SMS, your customers can get on with their business and get on with their day.
Allow guests to check in and check out via her SMS so you don’t have to worry about stopping by your host’s desk. As a result, employees can spend less time dealing with issues on the phone and more time doing whatever it takes to make the venue a more enjoyable place. Keep your customers and employees happy while saving business costs.
Final Words
Whatever your hospitality communication needs, contact us to find out how our hospitality SMS solutions can save you time, money and delight your customers.
SMS is one of the most efficient ways to interact with your customers and ensure they receive the best possible service. Stand out from the crowd by tailoring your communications to your customers’ needs.
