The Surprising Ways The Hospitality Industry Is Using Software Development Services To Boost Revenue and Increase Customer Loyalty This Year

Software development services have the potential to greatly boost revenue and increase customer loyalty with one fell swoop. The goal this year for most of the hospitality industry is to increase revenue and customer loyalty. Here are some ideas for the Hospitality Industry to accomplish that goal.

Here are some ideas for the Hospitality Industry to accomplish that goal.

Make Everything Easier for the Customer

The most obvious way you can boost revenue is to make everything even easier for the customer. This vision for all interactions with your brand will have a profound impact.

Put yourself in the customers' shoes. When they want to book a hotel room, look for the bottlenecks. There are always improvements to the booking process. Storing their hotel club number, and billing information is an obvious choice.

A final idea is to partner with local businesses to provide an experience local to the area. Provide that as an add-on at checkout. For example, if you are near the coast, provide an option for a seafood cooking class. Here in Colorado hotels should be offering horseback riding experiences in the summer, and snowshoeing in the winter. Think local. A visitor from Arizona rarely has the opportunities there that we do here. And vise versa. A visitor to Arizona may want to go on a food tour, or go kayaking. These are things so obvious they get overlooked.

Personalization

Some people think customization is creepy, but others find it a convenience that increases their experience. Some personalization steps can seamlessly help the customer.

One obvious personalization is to use IoT (the Internet of Things) to adjust settings based on the customer's usage. For example, using smart thermostats in each hotel room. When the customer adjusts the thermostat, those new settings can be saved to their profile. When they book another hotel room with you, apply the new settings to the smart thermostat in the new room. Many other pieces of customization data can utilize this type of system. Of course, customers need a way to opt-out of this type of personalization, but those who use the system will enjoy this convenience. Walking into a room that is the guest's perfect temperature, and automatically adjusts night time temperature for the perfect sleeping weather is going to be a huge hit.

Seamless Customer Experience

Customized software can make for seamless customer experiences. The best kind of customer experience is a seamless experience.

A simple quick win is to customize the WiFi landing page. Provide your guests with some great local-centric ideas for their stay. The obvious choices are restaurants, things to see, and things to do. Your city or town has something unique to offer, and your guests are eager to discover that uniqueness. There is a reason why the city slogan for Austin is "Keep Austin Weird".

Probably the best way to use custom development services that will enhance the customer experience is to update your mobile app to make the check-in process painless. The next generation of hotel customer does not want to chit chat at the front desk while checking in. They would rather skip the front desk altogether. Let them. Some larger hotel chains have already implemented this technology. The check-in process is done entirely through the customer's smartphone. Once they are within a geo-fenced area, they can check-in. Their room is assigned based on their reservation, and their phone is their key. Simply placing the phone within proximity of the door lock will unlock the door.

Customers Expect More

Customers are increasing their expectations in all aspects of business transactions. Gone are the days when a child would save box tops of their favorite cereal to mail that in and receive a less than awesome toy in exchange. Still, there was excitement in waiting six to eight weeks for your decoder ring to arrive.

Everything now is instant. Instant TV shows and movies right to your television. No commercials. Ads on social media that don't even look like ads. It can be a challenge for businesses, but those who embrace this new approach to business will be extremely successful.