Get the 7 main stages, 50+ touchpoints and game-changing strategies leading to a 47% growth in guest satisfaction.
Get the 7 main stages, 50+ touchpoints and game-changing strategies leading to a 47% growth in guest satisfaction.
Picture this.
It is lunch time, Sarah opens Instagram. I navigate to a boutique hotel and see an awesome sunset photo. She saves it.
She books it three weeks later.
Then, two months later, there she is posting a sunset snap from the exact same place with five mates tagged.
That's not just a booking. That is one visit that created a bride and party of six.
However, although the origin of revenue has shifted to more complex booking algorithms and next-generation pricing models, 73% of hotels still think about every interaction in isolation rather than as part of a connected experience.
Every day you're losing dollars by not knowing your guest journey.
And I'm going to show you exactly how to fix it.
Every single interaction between your property and a guest, from the very first Google search to the review they write six months later on TripAdvisor, is what you call the hotel guest journey.
In the sense that you are to be the main character in a story.
That is literally a new chapter for every touchpoint.
Check-in(Almost every hotel thinks that journey starts from this point) Wrong.
In Fact, The Journey of a Hotel Guest begins even before the Guest is your Guest.
The journey of actually traveling & work starts the very moment when we think, "I need a break".
Here's what actually happens:
The quality of your guest journey is what will make that difference to get the booking or not lose it over a competitor.
The old 5-level model that everyone else teaches, forget it.
Guest behavior has become more complex in modern times.
This is where dreams begin.
That potential guest does not even know you exist. Their heads are in social media, catching up with friends, or fantasizing about their next getaway.
Key touchpoints:
Why this is helpful for guests: Guests own the experience by giving them inspiration instead of a hard sale.
Solution: Sell guests on destination, not just property.
For example, one boutique hotel in Bali saw a 340% increase in discovery-stage engagement with stories about local artists rather than photos of rooms.
Now they know that they want to be travelers.
The hunting begins.
During this stage, guests begin to search online for researching the activity part of their vacation, trip planning and scheduling bookings etc.
They're comparing everything:
Key touchpoints:
Caution: Evidence from guests- You are worth the receipt of their money.
Your move: Make comparison easy. Show exactly why you're different.
They have it down to 3-4.
You're on the shortlist.
But most hotels really screw this up.
35 minutes typically comparing their finalist(s) of choice. They are searching for number one thing that will be the deciding factor
Key touchpoints:
Guests desire: Assurance they are choosing well.
Your turn: Eliminate all points of friction. Answer questions before they ask.
They've chosen you.
Don't celebrate yet.
Hospitality cart abandonment rate of 81% Never forget: 8 out of 10 people who start booking eventually don't finish.
Why?
Key touchpoints:
Guest Wants: Ease and Control
Your move: The easiest booking for a 5-year-old.
Upgrade and upsell offerings for sale are most effectively executed during the guest journey's pre-arrival stage.
This untapped lode extends from booking through to arrival.
Now, most hotels send one confirmation email and that's it… they stop there.
Meanwhile, your guests are:
Key touchpoints:
What we are trying to avoid: Ambushing your guests by springing surprises on them.
How to respond: Keep them interested by having relevant correspondence.
Hotels using pre-arrival engagement see:
They're here.
Now your every promise is being doubted.
Every moment a guest spends at the hotel affects their experience and subsequently, whether or not they are likely to return.
The number of touchpoints within this stage outweighs all the others combined:
Arrival moments:
Stay moments:
What guests are looking for: Surpassing guests expectations in terms of experiences
Your turn: Bake in the surprise, and bring "wow" moments to life where they aren't expected.
A budget hotel in Tokyo leaves origami cranes on pillows during turndown service. Cost: $0.02. Impact: 94% mention it in reviews.
The stay ends.
The journey doesn't.
Do not forget that you still have a guest once the guest leaves your hotel.
The next thing will decide if you end up with a only:
Key touchpoints:
What Guests Truly Value Above the Transaction.
What would you do: You change that satisfaction into a story line.
Based on what we know from neuroscience of traveller mind behaviour.
Logic, loyalty and regular customers go a long way — mostly, people make an emotional decision, then justify it logically.
Amygdala (emotion center) responses are 3x faster then prefrontal cortex (logic center).
So, what does this mean for your hotel?
Stop selling features. Start selling feelings.
If: "King Size Bed With 400 Thread Count Linens" → Then Sleep Your Best Night Of Vacation For A Fraction of The Cost.
Do say: "24 hrs American room service" Don't say:"Bored in the middle of the night? We've got you covered"
Don't say: "Ocean-view infinity pool" Say: "Where sunset selfies are about to flood your Facebook feed"
You cannot control what you cannot measure.
Integration of Smart Technology for modern hotel guest journey optimization
Essential tools you need:
Hotels using integrated technology see:
We analyzed 50,000 hotel guest journeys.
There are another five or so that actually move the needle as follows:
Response time impact:
Personalization ROI:
Touchpoint importance (guest rating):
Business travelers don't give a damn about your spa. Families do not need conference room minutia. Kids Clubs don't sell with Couples
Segment or struggle.
How often a typical hotel sends emails (1.3 between booking and arrival). Properties that deliver up to 4-6 personalized messages per hotel perform the best
Guess who gets better reviews?
Your reputation is established in these 30-second exchanges
Guests experience distinct emotional phases:
Stop tracking vanity metrics.
Start measuring:
Week 4: Optimize and Scale
Every day you wait, competitors steal your guests.
The modern traveler expects Amazon-level service from hotels charging Holiday Inn prices.
You have two choices:
Guestara makes transformation simple.
Our platform automates every touchpoint while maintaining the personal touch guests crave.
Hotels using Guestara report:
Ready to revolutionize your Hotel guest journey?
The seven stages are Discovery (awareness), Research (planing), Evaluation (comparison), Booking (purchase) Anticipation, Experience and Advocacy. It also means the strategies and touchpoints you use to maximize both guest satisfaction and revenue will be different at each stage, so here is what that journey looks like, and all of the stages it entails.
Step 1: Define your guest personas Track every step from discovery to advocacy Interview recent guests on what they enjoyed about their stay. Identify pain points and opportunities. Show the moves, but map the emotions too. Continuously track and optimize each stage using technology
Although each stage is important, the Experience Stage influences reviews and repeat bookings with most weight. Of the three stages, it is the Anticipation (pre-arrival) stage that presents with the upmost possibility of ROI for upselling and the Discovery stage simply decides whether or not you capture your booking at all.
Let even more focus be placed on response time (< 5 minutes of response time), continue personalizing all correspondence, remove booking friction, create delightful surprise and delight moments during their stay AND continue the engagement post-departure. Leverage tech-based solutions to automate with added doses of the human touch.
Tools a hotelier in 2020 must use:Guest Experience Platform (think Guestara)Analytics DashboardReview management systemChannel ManagerCRM Products Systems integration is essential for smooth guest experiences and journey tracking.
Monitor Your Guest Lifetime Value,Guest journey completion rate,Touchpoint Satisfaction Scores,Net Promoter Score,Upsell conversion rate,Direct booking percentage and Review scores. Instead only concentrate on the metrics that directly influence the revenue or guest satisfaction.
The hotel guest journey is the entire way from discovery through to advocacy. Guest journey is what happens to them from one point to the next and guest experience is how they feel at every point of that journey. The journey is mapped to create a perfect experience.
Modernize your hotel's guest experiences with our intelligent automation platform Guestara Try for free, see results within 30 days
Get the 7 main stages, 50+ touchpoints and game-changing strategies leading to a 47% growth in guest satisfaction.
Picture this.
It is lunch time, Sarah opens Instagram. I navigate to a boutique hotel and see an awesome sunset photo. She saves it.
She books it three weeks later.
Then, two months later, there she is posting a sunset snap from the exact same place with five mates tagged.
That's not just a booking. That is one visit that created a bride and party of six.
However, although the origin of revenue has shifted to more complex booking algorithms and next-generation pricing models, 73% of hotels still think about every interaction in isolation rather than as part of a connected experience.
Every day you're losing dollars by not knowing your guest journey.
And I'm going to show you exactly how to fix it.
Every single interaction between your property and a guest, from the very first Google search to the review they write six months later on TripAdvisor, is what you call the hotel guest journey.
In the sense that you are to be the main character in a story.
That is literally a new chapter for every touchpoint.
Check-in(Almost every hotel thinks that journey starts from this point) Wrong.
In Fact, The Journey of a Hotel Guest begins even before the Guest is your Guest.
The journey of actually traveling & work starts the very moment when we think, "I need a break".
Here's what actually happens:
The quality of your guest journey is what will make that difference to get the booking or not lose it over a competitor.
The old 5-level model that everyone else teaches, forget it.
Guest behavior has become more complex in modern times.
This is where dreams begin.
That potential guest does not even know you exist. Their heads are in social media, catching up with friends, or fantasizing about their next getaway.
Key touchpoints:
Why this is helpful for guests: Guests own the experience by giving them inspiration instead of a hard sale.
Solution: Sell guests on destination, not just property.
For example, one boutique hotel in Bali saw a 340% increase in discovery-stage engagement with stories about local artists rather than photos of rooms.
Now they know that they want to be travelers.
The hunting begins.
During this stage, guests begin to search online for researching the activity part of their vacation, trip planning and scheduling bookings etc.
They're comparing everything:
Key touchpoints:
Caution: Evidence from guests- You are worth the receipt of their money.
Your move: Make comparison easy. Show exactly why you're different.
They have it down to 3-4.
You're on the shortlist.
But most hotels really screw this up.
35 minutes typically comparing their finalist(s) of choice. They are searching for number one thing that will be the deciding factor
Key touchpoints:
Guests desire: Assurance they are choosing well.
Your turn: Eliminate all points of friction. Answer questions before they ask.
They've chosen you.
Don't celebrate yet.
Hospitality cart abandonment rate of 81% Never forget: 8 out of 10 people who start booking eventually don't finish.
Why?
Key touchpoints:
Guest Wants: Ease and Control
Your move: The easiest booking for a 5-year-old.
Upgrade and upsell offerings for sale are most effectively executed during the guest journey's pre-arrival stage.
This untapped lode extends from booking through to arrival.
Now, most hotels send one confirmation email and that's it… they stop there.
Meanwhile, your guests are:
Key touchpoints:
What we are trying to avoid: Ambushing your guests by springing surprises on them.
How to respond: Keep them interested by having relevant correspondence.
Hotels using pre-arrival engagement see:
They're here.
Now your every promise is being doubted.
Every moment a guest spends at the hotel affects their experience and subsequently, whether or not they are likely to return.
The number of touchpoints within this stage outweighs all the others combined:
Arrival moments:
Stay moments:
What guests are looking for: Surpassing guests expectations in terms of experiences
Your turn: Bake in the surprise, and bring "wow" moments to life where they aren't expected.
A budget hotel in Tokyo leaves origami cranes on pillows during turndown service. Cost: $0.02. Impact: 94% mention it in reviews.
The stay ends.
The journey doesn't.
Do not forget that you still have a guest once the guest leaves your hotel.
The next thing will decide if you end up with a only:
Key touchpoints:
What Guests Truly Value Above the Transaction.
What would you do: You change that satisfaction into a story line.
Based on what we know from neuroscience of traveller mind behaviour.
Logic, loyalty and regular customers go a long way — mostly, people make an emotional decision, then justify it logically.
Amygdala (emotion center) responses are 3x faster then prefrontal cortex (logic center).
So, what does this mean for your hotel?
Stop selling features. Start selling feelings.
If: "King Size Bed With 400 Thread Count Linens" → Then Sleep Your Best Night Of Vacation For A Fraction of The Cost.
Do say: "24 hrs American room service" Don't say:"Bored in the middle of the night? We've got you covered"
Don't say: "Ocean-view infinity pool" Say: "Where sunset selfies are about to flood your Facebook feed"
You cannot control what you cannot measure.
Integration of Smart Technology for modern hotel guest journey optimization
Essential tools you need:
Hotels using integrated technology see:
We analyzed 50,000 hotel guest journeys.
There are another five or so that actually move the needle as follows:
Response time impact:
Personalization ROI:
Touchpoint importance (guest rating):
Business travelers don't give a damn about your spa. Families do not need conference room minutia. Kids Clubs don't sell with Couples
Segment or struggle.
How often a typical hotel sends emails (1.3 between booking and arrival). Properties that deliver up to 4-6 personalized messages per hotel perform the best
Guess who gets better reviews?
Your reputation is established in these 30-second exchanges
Guests experience distinct emotional phases:
Stop tracking vanity metrics.
Start measuring:
Week 4: Optimize and Scale
Every day you wait, competitors steal your guests.
The modern traveler expects Amazon-level service from hotels charging Holiday Inn prices.
You have two choices:
Guestara makes transformation simple.
Our platform automates every touchpoint while maintaining the personal touch guests crave.
Hotels using Guestara report:
Ready to revolutionize your Hotel guest journey?
The seven stages are Discovery (awareness), Research (planing), Evaluation (comparison), Booking (purchase) Anticipation, Experience and Advocacy. It also means the strategies and touchpoints you use to maximize both guest satisfaction and revenue will be different at each stage, so here is what that journey looks like, and all of the stages it entails.
Step 1: Define your guest personas Track every step from discovery to advocacy Interview recent guests on what they enjoyed about their stay. Identify pain points and opportunities. Show the moves, but map the emotions too. Continuously track and optimize each stage using technology
Although each stage is important, the Experience Stage influences reviews and repeat bookings with most weight. Of the three stages, it is the Anticipation (pre-arrival) stage that presents with the upmost possibility of ROI for upselling and the Discovery stage simply decides whether or not you capture your booking at all.
Let even more focus be placed on response time (< 5 minutes of response time), continue personalizing all correspondence, remove booking friction, create delightful surprise and delight moments during their stay AND continue the engagement post-departure. Leverage tech-based solutions to automate with added doses of the human touch.
Tools a hotelier in 2020 must use:Guest Experience Platform (think Guestara)Analytics DashboardReview management systemChannel ManagerCRM Products Systems integration is essential for smooth guest experiences and journey tracking.
Monitor Your Guest Lifetime Value,Guest journey completion rate,Touchpoint Satisfaction Scores,Net Promoter Score,Upsell conversion rate,Direct booking percentage and Review scores. Instead only concentrate on the metrics that directly influence the revenue or guest satisfaction.
The hotel guest journey is the entire way from discovery through to advocacy. Guest journey is what happens to them from one point to the next and guest experience is how they feel at every point of that journey. The journey is mapped to create a perfect experience.
Modernize your hotel's guest experiences with our intelligent automation platform Guestara Try for free, see results within 30 days
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