Before Andrea and her team launched their new customer experience platform in the Hotel Shargo locations, they knew they had to take time to plan the "where" and "how" they would collect guest feedback. As they discussed all the different locations they could put guest feedback kiosks or how they could embed feedback modules into their website, Andrea realized they were missing an important piece of their planning, "why".
As everyone around the table came up with ideas for the placement and methods of collection for guest feedback, Andrea challenged her team to explain why that feedback was important to the overall guest experience journey. She wanted to ensure that the amount of customer feedback they collected was what they needed as a company but without affecting the guest experience.
Out of their discussion, Andrea and her team came up with an agreed-upon view of how they will evaluate what a touchpoint should do for them before they plan to use it.
- Where: A location with high guest traffic or that offers a unique service and interaction point.
- How: The method that best seamlessly fits into the guest experience. When possible, use existing technology the guests will already be using.
- Why: To gather guest feedback about important areas of the guest experience or connected to value add/additional cost services.
- Guest Experience Impact: Minimal. Make sure we are not interrupting their experience to gather feedback whenever possible. Seamlessly integrate it.
Below is how they identified their initial touchpoints:
Website
- Where: On the reservation and contact pages of the website.
- How: A website slider module appears in the screen's bottom right-hand.
- Why: To gather feedback about the booking experience.
- Guest Experience Impact: Minimal. The goal of the slider placement is to ensure the guest can continue their reservation experience without the slide interfering.
Reception
- Where: On the main counter
- How: Touchless Customer Feedback Terminal
- Why: To gather feedback about the check-in process and their initial reaction to entering our hotel.
- Guest Experience Impact: Slight. Some guests may not choose to provide their feedback or not feel comfortable doing so too close to the front desk stand. We should ensure the placement allows for comfort while not interfering with their normal check-in process.
Restaurant
- Where: Near the primary exit point of the restaurant
- How: Touchless Customer Feedback Terminal
- Why: To understand if they enjoyed their meal services
- Guest Experience Impact: Minimal. We will place the terminal to not interfere with the guest's restaurant exit.
Pool & Spa Area
- Where: On the main counter
- How: Touchless Customer Feedback Terminal
- Why: To understand if our value-add services meet what the guests are looking for.
- Guest Experience Impact: Minimal. Similar to the front desk experience, we want to ensure we give our guests the space to respond in a comfortable environment.
Billing Email
- Where: Final Billing Email
- How: Embedded Email
- Why: To get a final review of the guests' stay, understand if they had any issues and get a sense if they would recommend our hotel to others.
- Guest Experience Impact: Moderate. This is the one location where we will make the feedback option more prominent to the guest since it's an area where the feedback has a crucial impact on the guest returning or referring to our hotels. Additionally, we want to ensure we respond to any complaints they provide us with 24 - 48 hours.
While this was just the initial framework Andrea and her team created, it was a critical first step to give them the foundation for building a solid guest experience journey. In their next strategy meeting, they planned to discuss the operational impacts of responding to guest feedback and what these touchpoints would provide them for analysis data.
Shargo Hotels is a fictional company that helps to illustrate how Press'nXPress can be used in hospitality applications.
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