What is Guest Satisfaction
Guest Satisfaction is the measure of how happy or satisfied your guests are with your product and services. If one is in the hotel industry, their main objective should be to satisfy their guests.
How to measure Guest Satisfaction
Foster a grass roots customer success culture
The easiest way to collect guest feedback is to have your front line ask them in person. Design a script of questions and ask your staff to record the answers after the guest has left the room. In your morning meetings, ask your staff for a review of guest satisfaction from the day prior. Encourage the team to bring forth solutions to the issues causing negative feedback and ideas to create more experiences like the positive feedback.
Collect and observe customer and industry expert reviews
Measuring guest satisfaction is a process by which managers can compare properties, departments and services by quantifying individual experiences. For established brands, the best measure of guest satisfaction is consumer reviews. Different industries have different authority sources when it comes to reviews and it is important to identify which influencers refer the most business to you as this can change over time. For example, the hospitality industry is heavily influenced by reviews on Google, Expedia, Bookings.com, and TripAdvisor but other players and channels may arise in the future providing more opportunities to win customers.
Create and collect guest satisfaction surveys
If your company does not have enough reviews to gauge guest satisfaction over time, you can conduct a guest satisfaction survey (GSS). GSS forms help with recording the guest satisfaction at the individual property level. Guests are able to access these forms after their stay either on pen and paper at checkout or through a digital feedback system. It is important to keep guest satisfaction surveys short, quantifiable and directly actionable. From there, the hotelier can compile reports on guest satisfaction to be reviewed and compared over time.
How to improve Guest Satisfaction
Go the extra mile to show you care about making their experience great
One way to improve guest satisfaction is by giving attention to their guests. Throughout their stay, the hotel staff should be able to assist them with anything they may need and greet them whenever appropriate. The act of greeting them and asking how their stay has been will give an early impression of what they make out of their stay so far. Another way to improve guest satisfaction is to resolve any of their issues as quickly as possible. This will show the guests that the hotel and its staff prioritize the satisfaction of the guest.
Respond to negative reviews, don't argue and make it right
It is inevitable that a negative review comes. The key to these situations is not to panic. One negative review is not a big problem if dealt with honestly and thoughtfully. However, properties will suffer greatly when larger patterns of negative comments that are visible and unresolved. So remember, when that negative online review comes, respond as soon as possible with acknowledgement, no excuses, an apology and a follow up opportunity to further discuss and make it right off platform. You do not want to offer free goods and services to every negative review, and you certainly do not want to do so publicly. But when a serious error occurs, it is a good investment for a property to make it right to the guest.
