5 powerful ideas to create a click worthy pre-stay e-mail
Reading Time: 2 minutesThe key moment to prepare your in-house service
Every time a digital marketing strategy is up for discussion, we realize that many hoteliers tend to think that pre-stay communication isn’t important…
The guest has already booked, the occupancy is guaranteed, so let’s focus on when the guest is actually at the hotel. Right?
It shouldn’t have to be that way. Only communicating with guests when they are in house is not enough!
When does the real experience begin?
A hotel strategy should embrace the idea that the true guest experience starts the moment they book a room. Proper communication with guests before they arrive can greatly improve the quality of their stay! And, ultimately, turn them into returning customers and evangelists of that hotel.
A study from Cornell University’s School shows that encouraging consumers to savour an upcoming experience can make waiting time more pleasurable and can heighten enjoyment of the actual experience!
So here independent hotel chains have a golden opportunity to take advantage of their polished service (vs big chains).
How to make pre-arrival e-mail more click-worthy
Let’s put ourselves in the guests’ shoes. Imagine you and your partner are going out of town and already booked a hotel for two nights.
As the awaited stay date approaches, you start to dream of getting a nice spa treatment to recharge your batteries. Wouldn’t it be perfect if you received an email from the hotel suggesting you to book a massage in advance or with a special price?
Yes, of course!
We recommend the pre-arrival email should be sent two days before the guest’s reservation begins.
This email confirms their stay and provides key information to make sure their guest experience is the best possible.
Here are five powerful ideas to create a click worthy pre-stay e-mail:
- Recommend services: share services that the guest should expect at the hotel – dining reservations, spa treatments or an upgrade to a room with a discounted rate;
- Local tours and activities: show that the hotel can give travel tips like no other!;
- Keep up the direct beat: highlight the direct booking bonus continuously and make it clear that the guest will receive certain benefits;
- Track traffic source: include hyperlinks over words such as “Events”, “Restaurant”, “Spa” and “Experiences”, etc. Remember to attach a UTM code to those links to be able to track that traffic through Google Analytics;
- Remind the guest of booked services: you can and should include the booking details in a pre-arrival e-mail like confirmation number, arrival and departure dates, room type, occupancy, weather forecast and the edit reservation link.
Conclusion
You may be reluctant to prepare and send pre-stay e-mail due to time constraints and/or technical unfamiliarity with what your system allows you to customise.
Nevertheless, numbers show that is key to engaging with all types of travellers.
Nowadays, people look for a connection with the hotel they stay in, with an unique experience throughout the booking and stay process.
So, if hotels manage to keep up a strong momentum throughout guest journey, a long-lasting relationship will naturally develop.
Related articles: Marketing automation – large-scale personalised customer service
