While the hotel service offer is plentiful, few hoteliers actually implement an upselling strategy through additional services. What services to offer? Which ones are truly profitable? To help you sort it out, we have drawn up a list of the six essential hotel services for any offer that meets both customer expectations and upselling objectives.
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Here are the 6 essential hotel services:
Breakfast
More than a classic, on-site breakfast is a real winner. It is the most appreciated service by customers.
According to a Coach Omnium study conducted in 2022:
- 63% of customers take it systematically,
- 28 % do it irregularly
- and less than 10% rarely to never.
This is why hoteliers should not neglect this service, which plays an essential role in the customer experience and satisfaction. According to a study conducted by the Yougov Institute in 2019, 7 out of 10 French people believe that the choice of a hotel depends on the quality of the breakfast offer.
Thus, in general, if your capture rate is less than 80% (proportion of hosted customers who have breakfast on site), you should question the quality or price (or both) of the service. Note that Parisians and those under 35 are the ones who most often skip breakfast, lack of time and the high cost of the service being the main reasons given for this non-consumption.
Room service
Room service is the second hotel service not to be overlooked. It is directly linked to the room and allows the customer to supply themselves with anything they may be missing or anything they may desire from their room. Whether it is Food & Beverage or specific requests...Need an extra blanket or feel like enjoying a champagne tasting in the middle of the night? Is the mattress a bit uncomfortable? The customer should be able to easily contact reception to submit their request and see it fulfilled. This service is essential to any hotel that cares about the quality of its service. Depending on the demand, it allows for higher pricing than a standard service and thus generates significant additional revenue.To facilitate room service management, more and more hotels now offer tablets in rooms or mobile applications from which the customer can consult and make their requests.
Transportation
A hotel is a place of passage where one comes to stay for a while, visit the surroundings and leave immediately. Access to the hotel and to different landmark locations (such as train stations, museums, airports...) should be simple and provided by the hotel. It is therefore appreciated to offer, among other things, a taxi service that picks up the traveler directly at the hotel, or even a driver who follows his clients throughout a day or the stay.
Again, the service simplifies the customer's stay while also allowing you to benefit from new commissions.
The tourist guide
Hotel customers generally do not know the surroundings of the hotel but are often interested in discovering good addresses! So why not help them find what they are looking for with a city guide?
Note that nearly half of experience bookings (48%) take place once travelers have arrived at their destination (Google study). So many upselling opportunities not to be missed.
Another equally interesting statistic: according to a study by Gladly, 75% of customers are willing to pay more for personalized recommendations.
By asking them about their current desires, whether it is visiting an exhibition, eating something local, or simply partying, you should know the appropriate places and be able to suggest them intelligently.
Instead of collecting flyers and brochures from all the surrounding points of interest, why not guide your customers through a digital solution? Once again, the guest app Bowo could be a perfect solution to offer this service! The customer benefits from cutting-edge GPS technology to trace a personalized route for them, taking into account their desires... Not bad, right
Commands and reservations of hotel services from the Bowo application.
Audiovisual Entertainment
We live in a digital world where a good part of daily leisure time is spent on a screen watching movies, series, or videos of all kinds. That's why an offer of TV channels, a movie rental, or access to a video catalog (Netflix / YouTube) is essential in the hotel offering.
In the same vein, it is very nice to be able to watch your favorite TV show as you do at home, in the evening before going to bed. And once again, these are often paid programs that the hotelier can markup. Everyone wins! The customer gets additional comfort, the hotelier gets additional sales (and a satisfied customer).
Spa
In France, 75% of hotel guests consider the presence of a spa to be desirable, even essential, according to a Coach Omnium study.
What could be better than relaxing in a good jacuzzi, cooling off in the pool, and finishing with a little workout to revitalize oneself? Although often expensive to implement, this service allows the hotel to upgrade its status (even to gain a star), and therefore raise prices while improving the well-being of its guests. It's another way to make customers happy!
Alternatively, you can also use partnerships ... at a lower cost and equally valuable (although less convenient). Many hotels have been seduced by this principle!
One last word:
As you have understood, this list does not claim to be exhaustive, but if you had to choose only 6 hotel services, it would be these. These services are the ones that most improve customer comfort and satisfaction while making money for the hotel. However, be careful of the specificities of your clientele and your locality, and offer a hotel offering based on these factors.
If you want to go further in customer experience and the services you offer,a digital solution like Bowo can be your best ally.”
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