5 Reasons Why Guest Messaging is the Future of Hotel Communications

1. Younger generations prefer text messaging over calling

Did you know that there are approximately 26 billion text messages sent everyday in the United States?

Breaking this data down further, studies have shown that Millennials spend 3 times more time texting than calling, with 25-34 year olds sending and receiving an average of 75 texts a day. Looking at even younger groups, American adults ages 18-24 send and receive an average of 128 texts per day. The younger generations generally prefer texting as their primary communication channel.

Technology changes how people communicate and interact with the world, and as a result, the hospitality industry needs to evolve with it. Rather than continuing with old processes, hotels can use guest messaging to align with how their guests prefer to communicate. By allowing for an accessible communication platform, guests can engage with hotels more and create more opportunities for a personalized and enjoyable stay.

2. The rise of business text messaging

More and more businesses are using text messaging as an avenue to communicate with customers, and this trend is continuing to grow. This trend goes both ways, as consumers are also increasingly open to communicating with businesses over text: studies show that 56% of consumers prefer to message customer service rather than call them, and 75% of consumers don’t mind getting promotional text messages from businesses.

The more that businesses use text messaging to communicate with consumers, the more normalized it is for this type of communication to happen. For hotels, that means that your guests are more likely to expect you to have messaging capabilities, and meeting guest expectations is crucial in the world of hospitality.

3. Faster service for better guest experiences

Hotel text messaging can also enable hotels to address guest questions and concerns much faster than usual.

With automated replies built into a hotel guest communication system, common questions such as “what time is check in?” or “what is the WiFi password?” can be answered immediately. Instead of putting guests on hold for simple questions like these, automated messages can quickly and easily provide faster responses to guests.

It also takes much less time to send a text message than address guests on the phone. Rather than spending extra time on answering phone calls, hotel employees can send a quick text and use that saved time to focus on solving any problems or personalizing guest experiences. Hotel guest messaging is a very efficient communication tool that can enable swift customer service, keeping guests happy as a result.

4. Opportunity to upsell

Not only does hotel messaging provide benefits for guests, but it can also benefit hotel profits directly. By sending guests a quick text message about various offers, such as a discount on a room upgrade or a special on spa treatments for the weekend, hotels can upsell guests in a manner that isn’t disruptive.

With guest messaging, promotional messages can also be sent in bulk, so your hotel staff doesn’t need to spend much time on creating a campaign. With just a few clicks and an inviting text, your hotel can easily create more opportunities for increasing revenue.

5. Improve online reviews

Text messaging has an open rate of 98%, compared to 20% for email. If you’re asking a guest to leave a review for you on TripAdvisor or Google Reviews after their stay, they’re most likely to see your request through a text message. And for you to drive more people to leave a review, your guests need to actually see the request first.

Guest messaging can also help to determine which reviews should be directed to review sites. By using an automation that asks guests for a quick rating of 1-5 (1 being terrible and 5 being excellent) right after their stay, hotel communication platforms can send 5-star reviewers directly to online review websites, while poor reviews can be sent to management for service recovery or as feedback for future reference. With messaging, you can manage your reputation and improve your online ratings.

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