How To Create Lasting Guest Loyalty With A Multi-Sensory Hotel Experience

The ultimate goal of the guest experience is to create memories that guests want to repeat and share, an objective that’s more important today than ever for a number of reasons.

Firstly, prospective guests have more accommodation options than they can handle, so when they do check into your property, it’s vital that you provide an experience that makes their decision to choose your brand in the future a no-brainer.

Word-of-mouth is also more powerful today than ever before, thanks to social media. Instagram and Facebook users will never hesitate to post a short video or review that features your location in one way or another if you’re giving them a standout hotel experience. And with the vast majority of Millennials and Gen Z-ers trending toward experience over materialism when it comes to travel, ensuring your property is meeting these expectations is crucial.

But how do you create this type of experience? One of the biggest ways is by connecting with your guests on an emotional level. When the experience you create appeals to your guests’ positive emotions, it becomes one that your guests want to own. Consider what your guests see, hear and smell at your property, because these senses are direct lines to tapping into their emotions. Effective use of hospitality media solutions can be instrumental at creating a multi-sensory experience that lays the roots for lasting guest loyalty and inspires them to share with others just how much they loved their stay at your property.

#1: Sensational Hotel Music

A subtle yet highly effective way of connecting with guests on a deeper emotional level is by playing hotel music that appeals to their tastes and reflects your unique brand personality. Music for hotels should not be viewed as a commodity for your brand, but rather used strategically to significantly enhance the ambience of a space, ultimately helping guests relax and encouraging them to stay longer in any social spaces within your property. Instead of guests leaving to meet with friends or colleagues for a drink outside of your property, for example, your investment in creating a welcoming and enjoyable space through music will inspire travelers to stay on-site and ultimately spend more.

Musical preferences are a key component of one’s identity, and the better you can align your music programming with the preferences of your target clientele, the more likely your guests are to have a strong affinity for your hotel and brand. However, it takes a significant amount of research, time and expertise to create a successful music program, so it’s a good idea to get professional assistance from a licensed music provider such as Mood Media. Be wary of consumer-based streaming platforms that rely solely on bots and algorithms to generate your soundtrack. Such programs are prone to going off the rails, and your brand experience is not something you want to put on auto-pilot. Instead, expert design and management of your music from a qualified music designer and via a reliable, easy-to-use platform ensures a consistent hotel music experience that is true to your brand and that resonates with guests.

#3: Tap Into The Power Of Scent Marketing

Scent is a critical component of the hotel experience, and at a bare minimum you should leverage clean and refreshing fragrances throughout your property to help complement the look and feel of the experience you’re aiming to create. That said, scent marketing does much more than simply smell nice to your guests. The fact is that our sense of smell is tied to memory and emotion more than any other sense. With thoughtful use of scent marketing at your property, you can directly appeal to your guests’ emotions and ensure that they associate the memory of a great hotel stay with your fragrance. With scent marketing from Mood Media, can even help you create a signature fragrance to make your guest experience even more unique and memorable. For heavy business travelers for example, walking into a hotel lobby that immediately smells recognizable after long hours of traveling can help relax them, creating both a familiar and familial feeling.

Scent marketing for hotels truly is a powerful and versatile tool for enhancing the guest experience.

#4: Deliver The Message.

The guest experience can begin even before check in, and having a solid on-hold messaging strategy can ensure that you make a flawless first impression. Think about what you want your callers to hear while they’re on hold. Do you want them to sit through silence, or would you rather help them pass the time with your friendly brand voice and valuable information that will improve the quality of their stay? Additionally, on-hold messaging can be utilized to promote other areas of your business and any special rates you’re offering. Once you have an on-hold messaging solution in place, don’t forget to update your messages regularly. Any messages your callers hear while they’re on-hold need to be relevant to the time of year, and offers need to be up-to-date.

#5: Don’t Compromise On AV Systems.

Hotels demand high-quality audiovisual systems to complete the experience. Even the best music and most engaging digital signage content will make a poor impression on your guests if the screens and speakers are faulty or lacking in performance. Show you care about quality and invest in a professional AV system.

Your AV system needs to provide adequate coverage, performance and quality not just for the most common experience at your hotel, but also for the biggest type you may provide. For example, if you have a large bar and lounge area that shows all of the big games and has a nightclub feel on the weekends, then you need screens, speakers and amps that can create that type of high-energy experience. Or, if a majority of your clientele are on business trips, you may want to invest in high-quality conference room AV solutions.

Additionally, remember that commercial-grade AV equipment is a must. Home audiovisual equipment and screens aren’t designed to handle 24/7 usage, and any warranties they come with are null and void when you use them in a business environment. On the other hand, professional-grade solutions typically come with robust warranties that cover the common wear-and-tear that comes with commercial use.

It’s important not to think of your hospitality media solutions as separate tools on parallel paths. Make sure that they’re integrated, aligned and working together towards similar objectives – designing a multi-sensory experience that will enable you to not only connect with your guests on a deeper level, but also to turn your guests into lifelong brand advocates.