Why Custom Hotel Amenities Are Essential for a Superior Guest Experience
Today’s travelers want extraordinary experiences, not just a comfortable place to lay their heads with a free internet connection. Research has revealed that 54 percent of global travelers want personalized experiences aligning with their interests and past actions.
Personalization is the new normal in the hospitality industry. Guests want more options whether it’s the ability to book specific rooms or floors or choose only the facilities and services they consider important to them. This article discusses the importance of customizing your hotel’s amenities. Read on to find out how this approach meets modern guest expectations and stays competitive in the evolving market.
8 Reasons to Use Custom Hotel Amenities
Customized hotel amenities can help your hospitality venture in the following ways:
1. Build Customer Loyalty
Customizing hotel amenities is a positive step toward gaining more credibility. It creates meaningful memories to get closer to guests. When guests feel recognized in every touchpoint of your establishment, they will stay with the hotel longer. When properly executed, small personalization gestures can leave a memorable impact and satisfaction for guests.
Consistent personalized approaches increase the probability of building an emotional connection with customers and transforming a one-off visitor into a regular guest. Guests who have good memories with your hotel will also convey their pleasant memories to others to bring more customers for another positive cycle to loop.
2. Boost Revenue
Providing guests with unique services is not only about making them happy; it’s also a means of generating more money. Hotels can introduce more tailored offers like a finer accommodation type, or any other special services that customers are willing to pay for.
Research has found that 61 percent of people are willing to spend more with hotels that offer a customized experience. This way hotels can transform standard abstract services into gross add-on services that consumers are more than willing to pay for.
3. Attract Niche Travelers
Specialized services such as wellness and sustainability are particularly interesting to targeted guests. These groups are gradually seeking experiences that correspond to their way of life. You may target wellness prospects by creating special programs like spa treatments and yoga sessions.
Likewise, guests who are conscious of the environment will consider sustainability products such as energy-efficient facilities or environmentally friendly products in the washrooms. Providing customized options allows you to capture a profitable segment of the market your competitors can’t.
4. Create a Unique Brand Identity
For an industry as saturated as hospitality, differentiating your brand is highly important. Unique services not only add value for guests but also make a hotel easily recognizable and distinct from similar hotels.
Uniqueness and differentiation of services provide an additional advantage for hotels as guests will associate it with novelty and better service delivery. A hotel that takes good care of its guests will improve its reputation among review sites and attract more footfall.
5. Increase Perceived Value
Increasing perceived value means that customized hotel amenities provide an opportunity to overdress a service and create an illusion of higher value even if the expenses are cheap. This is because when guests have the power to decide, they perceive that they are receiving a lot more than they paid for.
For instance, giving guests an option between various types of pillows, or permitting them to choose the kind of room fragrance they would like, can go a long way in making their stay more luxurious. Such perception of added value may lead to excellent reviews, a higher satisfaction rate, and therefore, fairly high fees for a room.
6. Offer Flexible Services
Hotel guests today are highly versatile. That’s why you need custom amenities to fulfill their needs. Hotels that offer their guests individual options on such matters as check-out time, in-room facilities and services, or menu variety are perceived to be more guest-oriented. This quality is especially beneficial for families and business travelers who have irregular schedules since they can easily alter their plans.
Services that can be tailored to meet the needs of several different guests include flexible check-in/check-out times, tailored concierge services, or on-demand in-room dining options.
7. Anticipate Guest Needs
Perhaps one of the greatest strategic benefits of building customized amenities is the capacity to be proactive; that is, not only guessing what the guests may want but providing for those needs before they even know to ask.
Thanks to predictive algorithms for hotels, they can now guess what a certain guest may desire and create a solution based on that, with data collected from prior visits. For instance, if a guest who had earlier booked the hotel required extra pillows or a specific type of tea, then the hotel can have these arranged with anticipation of the guest’s arrival.
8. Adapt to Seasonal Trends
Some of the amenities common in hotels can easily be adapted to reflect certain periods, hence hotels do not lose their theme every now and then. For example, you could provide an option for guests to choose holiday decorations for their room, from Christmas trees to Hanukkah candles, and provide the option to customize the ornaments or decor styles.
Dressing up amenities according to seasonal or holiday trends creates an element of fun in the experience and shows that the hotel is aware of trends and is intentional about improving guest experiences.
Popular Customized Hotel Amenity Ideas
Ready to customize your hotel amenities? Here are the top ideas to consider:
- Personalized room selection: This feature will allow guests to select the desired type of room, view, or floor number, in case they wish to be placed on the quiet floor or have a view of the sea.
- Bespoke in-room dining options: This includes dietary accommodation options that enable guests to choose meals based on their needs, allergies, and preferences (for instance gluten-free, vegan, or low-carb meals).
- Customizable bedding and pillow choices: Simple requests like getting a firm or a soft mattress or any pillows of the guest’s choice can make a big difference in the guests’ experience.
- AI-powered concierge services: AI-powered concierge systems can provide guests with recommendations concerning the places of interest, restaurants, or other activities, based on their preferences and their actions in the hotel.
- Smart room controls: This includes facilities that control energy in the rooms (such as controlling the lighting, temperature, and equipment within the rooms), through smart devices such as a mobile phone or in-room device.
- Personalized wellness experiences: Flexible wellness services, including individual spa programs, yoga lessons, and fitness regimens that the guest would enjoy.
- Exclusive mini-bar selections: With this feature, guests are allowed to make an order on what they wish to be placed on the mini bar in their room.
- Custom check-in and check-out times: This option gives guests the freedom to come and go as they please due to flexible times of arrival and departure without incurring extra costs
- Pre-arrival room setup: With this option, visitors can determine what type of atmosphere they want in their rooms before they check in in terms of temperature, lighting, and even special requests like flowers or snacks.
