You’ve been there, done that. Now you have the t-shirt. Is that it? Don’t forget to keep up the good work you did in attracting guests for their first stay at your hotel. Repeat bookings require the same effort that you put into attracting guests. Post-stay emails can be easily scheduled and personalized using an automated email platform that is part of your property management software. What’s the best part? The best part? You don’t have to feel that this sounds personal. Guest data is the answer. Keep reading! So, keep reading!
Why of Post-Stay Emails?
Post-stay emails are crucial because they encourage repeat bookings by building loyalty, encouraging advocacy, maintaining relevance, and developing customer retention. On average, acquisition costs can be as high as 25% of your total book cost. Repeat bookings, however, are about five times lower, so it’s well worth the effort.
Post-Stay Email Essentials
To be effective, hotel post-stay emails should be executed strategically.
- On brand – Colors, formatting and fonts should all be consistent with your website, as well as other marketing materials. Design consistency creates trustworthiness and cohesion.
- Value: Emails should be helpful to your guests from the beginning. Emails that are too aggressive in their marketing messages and do not deliver any value will have low open rates.
- Make sure each email is relevant for guests. One guest might find something valuable and relevant, but it may not for another. To deliver information and offers that are relevant and valuable to your hotel’s guests, reservation data can be used.
- Timely: Emails must be sent in a way that makes sense to your guests, based on their stay and the time they might like to travel again. Timing is everything, as they say.
Essential Post-Stay Emails
Post-stay emails are, at their core, a way to thank your guests for their patronage and ask for their feedback. It also serves as a reward for their loyalty. Let’s take a closer look at the emails that your hotel should send after a stay.
Post-Stay Thanks Email
Please send an email thanking your guests for their stay as soon as they check out. Ask for feedback. You don’t need to ask for a review, but make sure they had a pleasant stay. You have the chance to correct any mistakes before you publish a review. An apology, a discount for a future stay or a rebate can make a big difference and help to dampen negative experiences. To ensure communication is direct to the top, use the hotel manager’s signature and return email address. This assures guests that their concerns will be addressed promptly and provides the manager with a deeper understanding of front-facing operations.
We are grateful for your recap.
- Recommendation: Thank the guest for choosing your hotel.
- Tell them that you are glad they had a great time.
- Ask them to email their manager with any comments or concerns about their stay.
- Signature and return email to the hotel manager.
Email Feedback from Post-Stay
It is important to ask for feedback. Reviews can give you valuable information about improving or what is working well. 96% of travelers read reviews before booking, so they are important in your marketing strategy. OTAs also consider the frequency of reviews when ranking their properties. Send an automated post-stay mail three days to a full week after you have sent your thank you email. If they enjoyed their stay, ask for an official review. This will give you time to address any complaints. To make it easier for your guests to leave a review, include links to third-party review websites such as Tripadvisor, Google, and Facebook. Revinate, an automated reputation management platform like Google, integrates with your PMS to help manage and post positive feedback to review sites.
Feedback summary:
- We thank the guest for their stay.
- Ask them politely to write a review if they enjoyed the stay.
- You can correct any mistakes by inviting them to email their manager with any concerns or complaints.
- Respond to all online reviews
Post-stay Re-engagement or Winback Email
Winback and engagement emails are designed to build long-lasting relationships with your guests. These emails must be relevant to the guests and offer value. What is valuable to one guest might not be relevant or valuable to another. Guest segmentation allows you to personalize emails by collecting guest data.