A great experience: How SMS engage guests in hotels and vacation apartments

3 years ago

Sending SMS to guests is worthwhile – for providers and customers

Do you run a hotel or rent out vacation apartments and vacation homes? Would you like to offer your customers an exceptional service and strengthen customer communication? Have you already thought about sending SMS? The popularity of SMS in the hospitality industry is steadily increasing, which is not least due to its universal availability and usability. We would like to show you, with the help of a few examples, how to use SMS for hotels and vacation rentals so that your customers and you to benefit from it equally.

In diesem Beitrag:

Reservation and booking confirmation
Information on the guest’s stay and reminders
Welcome messages
Upselling
Accessible communication channel
Access codes
Reviews and feedback
Marketing SMS
Conclusion: A convincing service

Deliver reservation and booking confirmations via SMS

Sending reservation and booking confirmations is an additional service that many hotels and vacation rental providers like to use to set themselves apart from the competition. SMS create a lot of attention in recipients, which among other things means that they are read particularly quickly. In addition, SMS do not run the risk of simply disappearing in the spam folder. If you also want to provide an invoice or another document your guests, you can send a link to the corresponding file or use our attachment function.

What your guests love about this: They are always up-to-date and know where to find important information quickly.

Sending SMS in hotels is useful, for example, for sending booking confirmations

Send information on their stay and reminders

Your guests are looking forward to your vacation – you can support that excitement! Send out an up-to-date schedule of events for the period in which your guests will be staying at your hotel or vacation home. Perhaps there is also an in-house event for which you can still offer free places?

SMS is also popular for reminders. For example, send a message reminding them of check-in times to avoid misunderstandings. You can also remind your guests about events they have registered for to significantly reduce the no-show rate. Our tip: In your reminder SMS, also ask your guests if they have any additional requests for the time of their stay.

What your guests love about this: They won’t miss a single event and will know what’s coming up

Welcome your guests

A welcome message is one of the most popular messages used in SMS sending for hotels and vacation rental operators. Greet your guests and share important information, such as the Wi-Fi password. The easy way to personalize SMS makes welcome SMS much more personal than standardized welcome cards in the hotel room. So you strengthen customer loyalty right from the start. Would you like to give your guests the opportunity to reply to your SMS? Send your SMS from your own inbound number!

What your guests love about this: They will feel welcome and receive important information at exactly the right time.

Use the messages for upselling

Would you like a little more? Upselling and cross-selling are promising sources of revenue in the hospitality industry. Exclusive offers sent via SMS at the perfect time can help you sell additional services or products. Of course, up-selling and cross-selling offers are possible at any point from booking to departure. However, studies show that most upselling offers are taken up during the stay itself. As with all promotional messaging, of course, the same applies here: The better you know your customers, the higher the chance of success for your SMS. Is this particular guest more interested in a three-course meal or the surfing course? Determine the need and make the target groups a suitable offer in each case.

What your guests love about this: They receive offers tailored to them that will make their stay even better.

Auch im Upselling eignen sich SMS für Hotels und Ferienwohnungen

Maybe your guest is interested in a guided day hike?

Provide an accessible communication channel

Do you want to make sure that all your guests are able to communicate with you in the way that is best for them? Another factor in favor of SMS for hotels and vacation rentals is its accessibility. With text messaging, you provide a way for mute or deaf people, for example, to communicate effectively with your team. A quick text message to the front desk is all it takes to get the same service that guests would otherwise have to make a call for. Here, a small additional service potentially has a big positive impact on an entire group of people.

What your guests love about it: The special service that many competitors don’t offer.

Send access codes for rooms or vacation apartments

Your guests will be arriving late? Send an SMS with an access code so that your customers can easily get into their room or vacation rental. This automation allows you to save time without denying your customers the appropriate service. This variant is also very useful if you manage vacation rentals or vacation homes, but can’t always be on site. Be sure to let your customers know if and when they will receive an SMS with an access code, so they know what to do.

What your guests love about it: The possibility of a flexible check-in.

Ask for reviews or general feedback

You’ve probably long been aware of how important good reviews are in the hospitality industry. It’s also a fact that your guests are more likely to leave a review if you explicitly ask for one. A text message is a great way to do this. Simply send a link to your desired review site and let your guests submit their review right on their phone.

Of course, if for some reason you don’t want a public review, you can also send a link to your own contact form asking for feedback. In any case, the sending feedback SMS for hotels and vacation rentals is an important part of building customer loyalty and improving internal operations.

Another option is to have your guests respond directly to your SMS. For this use case, too, we recommend that you use your own inbound number.

What your guests love about it: They are involved in your processes and can address praise or complaints directly to you.

Sending SMS in hotels can help you gather valuable feedback

Ask for feedback – you can learn from any criticism you get

Send marketing SMS

Due to their personal character, SMS are also a great fit for marketing. Here it is particularly important that you get the consent of your guests in advance. By the way, you can find more information on the legal basis for SMS marketing in our blog post: How the double opt-in works, plus the legal basis for sending SMS.

Messages in which you send exclusive offers are particularly effective. Remember to personalize your message using placeholders and separate your target groups. Promotions in which you send codes for discounts are also popular with customers. Want to attract new customers? Give former guests a discount when they recruit new guests.

What your guests love about it: They will receive personalized and relevant offers.

Sending SMS in hotels and for vacation apartments – A convincing service

Your customers want an easy way to get in touch with you. SMS are a particularly effective way of fulfilling this wish. In addition, they contribute to better customer loyalty due to their personal character and help you to understand what your guests really want. But you yourself also benefit from the reliable text messages: You can use the universally usable communication channel not only for offers, but also to provide your customers with a service that sets you apart from the competition. In any case, it’s worth giving SMS for hotels and vacation rentals a try.

What you want to do in your house is not yet listed here? Do you have an idea that you would like to implement? We look forward to hearing from you!

Best wishes

Header picture by Michael_Luenen via pixabay.com