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7 tips to create a great hotel guest experience

Learn how to improve your hotel guest experience and increase your visibility with these simple tips.

April 10, 2024

Hotels Traveller experience

Travel is becoming faster, more accessible and personalised. But the foundation of providing a great guest experience hasn’t changed: leaving your guests feeling valued and delighted after every interaction leads to more glowing reviews and return visits, contributing to your ongoing success.  

 

A consistent guest experience influences a traveller’s overall perception of your property and the quality, value and level of satisfaction they have with their stay. From booking to checkout and beyond, every touchpoint with your guests informs their trust in you and in our marketplace. Properties that consistently deliver a positive guest experience are rewarded with increased visibility across our marketplace. 

 

There are simple steps you can take to improve your guest experience and tools that you can use to access deeper insights and recommendations tailored to your property.

1. Create a strong, accurate property listing

When guest expectations are aligned with the level of service and amenities you provide, it’s much easier to provide a great guest experience, and this starts with your property listing. A strong property listing is essential to reaching guests who are a good fit for your property.

 

The thoroughness of your property listing, including detailed descriptions, a variety of high-quality photos, transparent policies, competitive rates and inventory, and positive guest reviews allow guests to assess whether staying with you will provide the experience they want.

If your amenities are temporarily unavailable or your property is undergoing renovations, make sure that you reflect this in your property listing to avoid guest cancellations or refund requests. And ensure that your availability and inventory is accurate—syncing across platforms can help avoid overbooking or double-booking that would result in having to relocate a guest to another property or room.

Showcasing a detailed and current list of amenities will help connect you with travelers who are searching for the guest experience you offer.

2. Communicate with guests ahead of their stay

The speed and manner in which you acknowledge bookings, along with the helpfulness of the information provided, all shape a guest’s perceptions of their upcoming stay. Most travellers (87%) find it helpful to receive information from their hotel prior to check-in.1 Gathering details about their trip and any special requests shows that you value them and may uncover an opportunity to exceed their expectations. Also, communicating any changes to the property or amenity availability early helps ensure that there are no unpleasant surprises on arrival.

Use our automated pre-arrival messages to communicate with guests and set their expectations ahead of the check-in experience.

87%

of travellers find it helpful to receive information from their hotel prior to check-in.¹

3. Provide a smooth check-in experience

Check-in is a pivotal first impression and should consistently be a positive experience for guests. It sets the tone for the whole stay and can often be affected by wait time, ease of check-in and staff friendliness.

 

In addition to establishing automated pre-arrival messages to guide guests through check-in, offering a warm, personalised welcome and a streamlined, fast check-in process can go a long way. Check-in is the perfect opportunity to acknowledge any special perks you’re providing to guests, such as a room upgrade for a Platinum One Key™ member.

4. Ensure your property and rooms live up to guest expectations

Well-maintained properties help travellers relax and enjoy themselves. When it comes to amenities, two things are essential: setting accurate expectations for what will and won’t be available and delivering the basics extremely well. Poorly maintained property or amenities, or those that don’t match descriptions, can disappoint guests. Make sure you notify guests of any ongoing work or issues beforehand using the Messaging tool.

Travellers repeatedly rank cleaning and sanitisation measures as top considerations for a trip—in fact, 63% of travellers who recently visited Expedia® said cleanliness/hygiene is important when choosing where to book accommodation, compared to 49% of general consumers.²

 

Ensure that the cleaning practices you mention in your property listing are carried out and that guests are aware of how you’re keeping them and your staff safe. In guests’ minds, cleanliness reflects your commitment to their well-being and quality service.

View your guest experience score and recommended actions in Partner Central.

5. Surprise and delight your guests during their stay

The way travellers feel about your hotel is closely tied to the experience they have with your staff. Friendly and attentive staff help guests feel more welcome—this is the baseline that guests expect today. 

 

The opportunity to truly wow your guests with thoughtful touches exists primarily when they’re on property. By using the information gathered prior to arrival and paying attention during their stay, you’ll uncover ways to surprise and delight. From proactively sharing local knowledge to acknowledging special occasions with handwritten notes and in-room gifts, taking time to personalise a stay exceeds expectations and elevates the overall experience.

6. Resolve guest issues quickly

Despite best efforts, issues can arise at any point in the guest’s experience with your property. Expressing genuine concern and moving quickly to resolve an issue with a room or level of service can make up for a multitude of missteps. Going above and beyond when a guest has a problem can go just as far to build trust and loyalty as a positive experience.

 

For guest issue resolution:

7. Read and respond to your guest reviews

When travellers are looking for a place to stay, reviews from former guests can play a big part in their decision-making process. They also provide you with insights on what guests love about your property and what they think you can do to improve. 

 

Consumers rank guest reviews (48%) ahead of family recommendations (47%) and travel booking websites (45%) when deciding whether to book with a travel provider.³

Guest reviews are also one of the biggest factors influencing your visibility performance, so it’s important to spend time reviewing, responding and proactively solving persistent issues surfaced in guest ratings and reviews. You can also use our tools to quickly understand trends within your guest reviews.

Deliver the best guest experience

As part of visibility performance in Partner Central, the guest experience score measures these different touchpoints that guests have with your property. The tool surfaces insights and tips tailored to your property based on our first-party data to help you increase your score. The better guest experience you provide, the happier your guests are and the higher your visibility and sort order can be on our travel booking websites.

 

For one California property, using our guest experience score to boost visibility and competitiveness resulted in measurable results.

+18%

guest experience score improvement⁴

+25%

revenue growth on Expedia Group™⁴

+55%

booking volume⁴

Review your visibility performance in Partner Central to understand what guests love about your property and ways to provide an even better experience for those who have yet to stay with you.

Log in to Partner Central

Review recommendations for your property and take action to improve your guest experience and visibility performance.
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