Summer vacation is back in a big way—here are three ways to capitalize on America’s travel plans.
As of this month, over 70% of Americans have plans to travel for the summer. After being cooped up for a year, travelers are ready to explore new places, see their friends and family, and spend their saved up vacation energy. The rise in vaccine availability has inspired travel optimism, providing hoteliers an opportunity to make their properties shine as summer hot spots.
But it’s not as simple as just having availability. Hoteliers need to make sure they’re ready for post-pandemic travel. Guests traveling this summer will have expectations influenced by a year stuck inside. So what exactly are the best ways to draw in the 2021 summer crowd? We have some ideas.
3 Tips to Win Summer Vacation:
- Communicate Better
For many planning upcoming trips, this will be the first vacation they’ve taken since quarantine started. Potential guests will be looking for guidance on changes made over the last year, and once they book with you, they’ll want to feel in the loop leading up to their stay. Frequent emails, SMS, and in-app communication builds guest trust from the time they start booking to the time they arrive back home. Now is the time to streamline your communication systems so guests can stay up-to-date and know exactly how to reach out to staff with questions or needs.
- Offer Contactless Service
People who spent all year ordering from Instacart, Postmates, and Amazon aren’t giving up the ease of contactless. Guests will not just want, they’ll expect hotels to adapt the convenience of using their phone on trips like they use it at home—for everything. Before the summer rush starts, weed out potential pain points, places where guests will wish they could do things from their phones. While their vacation should be full of unique experiences and new memories, when they come back to your hotel, they should be able to relax as if they were at home: with everything they need available from the palm of their hand.
- Prevent Staffing Shortages
Seeing a sharp rise in demand that staff just can’t meet is every property’s nightmare. When guests arrive this summer, you need to make sure you and your staff are ready for them. The good news is, automated systems can prevent issues from falling through the cracks while offloading time-consuming tasks from your staff. With smart systems for ticketing, issue resolution, and guest feedback service needs can go to direct departments. Implementing automated priority tiers ensure the right things get done at the right time. Hoteliers need to simplify systems that previously relied on outdated technology or monopolized valuable time from employees. In preparation for summer guests, invest in automation to fill in the gaps, so service is never compromised.
Ride the First Post-Covid Travel Wave
These next few months of post-pandemic travel will be vital, setting the tone for future travel. Guests have spent an entire year waiting, planning, and dreaming about these vacations. Help them exceed their expectations by focusing on maximizing external communication and simplifying internal systems. Give you staff the tools they need to elevate your guests’ experience on every level. After the year we’ve had, we all deserve a perfect vacation.
