Designing the Guest Experience: Four Approaches to Develop in 2014 – By Osvaldo Torres Cruz

The design of guests positive experiences through the year just ended, showed to be the most effective tool for differentiating hotels by providing numerous competitive advantages in the market.

That’s why along 2014 the hotels must continue working to make the stay of their guests becomes an indelible mark left in their minds and hearts. However, in my opinion to achieve this, Hotels need to focus on four key perspectives to contribute to the success of design experience, these are:

1- Establish a culture of Guest Centric service type, based on a systematic guest interaction:

We the hoteliers must be on the same stage where the guests are so that we may minimizeblind, dumb and deaf areas in the Hotel. Thus, we must consider creating an adequate number of contact staff for turning every corner of the Hotel in a station of observation, listening and discussion with guests. This way we will increase the flow of information about them, being able to offer a more effective and efficient adjustment of the services to attend properly to their needs and make our distinguished guests feel understood.

2- Encourage the use of technological advances in the Hotel services.

The development of the media in the hotel services provides the ways and means of contact, interaction and search for information about the guest which leads to optimize resources and procedures to make the hotel-guest interaction faster, precise and innovative, generating positive emotions such as joy and surprise, (I want to emphasize that I am not supporter of replacing the human factor by technology in this interaction)

On the other hand, we should not forget the great impact of information technology on the management, distribution, and storage of the guest data that ensures holistic and sustainable character of this experience in the Hotel.

3- Strengthen the Internal marketing as the only way to solidify relations Hotel-Human Resources.

It has been shown that the differential factor par excellence of a Hotel resides in the human resources, so that hotels should continue making efforts to create propitious working atmosphere that stimulates the motivation of their teams.

Understand the real needs of their employees in order to achieve their satisfaction, will maximize the performance of each worker, which will induce to increase the degree of the guests satisfaction and therefore the longevity of their bonds with the Hotel. This will be reflected in a more empathetic noise at the Hotel, necessary to establish strong and lasting relationships with the guests.

4- The selection process of the hotel staff should consider the human and emotional skills.

Understanding is a key element in the design of experiences for guests, because the degree of satisfaction that the guest can experience will depend on this level of knowledge. The ability to understand human beings is related to intelligence, mostly emotional and cultural. Two human skills to which we must pay special attention during the selection process of the Hotel staff. We must not forget that the degree of emotional and cultural intelligence of Hotel employees, will determine our level of rivalry in the hotel market

In summary, the hotels have lots of efforts to do through this New Year, striving to continue offering guests a place where they can live the personal stories that have always longed for. Once this is achieved, the Hotel will settle not only in the minds and hearts of guests but also on the market.