3 Examples of Using SMS Messaging for Hotel Customer Satisfaction Surveys
Even great hotels sometimes have a mix up or some sort of problem that can affect a guest. And with social media and hotel review sites, chances are a disgruntled guest isn’t going to keep their complaints to themselves for long. In my previous blog I talked about using SMS messaging to ask guests about their stay before they hit the web and write their review. Here are three examples of how to use SMS messaging to gauge customer satisfaction.
- Ask a single question. This is probably the most straightforward and easiest approach to use. Send the guest a message asking them to rate their visit from 1-5 stars. If you don’t get five stars, you may want to follow up with them to get more details. You could follow up with other text messages, but a phone call from management is probably best. If you can understand their issues and relate to them personally, you might make them feel better about your hotel. That might mean the difference between a bad review and a good (but maybe not great) review.
- A short series of questions. If you can put together 3-5 short, easy to answer questions, you might be able to use a series of text messages as a survey. These are a little harder to construct for a number of reasons. The questions need to be short, but clear. The answers need to be short so they’re easy for a guest to type. And the whole survey needs to be short so it doesn’t take up too much of the traveller’s time. As for example number one, if the answers are not as positive as you’d hope, then follow up personally.
- Send a message with a link to a survey. Online surveys are great. They offer the chance to get more detailed feedback than you can in a simple text message. The downside is that the guest needs to click on the link, rather than typing in their response immediately. Fortunately, click through rates in SMS messages are much higher than you’ll find in email. So this method could work for you if you want more feedback than a warm fuzzy star rating.
Whichever method you choose, don’t make it hard or too big. If you send the message out shortly after they leave (before they write their online review), they may still be travelling. With the visit fresh in their mind they’ll probably be willing to answer your questions – as long as it doesn’t take too long.
Once a guest has sent you feedback, definitely send them a thank you. A text message expressing your gratitude is good, but a coupon code or discount for their next visit will certainly leave them feeling appreciated. With each message costing you 3.5p or less you can see how SMS messaging is a massively cost effective way of communicating with your customers.
If you would like more ideas on how SMS messaging can benefit your business download our free “Hotels Guide to SMS Messaging“.
Related Articles
Restaurants And Takeaway Businesses Increase Profits With SMS Marketing
Your customers are likely thinking about food at certain times of the day, and at those times their phone is almost certainly within arms reach. Using SMS marketing you can time your messages perfectly because you know that the time you send them is the time they get read, usually within 2 minutes.
Do hospitality trends in 2016 include SMS messaging?
Can Travel Agents Use SMS Messaging to Stay in Business?
“European travel agents don’t like it”. That’s a statement made by one of the gentleman at my table during the mCommerce Summit earlier this month. He is from Cruise America, a successful RV (camper) vacation rental company based in Arizona, but with 123 locations around the US. We were talking about his company and their online and mobile reservation options.
How Campsites Can Use SMS Messaging to Get New Business
The campervan and caravan industry grew 16% this past year. Campsite and holiday park owners can connect with the thousands of new travellers using SMS messaging. After all, 76% of travellers prefer to take their mobile on holiday rather than a friend.
How to Turn SMS Messages Into Better Reviews for Your Hotel
Hotel guests use review site ratings like TripAdvisor to make decisions about where they’ll stay. If your hotel doesn’t rate well, you’re in trouble. Find out how you can get more positive reviews when you use SMS messaging to communicate with guests.
SMS Messaging for Cafes and Restaurants
With more and more people than ever before eating out and sampling food from around the world in eateries up and down the country, the restaurant sector is booming. But if you're operating a small business in the hospitality sector, you need to make sure that you keep your premises as full and thriving as possible in order to pay your bills and keep the enterprise sustainable. That's where SMS messaging comes in. In this blog post, we will look at ways you can use SMS messaging to make your business processes more efficient, boost your customer numbers and become the most popular place in town.
What Hotel Impossible Taught Me about SMS Marketing
In Hotel Impossible, Anthony Melchiorri saves struggling hotels. It turns out some of the advice he gives them could make you a lot more money. It’s all about marketing and knowing where to get the best ROI. Read the blog to see if you’re spending in the right places.
The Art of SMS Marketing for Bars, Pubs and Clubs
SMS marketing can be a double-edged sword, which is why it's crucial to ensure that each one of your campaigns is well thought out, immaculately spelt, financially accurate (i.e., the prices listed are correct), and, perhaps most importantly, the time and date is 100% accurate. Only once you have triple-checked each one of the components should you then consider sending out a batch.
Drive Up Attendance During Festival Season with SMS Messaging – Part 1
People love live music. Ticket sales worldwide are expected to reach $20.5 Billion (~£14.2B). The UK alone has around 900 festivals each year. There just aren’t enough headliners to go around. What else can you do to draw people to your event (whether you have a headliner or not)? The answer: Make your event an experience rather than just a destination.
SMS Marketing: Four Sectors Successfully Using Text Messaging
SMS marketing has seen a huge uplift in popularity in recent years, with big brands investing in the technology to better engage with their customers. There are so many benefits of SMS marketing, from the ability to directly to reach customers with your communications, to the fact that over 80% of SMS texts are read. With over approximately 90% of the world receiving mobile coverage, you’re highly likely to be able to reach your audience, regardless of where they are. SMS marketing is cost effective, and campaigns are quick to develop, in as short a time period as the time it takes to write a text message. This gives you the advantage of being able to communicate quickly, and effectively with customers, reacting to information almost instantaneously. With so many reasons to use SMS marketing, we’ve highlighted four sectors successfully using SMS messaging as case studies to highlight the advantages of investing in the technology.