In every business, the customer is king but it seems that this is even more so in the hospitality industry. Customers’ expectations in any industry have never been known to be static-they change with each new day, each new season, each new trend. What was sufficient for a customer in a previous season will now be considered bare minimum and the customer will be expecting more than what they were happy with in the last season. Just when you think you have mastered your customers, their tastes evolve and changes in other industries influence their expectations and you find yourself going back to the drawing board. So, what exactly are customers looking for in a hotel in 2021?

Convenience aided by technology

Information Technology has made it possible for hotels to cover all the touchpoints for the guest experience from pre-stay, during their stay and post-stay.

Technology has made it commonplace to do your reservations quite simply on your smartphone and check in; during your stay, you can make dinner reservations, order room service, ask for directions etc. simply on your phone; Post stay customers will check out from their phones, settle their pending bills and rate their experience all from their phones. Customers expect to be able to do almost everything that pertains to their stay from the obvious things such as check-in to the add-ons such as laundry without having to call the hotel front desk.

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‘Delighted’ not just ‘happy’

Customers are looking for an out-of-this-world experience every time they travel and especially so for leisure. What made them happy the last time, or what they read made other travelers happy last season, will now be expected and no longer anything to get overly excited about- this time they expect to be delighted not simply happy. Hotels now have to think out of the box to deliver the kind of thrilling experience their customers are looking for.

Once again, technology is coming to the aid of hoteliers by proving unique experiences such as virtual travel where the traveler, using visual reality, would be able to experience things that they might not be able to enjoy in reality. Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality are set to enhance the travel experience and hotel stay experience in ways that were previously unheard of and this will proof to be a very useful tool for hoteliers to delight their customers.

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