Travel is not dead. In fact, it’s actually picking up speed.

Travelers of today, particularly Millennials, are far more interested in cultivating a positive experience than checking off traditional boxes when it comes to moving around the world. Whether it’s packing their bags for an important business meeting across the country or finally being able to spend some of that disposable income on a much-needed vacation, this much is clear…a hotel needs to be able to rise up to the challenge.

The future of the hotel industry is in your hands. Avoid these mistakes and make sure you can move with the flow rather than against it.

Prioritize Customer Loyalty

The most important part of the list goes first and can’t be emphasized enough. Customer loyalty not only streamlines the traditional hotel process, it actually makes you more money. Building loyalty with a mere 5% more customers can lead to an average profit increase of 25% to even 100% per customer. When you consider three out of four travelers prefer to visit the same hotel or motel again when going on a trip, this is an easy and simple way to encourage a higher stream of revenue year after year. The sooner someone can sign up, the sooner they can get their weekend started off proper!

Understand What Customers Need

What are customers looking for in a hotel? The best way to find out is to ask them directly. When it comes to the most significant factors, price and location are considered very important on many people’s list. However, BandB travelers will also look to consumer reviews, photo opportunities, friend recommendations, flexible cancellation policies and the ability to book online as ideal parts of their travel experience. Being able to provide this is much easier with adaptable hotel front desk software. Hospitality management software is designed with the average traveler in mind, from pricing to scheduling.

Make Sure Your Hotel Is Easily Accessible

What else can hotel front desk software do to make sure your hotel is accommodating to everyone that walks through the front doors? Ensure that no matter where someone comes from, they’re able to enjoy everything your hotel is able to offer. Optimizing your website to be friendly to mobile devices is important for more reasons than one. The first and most obvious is just convenience — mobile queries within the travel category have seen a 50% increase these past few years, particularly for the iPhone and tablet crowd. The second reason is to make sure customers aren’t being indirectly sent straight to your competitors.

Understand The Demands Of A Costly Travel Experience

One of the largest barriers between people and a healthy travel experience is cost. More than half of Millennials (as well as Gen Xers) have stated cost to be a major issue with leisure travel, meaning cutting down on inconvenience and being transparent with your business model is key to scrubbing away typical travel stress. Another study found nearly 30% of Baby Boomers planning on taking a domestic multi-generational trip. The best hotel software systems are able to mold and adapt to any client, no matter the age, budget or personal reasons for travel.

Install Hotel Front Desk Software

Employee retention, client loyalty and the future of the hotel industry are all contingent on a smart software system. If you’re spending far too much time reaching out to customers or struggling with no-shows, you’re losing precious time that can be spent building rapport with your repeat visitors. Hotel front desk software can bridge this gap with the click of a button. The average traveler will conduct over 17 research sessions before booking a hotel, so give every single person who visits your website a reason and then some to stick around. Failing to live up to these increasingly lofty customer service standards can see you losing as much as 85% of your repeat consumers.

Don’t leave your hotel up to chance. Make sure your front desk software for hotel is able to keep going strong all throughout 2018.