Exceptional service doesn’t wait until check-in—it should begin the moment travelers start envisioning their getaway. From the first spark of inspiration and destination research to making a booking and eagerly counting down the days, the guest experience starts long before they arrive.
Yet in pursuit of delivering exceptional on-site service, the pre-arrival experience is often overlooked—even though it offers a powerful opportunity to boost engagement, increase guest satisfaction, and drive ancillary revenue. Upgrading the pre-arrival experience is well worth the effort! Here’s how.
Inspire prospective guests in the dreaming stage with a compelling website that showcases your property in its best light.
Promote not only your property’s features, amenities, location, and unique selling proposition but also your local destination from an insider’s perspective. A thoughtfully curated blog or events and activities page is the perfect platform for this. Positioning your property as a memorable experience rather than simply a place to stay appeals to your guests’ sense of discovery and fuels excitement.
Simple design, beautiful images, intuitive navigation, mobile friendliness, and easy online bookings are all key elements of a hotel website that converts lookers into bookers.
Pay special attention to your website’s booking process. Since 52 percent of travelers have abandoned an online reservation because of a poor experience, your booking engine simply cannot afford to be the weak link. Ensure it is intuitive, streamlined, and fully aligned with your branding. A user-friendly, cohesive booking journey reduces abandonment and reinforces your commitment to exceptional guest experiences from the first click.
Your booking engine is also an opportunity for you to build pre-stay excitement through personalized upsells and amenities. Get guests dreaming about what they can experience at your property—not only about how comfy their beds will be—to make them feel more invested in their stay.
Use WebRezPro Property Management System’s customizable amenity filters to showcase your best features and allow guests to easily explore and understand their options. For instance, allowing guests to filter rooms by “ocean view” is a subtle, yet effective way to highlight that selling point.
WebRezPro also enables you to offer thoughtfully curated add-ons during the reservation process, based on room type and rate to ensure relevance. Guests won’t be overwhelmed sorting through every option; they’ll only see those best suited to their stay, encouraging additional purchases while driving anticipation. You have more to offer than a place to sleep, so present your most pertinent amenities and activities and let the guest’s imagination do the rest.
Social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok are powerful catalysts for inspiring travel. In fact, as of 2023, 75 percent of travelers drew trip inspiration from social channels, with nearly half selecting destinations specifically for their share-worthy appeal. So let them know just how Instagrammable your destination is!
While pictures of white sand beaches and dreamy mountains never fail to captivate, don’t underestimate the allure of mouthwatering content—a beautifully plated miso-glazed salmon from your restaurant, for instance, can be just as scroll stopping. Highlighting these moments entices prospective guests by positioning your property as a destination worth boasting about.
User-generated content plays a vital role in building anticipation and driving pre-arrival engagement, and collecting it is easier than you might expect. In fact, 77 percent of consumers are willing to share content if there’s an incentive. Why not offer a free drink in exchange for an honest review? If feedback is positive, repost it on your social channels. Social media giveaways are another great tactic, especially during the off-season when availability is higher.
Direct communications via email and SMS help generate excitement, promote upsells, and gather valuable data for personalizing the guest experience. SMS messages are especially effective with a 98 percent open rate.
While many properties limit pre-arrival messaging to a single booking confirmation email, the time between booking and check-in is ripe with opportunities to drive engagement. Proactively connect with guests three or four times to keep your property top of mind:
- Booking Confirmation – Your booking confirmation email should thank the guest and contain details of their reservation as well as information about your property and amenities. Encourage them to share special requests ahead of arrival and present premium add-ons.
- Pre-arrival / Upgrade Offers – A few days before arrival, reconnect with the guest to harness their growing excitement. Confirm reservation details, encourage any questions or special requests (again), and highlight tailored options to enrich their stay—from room upgrades and curated add-ons to restaurant reservations and early check-in. Link to your digital guide if you have one.
- Check-in – On the morning of (or day prior to) check-in, show that you look forward to their arrival by providing helpful details such as check-in time, where to park, and self check-in options to ensure a smooth, stress-free start to their stay.
Pre-arrival communications should always invite guests to let you know how you can make their stay perfect. Capture these preferences in their guest profile, allowing you to personalize their experience not only during their upcoming visit but also in all future interactions.
Through customizable templates, personalized pre-arrival communications can be automated through your property management system (PMS), reducing the burden on staff (we’ve yet to meet a lodging operator with the time to personally write to each and every guest!).
WebRezPro offers a variety of email templates to get you started, from confirmation and pre-arrival emails to check-out and post stay messaging. Templates are automatically personalized and triggered based on reservation data so that no guest is forgotten.
Integrations with CRM and guest messaging platforms are also available, empowering you to choose from a full suite of communication options. With these integrations, reservation details are automatically sent from WebRezPro to your CRM to create highly targeted interactions that elevate your connection with the guest—while eliminating manual data entry and reducing errors.
Enhancing the pre-arrival experience is a strategy you can implement right now, so start inspiring guests and unlocking the rewards. You’ll drive deeper engagement, gather valuable insights, increase incremental revenue, and deliver exceptional stays that lead to lasting satisfaction and loyalty.
