Engagement is a critical component of any successful business in today’s competitive landscape. When you engage millenials you build a connection that encourages them to spend more, promote your services, and become loyal to your brand.
With the Millennial generation surpassing baby boomers – by an estimated 81.1 million peaking in 2036 – it has become more crucial than ever for the hospitality industry to hone in on engaging Millennials.
In order to aid your customer experience efforts we’ve compiled the top 5 ways your business can engage Millennials:
1) Create Personal Experiences
When Millennials travel they seek authentic personalized experiences. This makes it important to find out and understand their needs and preferences so you can deliver a more tailored service.
According to Sales Force, “for Gen X (those ages 35–51) and Millennial consumers, personal data is a small price to pay in exchange for personalized in-store or online shopping experiences, or for product recommendations that match their needs.” Millennials are more willing to give up personal information to receive better service, so why not leverage that to your advantage? Being cognizant and actively taking notes of their preferences will make Millennials feel more appreciated and connected to you and your brand.
With a platform like Loop® you can tap into a wealth of information that can help you engage and enhance the Millennial stay. With it, you can have visibility into room specifications as well as an option to take detailed notes about the guest and their stay. A variety of team members who are in a thread with that guest can see what the guest likes and what they don’t like in order to tailor their stay. With this, you can offer their favourite beer on tap at the restaurant or remind them that their favorite movie starts at 9PM.
It’s the little things that make a big difference for your guest.
2) Make Millennial Guests Stay Effortless
Millennials crave fast and efficient services. In fact, according to another Sales Force study “71 percent of Millennials claim that the most important thing a brand can do is to value the customer’s time.”
As a hotel, that means providing fast and easy access to information and services that don’t require a lot of uplifting, as well as providing communication options that are easily accessible and efficient.
Loop Messenger™ allows your guests to make all of their requests through their mobile devices in real-time. From ordering food right to their door, to booking excursions, Loop Messenger makes it fast and easy for Millennials to communicate with team members and build the trip that they want. In addition, Loop also auto-routes messages to the proper team member, so the Millennial’s request is fulfilled in an optimal timeframe.
3) Incorporate Intuitive Technology
Millennials are defined by their relationship with technology. Being born with the rise of the tech industry and the Internet, Millennials can’t remember a time when it wasn’t present in their daily life.
Incorporating intuitive technology then, can help you understand your Millennials. Not to mention, it can help you respond faster, provide more channels for communication, help you understand your guests, increase traffic to your site/app, and so much more.
With Loop® you get all of that and create an easier way for your guests to check in and stay connected.
With Loop’s products, every step of your guest’s journey is made easier. You can send pre-arrival messages to your guests, be at their service on their mobile devices for any request during their stay, and invite them to return with post-stay messages. Loop can do all of this while reading guest sentiment to ensure you’re providing the best service possible, every step of the way.
4) Utilize Social Media for Millennials
Social media has taken the world by storm over the past few years. More people than ever are using it and Millennials are at the forefront. According to Entrepreneur.com “the average millennial spends 18 hours a day consuming media – often multiple forms at once”.
With Millennials so dependent on social, it then becomes a central point of contact for businesses to engage them.
With the Unified Loop Inbox™, you and your team have the ability to communicate with your guests on a variety of channels including SMS text, e-mail, Facebook, Twitter, and more. This makes it more efficient for your team members to respond promptly and brings more opportunity to your business from the various communication options provided. Not to mention, guests will feel more comfortable communicating if their channel of choice is available. Meaning, social media enthusiasts such as Millennials will feel more inclined to connect.
Engaging guests is important for any business who wishes to grow their potential and revenue. Engaged guests are the ones who are your most profitable and loyal. As Gallup has pointed out “Fully engaged hotel guests spend 46% more per year than actively disengaged guests spend.” And with the prominent millennial population – that has proven to increase – it’s more important than ever to find ways of engaging them.
