How CX Can Revive the Travel and Hospitality Industries

In the post-pandemic world, many people are eager to travel again. They may want to visit family members in other parts of the world or take much-needed vacations. But during the pandemic, the digital world grew and transformed, and hospitality companies need to meet new customer expectations as a result. Customers want more convenience, self-service, and seamless experiences in areas such as check-ins, changes to trip plans, and getting questions answered. According to Phocus Wire:
 
“A recent survey by SuperOffice discovered that 45.9% of business professionals said that customer experience is the number-one priority for their brand throughout the next five years. But there is still plenty of work to be done. In fact, businesses underestimate how often customers have poor experiences by an average of 38%.”
 
In this blog, we explore how CX can revive the travel and hospitality industries and increase customer satisfaction.
 
Create an Active Brand Community
Creating brand communities where customers can share and comment is a great way to increase engagement and keep customers informed. In these communities, travelers can share their experiences and insights and ask each other detailed questions. These communities not only benefit customers, but they also help the company by resolving some customer inquiries which might otherwise need to be answered by a customer service agent. Therefore, the load on customer service agents is lowered and wait times are reduced. In addition, online communities can be created for hosts as well.
 
Aside from having a brand community, resources on the company website, such as blogs, FAQs, and videos can help travelers to gain information and get their questions answered. 
 
Offer Omnichannel Communication
Providing omnichannel communication capabilities to customers so they can seamlessly communicate across platforms has become essential. Omnichannel capabilities allow companies to deliver consistent communication to more customers in less time. This is especially important during circumstances such as after the COVID-19 pandemic when travelers had many questions about safety procedures and travel vouchers.
 
Due to the pandemic, customers have new safety concerns and new questions that hospitality businesses need to be prepared to answer. Resources must be prepared for omnichannel communication that helps to answer customer questions in a detailed but concise manner. By doing so, response times can be reduced and more inquires can be handled. As a result, customer satisfaction and trust are increased.
 
In addition, omnichannel capabilities offer more convenience to travelers. For instance, they help to streamline hotel virtual check-ins and answer customers’ questions throughout their customer journey and during the use of company services.
 
An example of the importance of omnichannel capabilities is the success that Hawaiian Airlines has had with it. According to the Phocus Hawaiian Airlines was able to streamline their communication by utilizing digital CX platforms, resulting in a decrease in customer service response times by 60%, and an increase in the volume of requests responded by 45%.
 
Optimize Customer Acquisition
By optimizing the customer acquisition process, hospitality companies can improve their lead generation and sales systems to attract and gain customers more efficiently. They can use online and phone lead generation to generate leads that are ready to be converted into customers. These methods are cost-effective and focus on generating new customers while also maintaining industry compliance. 
 
A hospitality business process outsourcing (BPO) contact center can provide your business with lead generation and lead nurturing services so that prospects will be prepared to make purchases when they are transferred to your sales team. 
 
Gaining new customers tends to be costly for businesses, whereas retaining existing customers costs less. In addition, there’s a lot of competition for acquiring new customers in the hospitality industry. But by implementing an omnichannel approach and utilizing a BPO contact center, costs can be manageable. 
 
Ask ASK
We help hospitality businesses improve customer experience in several ways, from identifying gaps and opportunities, to streamlining processes such as CRM and WFM, providing warm and knowledgeable customer support agents and much more. Find out how we can help your business leverage the power of amazing CX to boost sales and loyalty. Visit asktelemarketing.com or call Ray Monasterski at 334.386.3458.