Boosting hotel app engagement: Insider marketing tips
Recipe for success with the IRIS app
There’s an app or link for everything nowadays; consumers notice when there isn’t. So, the first step to success for any hotel in the digital age is straightforward - ensure you have an app or web link for your hotel!
But having an app is not enough. Hotels must market it effectively to ensure guests know about it and how to use it.
The following tips and tricks have been tried and tested by hundreds of our clients. We have compiled their successes into one winning strategy for boosting the uptake of your mobile ordering app.
How do you boost uptake of your app?
Too often, we see hotels invest in a hotel app and then miss opportunities simply because they do not promote the app and make it accessible for guests to use.
We won’t let that happen to our customers. Deploy the following strategies straight after your app goes live, and you are 10 times more likely to get a return on your app investment much quicker!
Pre-Stay Guest Comms
Get your guests using the app before they even get to the hotel!
In pre-stay communications, including confirmation emails and pre-arrival messages, include links and CTAs (calls to action) to visit the app.
Guests can browse your digital guest directory to start planning their trip - they could book a spa treatment in advance, check out the local area or see what the weather is like!
They might want to browse the F&B mobile dining to book meals and check out the room-service menu before they even arrive.
By effectively promoting the app before guests arrive, you increase awareness and set the stage for a smooth and enjoyable stay, ultimately contributing to heightened guest satisfaction and loyalty.
At Check-In – Provide Step by Step Guide
To ensure guests can easily use your app, provide a step-by-step guide at check-in, including clear instructions on accessing and using the app.
Highlight what’s on the app e.g. what information is on there, what they can book and order via the app, so they know from the start how to reap the benefits.
By providing this guidance upfront, you empower guests to make the most of the app during their stay, putting them in full control and encouraging repeat usage whenever the occasion suits.
Within the Hotel – Make QR Codes visible
QR codes are the most popular and effective way to market your app around your hotel’s touchpoints. Make them visible and easy to scan.
These are some ways of presenting QR codes that lead your guests to directly access the digital ordering app:
Tent cards, Perspex blocks, and stickers: These QR codes serve as eye-catching calls to action, strategically placed in guest areas to prompt immediate engagement and drive downloads. They can be placed in the guest rooms, in elevators, in coffee shops, on tables in the lobby or restaurant, and on the front desk.
Cabana tags and sun lounger stickers: A soggy menu is not the best poolside accessory but a handy QR code on a sun lounger, table or cabana presents guests with a convenient means of ordering their next cocktail to be delivered direct to their sun bed - uninterrupted sunbathing at its best!
Key cards: Key cards are great places to print the QR codes. Guests have them on-person at all times so provide seamless access to exploring our app's features, wherever they are, whether on property or off-site.
In-room TV screens: Leveraging in-room entertainment channels, we showcase QR codes, enticing guests to discover the app's benefits and easily place orders from the comfort of their rooms. It’s also easy to amend the message on the screen to encourage the guest to scan the QR code.
Wi-Fi homepage: Once your guests have accessed your Wi-Fi, why not direct them to a landing page giving them information on the app or link them direct to the hotel’s guest directory or digital menu?
Staff Training
Through team training programs, staff can effectively promote the app and educate guests on the convenience of QR code usage, ensuring a cohesive marketing approach across all touchpoints.
Encourage them to use the app themselves (there is a staff ordering feature) so they know the ins and outs of the app and are best placed to advise their guests on how to use it - and more importantly how to benefit from it!
Social media
Social media platforms serve as powerful marketing channels to highlight that you offer a self-serving digital experience and how guests can benefit from it throughout their stay.
Promote the app and all it’s features on your hotel Instagram/Facebook/TikTok accounts so guests know you have one, what you have on it and what they can order/discover on it.
Guaranteed results from marketing your hotel app
By following the above strategy and taking every opportunity to get your app in the hands of your guests, your hotel will benefit by:
Driving Guest Spend
By strategically promoting the app throughout the hotel, from in-room flyers to QR codes and digital displays and tent cards in common areas, you ensure that guests can access the app.
Then IRIS will do the rest!
Through features such as upselling, personalised recommendations, and exclusive promotions, the app inspires guests to explore (and order) more than they would before (e.g. via traditional methods like calling the front desk).
Freeing Up Staff Time
By encouraging guests to place orders conveniently and independently online, it frees up valuable staff resources. With a direct integration to the hotel’s POS system, guest orders go straight to the kitchen to be prepared, cutting out the ‘middle man’ and reducing the numbers of calls and enquiries to the front desk to place orders.
Fewer guests need physical assistance with orders or inquiries, so staff members can redirect their focus to providing exceptional service in other areas. Furthermore, with the guests placing the orders themselves, there are fewer mistakes and order accuracy is improved.
Heighten Guest Satisfaction
Providing guests with quick and easy access to this seamless ordering process saves time and allows guests to enjoy their dining experience on their own terms, whether in the room, at the pool deck or at the hotel restaurant.
By providing guests with greater control and flexibility over their choices, we ensure that their needs and preferences are met, ultimately leading to heightened satisfaction levels and positive reviews.
Having a hotel app that features mobile ordering, a digital guest directory, and mobile concierge sets your hotel apart from your competition - and meet today’s traveller’s expectations.
Once your guests know you have an app – you immediately have a competitive edge!
Make sure your app gets into yours guests’ hands by embracing our marketing strategy. By doing so, you will maximise revenue streams, streamline operations, and ultimately deliver unparalleled stays that exceed guest expectations.
Feeling inspired to start promoting your app more?
Bookmark this article so you can refer to it!
