Hoteliers are seeing their relevance diminishing almost by the day as customers increasingly turn to alternative non-hotel types of accommodation and make reservations through online travel agencies OTAs rather than book directly with the hotels themselves.
How can customization and personalization in hotels contribute to service excellence? Hoteliers cannot afford to give up though and must stay relevant. Leveraging customer data and technology to initiate customized offerings and personalization could help to make them more relevant. However, when some industry experts advocate personalization, somehow the suggested solutions tend to be more related to selling upgrades or improving their e-mail marketing β precisely the kinds of activities which do not contribute to relevance.
Customization involves offering customers alternative choices to customize based on their preferences, whereas personalization involves serving customers based on their preferences. Customization empowers customers and works better for new customers; while personalization leverages data collected from previous stays, and works better with repeat customers.
The distinction between personalization and customization is critical for the hotel industry if it is to implement personalized services. Hotel chains execute standard operating procedures or SOPs to achieve consistency among their properties, often at the cost of personalization opportunities. Once I stayed in a hotel for a week.
The welcome fruit basket included cherry tomatoes, apples, and oranges. I love cherry tomatoes, and ate them all immediately.
