The best way to stand out from your competitors and build a positive reputation in the hotel industry is by offering your guests a quality hotel experience. At the very least, you should be meeting their expectations; ideally, you should be exceeding them.
But how do you measure the quality of a hotel? How do you know whether your guests are leaving happy and satisfied?
Let’s find out.
How do you measure the quality of a hotel?
In the past, the concept of quality was directly linked to the tangible product being offered: a nice building with nice decor. However, these days the industry has realised that a quality hotel is about so much more than this; it’s about offering an all-round positive experience where guests feel safe, cared for, and satisfied.
This makes sense in theory, but how do you measure and quantify this in practice?
The first thing you can look at to measure the quality of a hotel is performance KPIs. After all, a quality hotel is far more likely to attract returning customers who are willing to pay for perceived quality. Revenue management KPIs you should be monitoring on a regular basis for this purpose include your occupancy rates, your repeat customer rate, and your ARPA (average revenue per account). You should also be tracking customer retention levels and how much each guest is spending during their stay, including room rate, add-ons, and ancillary services (RevPOR).
However, the best way to measure the quality of your hotel is by finding out what your guests think about it. In other words, whether the level of quality you offer meets their expectations and they are satisfied with their stay.
For example, if a guest makes a reservation and expects a comfortable double bed with a sea view, but they actually get a lumpy single bed with a view of the kitchens, then they won’t feel satisfied that the level of quality has met their expectations. It’s all about being honest about what you have to offer and giving guests the level of quality that they expect for the price that they’ve paid.
Tools for measuring the quality of a hotel
Here are a few tools you can use to measure the quality of your hotel and determine whether you are meeting expectations and leaving your guests satisfied.
Check online reviews and testimonials
The first place to look to find out whether your guests believe that you are a quality hotel is your online reviews and testimonials. After all, this is the first place that prospective new guests look before they decide whether to book a room at your hotel. If you don’t have a good online reputation, then travellers will look for somewhere else where the general consensus reflects a quality hotel.
Take a look at what your past guests are saying about you on review sites like TripAdvisor and Yelp. Are reviews positive? Do online users reference the quality of your services? Are there any suggestions for improvement? What about reviews and hashtags on social media?
Reputation management software such as the one included in BEONx’s platform can be a great solution to automate this process and keep track of all your online mentions without needing to check all these sites manually every day. You also get access to tools for sharing guest experience surveys, which leads us nicely to our next point.
Use surveys to measure the guest experience
One of the best tools for measuring the guest experience and the level of quality that your guests perceive is customer satisfaction surveys. These surveys help you gather valuable feedback and insights into the quality of your hotel and how you can improve the guest experience.
A customer satisfaction survey is a questionnaire that you send your guests after they have checked out of your hotel. The aim is to get guests to share feedback on their level of satisfaction with various aspects of their stay.
This includes:
- Quality and speed of customer service
- Condition of rooms, furnishings, linen, etc.
- Quality of amenities and ancillary services
- Level of guest personalisation
- Responsiveness and communication
- Security
- Courtesy
- Access and parking
A Net Promoter Score survey is another great tool for measuring guest satisfaction. This is a simple survey that consists of one question: “How likely are you to recommend the hotel to others on a scale of 1 – 10?”.
Use the Hotel Quality Index™
Finally, perhaps the most effective way to measure the quality of your hotel is by using AI to calculate your quality score. For example, at BEONx, we have developed a unique Hotel Quality Index™ (HQI™) that you can use to measure and track your hotel’s perceived value, reputation, and market positioning in real time.
Our Hotel Quality Index™ uses advanced algorithms to analyse external market data relating to the quality of a hotel. This includes over 350 objective parameters such as location, hotel services, catering facilities, and room size, as well as subjective indicators relating to online reputation (reviews and ratings). The HQI™ also takes into account customer booking behaviours including a customer’s quality expectations before and after confirming a booking.
The biggest benefit of using the HQI™ is that you gain valuable insight into the level of perceived quality of your hotel, and whether you are meeting guest expectations. Moreover, by combining your quality score with your hotel pricing strategy and your demand forecasts you can identify how much each customer segment is willing to pay for the quality that you offer. This helps you maintain a fair pricing strategy that increases your competitive positioning and boosts your overall RevPAR.
