The Process

The check out process is an important time to gather as much personalized information as you can. This will allow you to re-engage with your guest in the future to deliver special offers, marketing materials, and other value, post-visit. This marketing opportunity is another chance to re-engage with your guests to pique their interest and resonate so that they will consider a return visit.
One element you can include during the check out process is a survey. Keep this separate from soliciting a review. You want to keep these processes separate – and reviews are a top priority. Along with your survey, you can offer them an incentive, for example, a discount for a future stay. Surveys allow you to gather a little more information about what they enjoyed most about your property and the local market. Some questions to consider include:

• What did you enjoy most about the home?
• What did you enjoy about the amenities offered in the home?
• What did you enjoy about our town and community that made your vacation special?

When we learn these things, it gives us the opportunity to re-engage in the future with targeted offers through all channels to push messages that we know will resonate with these guests. Was it access to the beach or the amazing local skiing, golf or deep-sea fishing? Or was it the hot tub, or maybe enjoying a cup of coffee on the balcony and watching the sunrise?
Surveys are a great option because most property managers are not doing them. It’s one little marketing and guest experience improvement that they should be making. When you do it, it helps with guest engagement.

It’s About Understanding Your Guests

Understanding your guests in a broader, personal way can help. Especially when understanding the guest experience. We want to know what we got right, but it also gives us an opportunity to learn where we fell short. When asking people to take a survey, always offer something of value, like a discount they can use on their next visit. Tell them that the reason you’re conducting a survey is to get better at what you do. And that some of the ways we do it, is the survey they’re taking.
Always tell them how long it will take and ask if they have a couple of minutes to help you. Another method you can use if they have opted in for SMS messages, at check out, send them a text and say “please answer these three questions to help us do better.” Three questions is a small commitment so it’s likely they’ll respond. This is different than when you’re asking them for a review. Providing a survey gives you another opportunity to engage in the future when you can contact them at a later date, ask them for a review.
The bottom line is that the check out process can help you to create a better guest experience. Simple questions, answered honestly, can help you to better meet your guest’s personal needs and create a more dynamic guest experience in the future.