Guest experience starts from the moment a consumer begins planning a trip. Engaging them from the beginning and providing a seamless and pleasant experience will increase the chance that they come back and stay again, refer a friend or leave a positive review. Here are a few ways to engage your guests before, during and after their stay:

Before: Be sure to have an up-to-date website so that guests who are browsing for a room have no trouble finding information and booking. Additionally, make sure the content on your website and on OTAs is enticing and includes large, high-resolution photos that are curated with metatags. Metatagging will aid in personalizing the content that is shown to consumers and increase the chance that they book a room.

Once a guest has booked, be sure to keep them in the loop with emails – thanking them for booking/confirming their reservation, deals or upgrade information and what they need to know before checking in.

During: A great way to please your guests during their stay is to use a self check-in or automated check-in system via mobile app. Not only does this speed up their check-in process, in opens doors for further direct bookings and may entice them to purchase additional services offered on the app.

Another idea is to use data to customize guests' in-room services. Adding stationary to a business travelers' room or champagne to room occupied by newlyweds will help to create a positive image of your property.

After: Encourage guests to take a survey to learn what they enjoyed about your hotel and what needs work. You can also add an incentive (future discounts or deals) in exchange for this valuable information. They will appreciate that you care about making them happy and can increase the probability of repeat business from them in the future.

Also, responding to any review they may leave on Yelp, TripAdvisor, Facebook etc. (whether it be negative or positive) can help to influence their and others' view of your property.

These are just a few of the ways that hotels can engage guests at all points throughout the travel experience. Personalizing their journey and showing that you care about pleasing them will help you to stand out in their minds and generate future bookings!

Founded: Founded in 1997 as World Travelvision. Renamed ICE Portal in 2003.

Website: www.iceportal.com

Founder: Henry Woodman, President

Contact Information:

ICE Portal 


A: 3595 Sheridan St.

Suite 200

Hollywood, FL 33021

United States

P: +1-954-893-6778

F: +1-954-893-6779

E- US: [email protected]

Products and Services:

Rich Content Production, Management and Distribution

micro Traditional high & low resolution photography

micro Hi-Definition virtual tours - 360°panoramic imaging

micro Flash Web Show – a video-like montage of still photos

micro Digital Brochures

micro eBooks

¹ Video optimized for streaming on the Web

Content Management

ICE Portal's Content Management System (CMS) allows customers to easily view and manage their content and obtain a multitude of custom reports on content distribution. Other features include:

micro Updating photos

micro Property indexing by GoogleÔ

micro Turning seasonal images on and off

Content Distribution

ICE Portal enables travel suppliers to not only improve the rich media content on their own websites but also on the thousands of other travel sites, search engines, portals and GDS's that they may have distribution relationships with and/or strategic partner Leonardo. ICE Portal ensures that rich media content is delivered correctly for all of the following:

micro Formats

micro Size

micro Speed

micro Bandwidth

micro Language

micro Within specified SLA's for the worlds major travel websites

ICE Portal Supporting Data:

ICE Portal's Research indicates that hotel properties that effectively integrate rich media into their online marketing strategies, including distribution of their content to 3rd party intermediaries (TPI's), realize the following benefits:

micro Total Unique Visitors increase an average of 13%

micro Rich Media generates click-through rates up to 8% more than for static images.

micro Rich media generates post-impression activity rates twice those for non-rich media and 46% more sales for those activities compared to non-rich media.

micro The initial Abandonment Rate (Number of Unique Visitors abandoning the site before viewing hotels) improves by more than 5 percentage points.

Industry Findings:

According to the Interactive Advertising Bureau, more than 50% of the US population will watch video online next year.

Current research indicates that rich media, such as Virtual Tours, generate 46% (percent) more bookings than still images.

Rich media has a greater influence on purchasing decisions than do traveler reviews.

The PhoCusWright Travel 2.0 Consumer Technology Survey

When it comes to making travel-purchasing decisions, most American travelers would rather see the options for themselves than simply act on the recommendations of others. In fact, travelers want to view the options in detail via pictures, online maps and video.TravelDailyNews.com, 2008

2007 was the first year in which more travel was purchased online than off-line in the U.S., with 51% of U.S. travel being booked online. Online travel purchases are expected to increase to 56% in 2008 and 60% in 2009.PhoCusWright Consumer Travel Trends Survey 2008

View source