VRMA Administrator
*This article is sponsored content from TNS*
Guest satisfaction is the key to locking in the guest as a returning visitor. Many factors play a part in guest satisfaction from the time they book to the follow-up after they return home. It is important that your vacation rental management company captures how the guest really feels after they leave. This will help give you the opportunity to create repeat guests as well as act on common suggestions and negative feedback. How do you gain insightful feedback post-departure you may ask? That’s easy, utilize a property management system (PMS) and Customer Relationship Manager (CRM) that implements surveys. This is a simple operation with advanced automations and triggers in your software! In this article, we will discuss the value and importance of utilizing guest surveys.
Improvement
Okay, let’s get the negative out of the way quick: Although your VRMC wants all positive answers, that will not always be the case. The negative feedback and suggestions are a great opportunity to change or implement new processes to please future guests.
According to Florida Atlantic University, 80% of unhappy guests will become a loyal guest if you fix their complaint and do it quickly. Communication, timeliness and empathy will go a long way with an unhappy guest. In the same study, it was shown that 13 out of 16 guests that are unhappy will not complain to your VRMC unless given a survey. But now let’s take that a step further, this unhappy guest has now shared on social media and with 20+ of their friends why they did not like their stay. This proves post-stay surveys to your guests will provide tremendous value by giving you the opportunity to fix the issue and convert them to a loyal guest.
More valuable information from negative feedback and suggestions will give your VRMC an opportunity to train your employees appropriately and act as a hidden audit of your third-party vendors. As an example, if your post-stay surveys have the continuous response of a dirty bathroom, this gives your VRMC the insight that you need to train your housekeeping better or shop for new housekeeping vendors.
Brand Touchpoint
Guests are more likely to return to your properties if you keep the lines of communication open throughout the entire guest lifecycle. Providing a post-stay survey gets your logo and property in front of them immediately after they leave your property, making it impossible for them to forget about the best vacation they just had.
Additional Marketing
Going one step further past the initial brand touchpoint of a survey -- it opens up the avenue for multiple marketing touchpoints.
- Discount or promotional code for completing the survey
- Call to Action to like your VRMC on social media
- Call to Action to give a review on VRBO or Airbnb
When the guest receives their post-stay survey, they are more likely not in the position of planning their next trip. Receiving a promotion already starts their thinking and emotional response to the excitement of their next trip. Many experts have proven that trip planning is the most exciting part of the entire process of a traveler, sometimes outweighing the trip itself. Associating your brand with that initial thought is a great move.
Internal Goals
As an enterprise VRMC, we hope that you have internal goals and metrics in place to set yourself up for success. You may have the structure that Google follows, such as OKRs, or potentially you implement KPIs. Regardless, surveys are a great way to get employee involvement in these goals as well as allow you to reward employees for exceptional guest service.
Create a goal specifically around a survey response. An example would be in TRACK CRM, you can select the type of the question, the period of time it is asked and then view the Survey Summary Report to track the goal. This provides a number of responses, unique responses and a total of percentages. You can link this to an employee by utilizing an unrequired field asking for the employee's name followed by stars associated with a specific task.
Example: How would you rate the reservation check-in from 1 to 5 stars?
This is easy to track on one simple dashboard. Being able to see tangible results will help your employees believe in the goals and the guest experience expectations.
Rewarding Guests
Last, but not least, is the value of rewarding your guests for completing the survey. This can have two different outcomes. First, it can thank an already happy guest and entice them to represent your company! Second, if it is an unhappy guest, it allows you to turn that around into a loyal guest. Examples of rewards for completing the survey could include a swag gift box of your VRMC, a discount or promotional code for their next stay or a less personalized, more generic approach of an Amazon gift card. Regardless of your reward to your guests, it will leave a lasting impression that not all VRMC’s have committed to.
If you are not currently using Surveys for your VRMC, don’t fall behind. Get ahead of your competition and reach out to learn more by scheduling a demo here.
