A comfortable stay is the most basic offering for any hospitality business. But extra amenities like free breakfast and WiFi surprise customers and give them an exceptional experience.
Businesses often fail to understand this. They keep promoting the bare minimum and forget to highlight the extras. This might be due to a lack of knowledge or proper understanding of how these amenities help hospitality businesses.
If you want to avoid that, you’ve reached the right article. Here, we’ll explore five areas where WiFi and breakfast shine before discussing best practices for offering them. Sticking until the end will tell you how technology can help with this process. So, let’s proceed.
5 Areas Where Free Breakfast and WiFi Shine for Hospitality Businesses
According to TripAdvisor’s TripIndex Breakfast survey, 91% of interviewed guests expressed a preference for in-hotel breakfast.
Additionally, more than 63% of travelers make sure a hotel offers free WiFi before finalizing their booking.
These statistics are enough to underline the importance of offering free WiFi and complimentary breakfast. However, hospitality businesses looking to start offering these amenities must understand the reason behind this importance.
So, whether you’re a hotel, bed and breakfast, or vacation rental, here are the five areas where these offerings shine.
1. Increasing Guest Traffic
An increase in guest traffic is the first thing you’ll notice when you start offering free WiFi and breakfast. Since these are the two most in-demand amenities, more people will choose your business over others. That’s because these offerings have the potential to become a unique selling point.
However, you won’t just be making progress in getting more bookings. You can also initiate upselling and cross-selling tactics. With more guests on-site, you can introduce them to additional services or amenities like in-house spa treatments.
Moreover, a larger pool of customers means you can collect diverse customer data based on demographics, preferences, and travel habits. Lastly, as guest traffic increases, so does the potential for brand exposure. So, you can also expect your brand awareness to increase.
2. Improving Guest Visit Behavior
Improving guest visit behavior is another reason for offering free breakfast and WiFi. Guests who enjoy these amenities will likely stay longer in your venue. This creates a domino effect of good things for your hospitality business.
Firstly, customers might explore your venue to stay connected for longer. During this process, they might discover additional entertainment opportunities like gyms, swimming pools, etc. If your staff can sell those services to the lingering customers, you can increase your revenue.
Secondly, guests might order coffee or additional drinks and snacks that aren’t a part of breakfast. Since they’ve already had their share, you can charge them for this extra order. Moreover, guests who like your breakfast might order room service for other meals throughout their stay.
3. Enhancing Customer Satisfaction
As guest visit behavior improves, so does customer satisfaction. Customers will have the best experience when they don’t have to leave their hotel rooms for good food. This is especially true for people with families since they have to manage everything while keeping their children satisfied.
Moreover, early risers would find it convenient to have breakfast in-house since it allows them to start their day productively. They won’t have to roam around during the early hours of dawn.
The same is true for fast and reliable hotel WiFi. Customers won’t have to stay offline or resort to using cellular data, which will increase satisfaction.
4. Encouraging Guest Feedback
Knowing what your customers like and dislike about your venue allows you to improve your offerings to resonate with them. The best way to do this is through guest feedback.
Since breakfast and WiFi improve satisfaction and experience, they encourage customers to leave positive reviews.
Moreover, you can add a survey form to your guest WiFi’s captive portal. Since all customers who want WiFi access will visit this page, they will likely interact with the survey.
You can also display this guest feedback on your website, social media, etc. This will make a good impression and attract new customers.
The last area where WiFi and breakfast amenities help is customer loyalty. They allow you to demonstrate that you understand and prioritize guest needs. This creates a sense of value and fosters loyalty among guests who appreciate a hassle-free and enjoyable stay.
Moreover, loyal customers eventually become brand ambassadors. They recommend your business to friends and family, sharing positive things about their stay.
They might also share positive reviews online, attracting new guests while establishing trust and credibility. Again, this will lead to increased brand loyalty and repeat business.
Best Practices for Providing WiFi and Breakfast in Your Venue
Knowing how free WiFi and breakfast offers help your business isn’t enough. You must also learn some best practices to enjoy those benefits. So, here’s what you need to know.
Offering free WiFi without implementing a captive portal to authenticate customers and capture data translates to missed opportunities.
Moreover, conduct surveys or analyze guest data to understand dietary preferences and adjust your offerings accordingly. After all, you wouldn’t want to offer food that doesn’t match your customers’ tastes.
Also, consider healthy options alongside indulgent treats and cater to allergies or special dietary needs.
Pre-packaged options can be efficient, but freshly prepared selections can elevate the guest experience.
Next, promote your efforts and let customers know you offer these amenities. You can even add discounts for quick action or additional options for early risers.
Additionally, work on making your WiFi faster and more reliable. Such efforts will add to the experience and entice customers to try these amenities.
Use Technology To Make the Most of These Amenities
Breakfast and WiFi positively impact guest visit behavior, traffic, loyalty, satisfaction, and feedback. You also know the best practices for implementing these offerings. Consider using tech for guests to pre-order breakfast or choose dietary preferences. Kitchen display systems can also streamline order preparation.
Additionally, use WiFi marketing software to make the most of your WiFi. With Beambox, you can easily collect customer data and run marketing campaigns.
You can also customize your captive portal and manage the network settings without being an engineer. Does it sound good? Try Beambox for free for 30 days!
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