UX design is vital to a variety of industries, and one of the most notable among them is the hospitality industry. The hospitality industry contains many businesses impacted by travel and tourism, including hotels, restaurants, and nightlife. For industries that are so heavily reliant upon the consumer’s expectations and demands, UX design is absolutely vital to ensure maximum customer satisfaction.
Having a website, mobile app, or in-business technology that cements the holistic customer experience sets your business apart from the crowd and encourages brand loyalty.
So, how should good design impact customer retention in the hospitality industry? There are a few different elements specific to the hospitality industry that good UX should always strive to incorporate. Let’s take a look at a few of them.
UX Simplifies Processes
Good UX design seeks to create answers to points of frustration by implementing solutions that will make a user’s life easier. For instance, Starbucks designed its mobile app to simplify the ordering process for customers on the go by having their order ready by the time they arrive in-store. Furthermore, it creates innovative solutions to reward users for their loyalty through an in-app points system. It even allows customers to pay for their order with alternative methods of payment at the window (encouraging customers who aren’t using the in-store purchase feature to also use the app).
Likewise, hotel websites or applications may seek to make the user’s journey fast and efficient when it comes to booking a last-minute hotel stay by displaying clear availability and simplifying the process into as few steps as possible.
UX Personalizes the Experience for the User
Identifying your customer’s wants and needs is an essential component of the hospitality industry, and the more personalized you can make their experience, the better. An application that understands how to successfully promote relevant content the user is interested in (such as suggestions for places to stay, foods they might try next time, or relevant customer photos and reviews) increases conversion and user retention rates.
UX Increases the Efficiency of Back-End Processes
Because hospitality services are so reliant on the workflow of its staff members, all digital systems should be designed with the intent to not only please consumers but also to reduce the time staff members spend on menial daily tasks. Good UX design should always seek to improve the efficiency of employees’ rote processes so that they can spend more time providing better service to the customer.
For food apps, this could include things like a system that keeps an accurate count of inventory and fulfills orders automatically. In the hotel industry, it could involve building an omnichannel system where all communication processes are integrated seamlessly.
Regardless, it’s critical to have a platform that incorporates all aspects of a business, from analytics software to inventory management systems, so that all parties can have a more efficient and effective experience.
UX Takes Location Information into Account
Many larger corporations in the hospitality industry have chains spanning the globe. Thus, with any digital product, ensuring it’s compatible with all of a brand’s locations is crucial. This means accounting for various user journeys that span across the globe and creating a cohesive product with accessible UX, no matter where the user’s location.
By utilizing GPS, data synchronization, offline information, and multilingual technology, it’s possible to build a product for a variety of different users across the globe.
UX Provides a Platform to Respond to Negative Feedback
Bad reviews are capable of making or breaking a company. However, providing a platform to respond to negative feedback accordingly can completely alter the customer’s perception of a brand. When situations are handled well, customer opinion changes radically.
The same applies to any digital product; when users complain about specific features or bugs, UX designers should actively seek fixes for them. Without criticism, there wouldn’t be room for improvement, and the same holds true for nearly every facet of the hospitality industry, so take heed.
UX is Prepared to Cope with Exponential Growth
A part of excellent UX design is optimizing your design and predicting what factors might affect your product’s optimization in the future. Standardizing features across a company is one of the many things UX designers do to prepare for any potential problems that may be associated with future growth and expansion. Creating a system with standardized processes, procedures, and functions eliminates businesses from becoming overwhelmed by structural complexities that can’t cope with expansion.
Final Thoughts
Investing in excellent UX design is one of the most critical aspects of running any successful hospitality service. In the digital information age, consumers expect more from businesses than ever before, and keeping up with those demands can revolutionize their trust in your brand.
Customer experience is of the utmost importance to any business in the hospitality industry. By prioritizing the design of your UX, you show that you genuinely care about your customers. Likewise, as a business, you’ll discover that your conversion rates, ROI, and brand loyalty will naturally follow suit when you invest in excellent UX.
