It’s the most wonderful time of the year! And for hotels, it’s the busiest time of the year!

With the joy of the holidays comes a flurry of air travel and family trips across the country. In a competitive industry like hospitality, this is a great opportunity for the IHG brand to step up their guest service and stand out from the rest. Good thing we made you a list of ways that hotel guest messaging can help with this busy season and spread some holiday cheer along the way!

1. Fast service recovery during those fully-booked holiday nights 

While inflation does play a role in the amount of holiday travel this year, almost half of Americans still plan to travel during the holiday season. That’s more than 160 million people catching flights and booking hotel rooms to see friends and family over the next few weeks! When hotels are at peak capacity, there is more potential for problems to arise that you will want to solve as quickly as possible.

Hotel texting can help IHG hotels fulfill requests quickly and efficiently so that each and every guest is taken care of, even on those nights when every single room is booked. Instead of long lines at the front desk or leaving guests on hold, hotel teams can communicate with guests on digital channels to quickly recover service and ensure maintenance requests are handed off to the right person.By enacting fast and efficient service recovery, you won’t have to dole out additional One Rewards points, or comp rooms for guests. In fact, these service recovery opportunities might even bring you glowing reviews!

2. Increase efficiency for lean staff

With labor shortages continuing to affect the hospitality industry, teams might be operating lean during this heightened travel time. To avoid buildup and stressed front desk workers, guest messaging platforms such as Kipsu can drive your employee efficiency. Easily answer FAQs with our quick replies feature, or send useful information to guests with simple media file links, saving your staff time and energy.

To make things even easier for your staff, Kipsu connects with multiple PMS integrations that help your team coordinate guest requests, close maintenance tickets, and ensure a satisfactory experience, all in one place. PMS tools that IHG hotels use, like Opera, HotelKey, and Middleware, all seamlessly integrate with Kipsu, making it less work for your staff and helps them provide the best service even through the busiest season.

3. Boost IHG One Rewards loyalty recognition

With hotel texting, conversations are unique between hotel teams and each and every guest. This makes it easier to add personal touches to welcome messages, responses to guest requests, and more. 

Start your service strong with a welcome message that recognizes the guests loyalty status. Not sure what to say? Check out our tips for best messaging practices for each IHG loyalty tier. Add a bit of flair and make guests feel special with conversations just for them.

4. Communicate special events and amenities

Guest messaging isn’t just for checking in on guests or fulfilling maintenance requests. It’s also a great way to communicate unique amenities your hotel offers or special events in the area, especially around holiday time!

Let guests know about events or festivities happening at the hotel (or in nearby areas) via digital messaging. Whether Santa will be visiting the property, you’re offering a special holiday breakfast for your guests, or there’s a light show a few blocks away, IHG teams can send out texts individually or to everyone staying at the hotel at the touch of a button. Even better, add a document with all of this information to your digital assets folder - then all you have to do is send the guest a a simple link in a text, giving them access to this information right at their fingertips!

5. Create a holiday experience any guest would LOVE

When IHG hotels use guest messaging, stress levels are lowered and guest satisfaction can soar. Spread holiday cheer and improve your Guest Love scores by sending personalized messages that help travelers feel right at home. 

Efficiently-operating teams can organize internally and serve more guests by communicating via hotel texting, providing a memorable experience for guests this holiday season. Just take a look at these IHG guests reviews that rave about guest messaging!

These are just some of the ways digital messaging for hotels can boost guest engagement and elevate the experience for both staff and guests. As IHG’s only preferred partner for guest messaging, Kipsu is sure to keep your hotel’s busy season merry and bright! 

Care to learn more about IHG’s success with Kipsu? Download our free IHG One Rewards Loyalty information sheet, or schedule a conversation with our team today!

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