Guest service is arguably the most important part of the hospitality industry—ensuring guests have what they need and feel comfortable asking for it. But now that texting is preferred over calling, hotels have to make sure they’re providing the right channels for open communication.

With hospitality texting, guests can easily text in requests or questions, and hotels can even prompt guests to tell staff what they need with the mid-stay check-in: an (optionally automated) message checking in on the guest during their stay that inquires how everything is going so far.

What’s a mid-stay check-in?

When using a hotel texting service, it’s most common to send a welcome message—an introductory message with information about the hotel that opens the line of communication—and a post-stay message, after check-out asking the guest how the stay was or to take a survey.

But best practices for hotel guest messaging include a message (which can be automated through top digital messaging systems) during the stay, asking the guest how everything is going and if they need anything. This is the mid-stay check-in, and it can have quite an impact.

Say a guest needs more towels, but doesn’t want to call or walk down to the front desk. They may shrug it off but give the hotel a seven out of 10 on a survey given the little bit of discomfort. With a mid-stay check-in message from the front desk, the guest is prompted to ask for things that may improve the stay—like towels!—via a simple text message. Boom, better reviews and overall experience!

The power of checking in

By sending check-in messages throughout the guest’s stay, hotel staff can evaluate what the guest may need and fix any issues before they arise. Without this form of digital communication, problems would go unseen and could develop into bad reviews. 

Hospitality leaders across the globe are already utilizing hotel guest messaging—nearly 2,500 Hiltons use the mid-stay check-in message to communicate with guests and catch any snags before they check out.

In fact, the average response rate across all these properties is 20%, meaning one-fifth of all guests are communicating their needs and getting the best possible guest experience.

Staying positive and receiving feedback

One of these partners using the mid-stay check-in message is the Holiday Inn Effingham. “In the past, you wouldn't get the interaction [via hotel texting] and guests could leave with a bad taste in their mouth, or they’re here for two days and dump it all at checkout,” General Manager Kenny Flier said. Now using hotel texting has helped his team find out about issues ahead of time, and solve them before they make their way to a bad review. 

Another user of the mid-stay check-in message, the Holiday Inn Express & Suites Bloomington - W Mall Area, saw an uptick in survey scores after just six months of using a hotel text messaging platform. “People appreciate that you’re checking in on them,” General Manager Veronica Rosbolt said.

Mid-stay check-in messages also give insight into how a guest’s stay is going, giving teams like the one at Hyatt Buffalo/Amherst an opportunity to fix anything that might improve the guest experience. “Whether we can fix it or not, at least we had an opportunity to try, versus finding out later on a review,” General Manager Matthew Chiazza said.

He also mentioned that texting, versus coming to the front desk or calling, allows for more honesty from guests. “People like to share more things behind a keyboard than face to face, [it] allows us to learn more,” he said.

Alyssa Sullivan of the Crowne Plaza Providence-Warwick Airport and her team rely heavily on the mid-stay check-in message, automating the process and asking guests to rate their stay from 1-10. Ratings under eight get the red carpet treatment to recover any issues and give guests the best experience possible.

“That’s probably my favorite feature personally, because people could be having a mediocre stay but you don’t know that, until they give you a six on a survey,” Sullivan said. “It’s like, I wish we had known it wasn’t that great.”

These are just some of the great partners worldwide using the mid-stay check-in via hotel guest messaging to gain instant feedback into the guest experience and boost satisfaction scores. Learn more about how hospitality messaging can help your hotel or schedule a conversation with the Kipsu team today.