Jeannine and Sven: Dare to choose, then you will be chosen

2025 will be a year full of challenges in the hotel industry. To respond to trends and developments, you have to keep a lot of balls in the air as an entrepreneur. According to trendwatchers, the hospitality industry in 2025 will be characterised by innovation, sustainability and a customer-centric approach.

Guests of today expect you to be climate conscious, to have honest cuisine with more vegetables on the menu, and to offer healthy fast food options. Also, don't forget the growing demand for mocktails and non-alcoholic drinks in the bar. In this column, we focus on the customer-centric approach - the service your staff provide and how they can create an experience that excites all the senses.

First, let's look at the team. In previous columns, we already discussed the role of employees and managers within a company. Management is the key link between strategy and execution on the shop floor. If you want to stand out as a hotel or restaurant, employees are the key to success. A beautiful hotel or restaurant does not make you a good business; it is the service that makes the difference. Only eight per cent of your guests return to a business three times or more. This means that everything has to be right. And that goes beyond good food and correct service. Guests return not only if you meet their expectations, but if you do something they hope for. A simple example: you expect someone to escort you to your room with your suitcase(s). You hope your suitcases are already there, that the heating is on and maybe even that music is playing in the room.

Getting your staff enthusiastic enough to go that extra mile will not only result in satisfied, but also returning guests. And those guests then advertise you for free, which ultimately leads to more sales.

Invest in your team

Invest in training your staff so that they can offer personal and unique experiences to guests. Give them the freedom to do something memorable. Discuss with your team how they can become directors of surprises. An idea: create a 'surprise the guest' calendar and inspire each other with good examples. Use technological developments, but don't forget the power of small, personal gestures. Say: you see through the security camera that a guest is wearing glasses. How nice would it be if there was a handwritten card in the room with a special cleaning cloth and remedy for the glasses? Small, personal moments like these make all the difference.

Data: the key to a personalised approach

It is becoming increasingly difficult to target ads on social media to specific audiences, such as age and gender. This is already the case with job ads, where these targeting options are severely restricted. There are rumours that such restrictions could also apply to other advertising purposes in the future. What you actually want is to have access to data yourself. Of course, you already collect data through reservations, but often only from a limited number of guests. Say you have a hotel with 40 rooms and receive 100 guests. In many cases, you then only have data from 40 guests. You want to increase that percentage, preferably to eighty per cent, and then do it in-house. A party like Collectly.co.uk offers a solution for this. The sooner you start collecting relevant guest data, the better you can approach them in the future with offers that really suit them. This not only increases the chance of repeat visits, but also helps you build long-term relationships with your guests.