I Love This Place!: How to Improve Hospitality Customer Loyalty with Sensory Marketing

Using Multi-Sensory Marketing

to Create an Emotional Bond

“I Love This Place!” Creating Customer Loyalty and Increasing

Repeat Bookings at Your Property

Hospitality Loyalty Programs Don’t Work

• “Customer experience has more of an impact on [high frequency travelers’] decision to revisit than the loyalty program.”

• A vital element of customer experience: How does this hotel or resort make the customer feel?

• According to a 2013 study of 4,000 travellers by Deloitte Consulting, “hotel loyalty program members are not loyal to their preferred brand and loyalty program drive undesirable brand-switching behavior.”

• The average American household is enrolled in 18 loyalty programs

The Senses Are the Gateway to the Emotions

The most basic human drives, shelter, food and sex, are multi-sensory experiences.

Emotionally connected customers:•Have less price sensitivity•Are more brand loyal•Can be enthusiastic brand advocates, spurring positive reviews and recommendations

Consumers were asked which of their senses where the most important when recognizing brands

Millward Brown and Martin Lindstrom, “BRAND Sense” (2005)

www.martinlindstrom.com

To Have a Successful Brand, First Cover the Basics

Make sure your staff provides excellent customer service, and is knowledgeable and friendly

Booking and check-in processes should be easy and hassle free

Price should be fair for the value provided

Looking Good!

• Provide a property that is attractive and in good repair, make sure you have plenty of photos and video

• Marketing messages should be easy to read and understand, not just pretty

• Have a consistent brand image across all media and customer touch points

Set the Mood with Sound• Playing the right music can increase sales in restaurants and

stores up to 29% • Music tempo influences how long customers stay in an area

and how quickly they move through it

• Music and soundscapes should be congruent with emotions you want your product to arouse in the customer (happy, excited, anxious, relaxed, etc.) and with other sensory input such as décor, lighting and scent

• Control noise with carpets, drapes and other soft furnishings

• Burbling fountains provide a relaxing sound

Touch the Customer

You can create distinct environments within your property using texture, temperature and the feeling of art, seating and other furniture.

In luxury environments, people associate weight with quality.

Explore textures not only in public spaces like the lobby but also in guest rooms with flooring, linens and furnishings.

Be Delicious

When taste sampling is not viable, a good substitute is scent•80% of what we perceive as flavor is the fragrance and only 20% is actually taste•Examples: pina colada scent at poolside, coffee scent at breakfast spot

A great way to draw guests to your restaurant is to give out free samples– A third of people

who sampled a product bought it in the same shopping trip and over half of purchasers said they would buy the sampled product again

Connect with ScentConnect with Scent

• A pleasant scent works to:– Increase sales– Improve mood– Improve customer perception of your hotel’s quality– Increase time and money spent – Increase the amount customers are willing to pay– Boost intent to return

Scent is the only sense that goes directly to the emotional and memory centers of the brain, making it ideal for branding and marketing

Multiple Uses of ScentMultiple Uses of Scent

• A scent in the lobby immediately draws a distinction between the hotel environment and the outside– Sets the mood and ties in with overall brand

• Scent with odor neutralizers can eliminate malodor issues from garbage, cooking smells, drains and other smelly areas

• Scent has been proven to improve customer perceptions of quality, making guests more likely to return

Multiple Uses of ScentMultiple Uses of Scent

• Scent in retail stores can improve sales revenue up to 30%• Scent in casinos has been shown to improve gambling revenue

by 53%• Food scents can attract people to your restaurants and bars,

increasing your revenue• Scents in guest rooms provide a luxury experience and can

assist relaxation and sleep• Scent in meeting and conference rooms increases alertness

and cognition

Tips for A Lasting Relationship

• Keep customers’ interest by asking their opinions and involving them in company sponsored promotions and projects

• Don’t get complacent; keep showing them you care

• You can build relationships that last a lifetime!

• Once you have enticed customers into trying your hotel, continue to use sensory tactics to remain top-of-mind and strengthen your company’s relationship with them

Learn More at

• Executives from global brands and world renowned sensory marketing experts will show you how to use sensory marketing to:

• Increase sales • Encourage repeat purchases • Increase sales amount • Create customer loyalty

Kristopher Beck, Director of Product Development, Hilton Worldwide

Joy Malnar, Architect, Professor, Author of Sensory Design

[email protected] www.scentworldevents.com