Imagine this, a couple books a weekend stay, and instead of a generic confirmation from the hotel, they receive a tip about a hidden sunset spot or a breakfast-in-bed option. Small touches like these can transform a regular visit into a memorable experience, making guests feel more special and making your brand stand out.
You might think that achieving this requires complex tech, lengthy setup, or even specialised training. Here’s the good news: with ChatGPT, you can get started quickly, with no technical know-how required.
By following these 5 simple steps, soon you’ll have ChatGPT working as your own personal assistant, delivering exactly the experience you want.
To use ChatGPT effectively, the AI needs to understand what makes your hotel unique. You need to provide a background so it can adapt to the vocabulary you use, the services you have, and more.
Think of this as laying the groundwork that will guide ChatGPT’s tone, language, and response style. People often complain about ChatGPT providing general answers and using language that is not common for humans. That is because they haven’t trained it.
Start by defining your hotel’s personality. Provide insights into its unique qualities, such as the atmosphere, core values, and guest experiences you aim to deliver. For instance, is your hotel known for its luxurious ambiance, eco-conscious design, or cozy, family-friendly charm? This context ensures that the AI generates responses that feel authentic and aligned with your brand.
Next, establish your brand voice. Specify whether ChatGPT should adopt a friendly and approachable tone, a formal and luxurious style, or perhaps something playful and vibrant. Consistency in tone across all guest interactions strengthens your brand identity and leaves a lasting impression.
Tip: You can even mention words that should not be used (to avoid sounding like a robot).
Read more about how to create guest journeys with Bookboost.
Personalisation starts with understanding your guests. To make journeys resonate with each traveller, segment your audience based on their unique needs and preferences.
Break down your guests into meaningful groups, such as business travellers, families, couples, solo travellers, and more. Each group has distinct priorities and expectations, which should shape their journey.
You can even feed ChatGPT with some statistics and numbers from your guest data, so it can understand what are the most common guest groups in your property, establish priorities and identify highly valuable groups of guests.
Discover 9 guest segment ideas you can use for personalised hotel marketing.
Once you’ve segmented your guests, it’s time to outline their journey. Mapping key milestones ensures ChatGPT’s responses are relevant and impactful at every stage.
Map out all the critical points in the journey, such as booking, pre-arrival, check-in, in-stay, and post-stay, and think about how ChatGPT can support every stage. For example, perhaps you need help crafting the message, putting together an attractive offer based on your services or understanding what other type of messages and interactions you could create based on your brand’s essence.
A well-trained ChatGPT can help you with all of that. But it is crucial that you set clear objectives for each stage. Do you want to make the experience more personalised? Or do you want to increase your upselling revenue? Define what you want to achieve at each touchpoint.
Clear objectives guide ChatGPT’s interactions to be helpful and intentional.
Did you know there’s a stage before booking called the inspiration stage? Mastering this stage can help you attract more travellers.
Tailored prompts are at the core of using ChatGPT to create personalised guest journeys. With well-designed prompts, ChatGPT can generate responses that feel customised and relevant for each guest group.
Here’s how you design targeted prompts:
Let’s say you’re a boutique hotel located in Berlin, Germany, and you’ve already completed steps 1 to 3 to help ChatGPT understand your brand and guest needs. Now you want to send a personalised pre-stay message to a business guest arriving soon.
The Prompt could be:
“Create a pre-stay message for a business guest arriving in two days. Highlight our business-friendly amenities and recommend nearby spots for a quick coffee or a lunch meeting.”
Example response generated by ChatGPT:
“Hello [Guest Name],
We’re excited to welcome you to [Hotel Name] soon! To make your stay as comfortable and productive as possible, we wanted to share a few details that might be useful.
Our hotel offers high-speed Wi-Fi throughout, along with quiet, comfortable workspaces that are perfect for catching up on projects or hosting small meetings. If you need any assistance with meeting room arrangements, just let us know – we’re here to help.
For a quick coffee or a relaxed business lunch, we recommend [Café Name], just a short walk away, known for its calm ambiance and exceptional coffee. If you need any further recommendations or assistance before you arrive, don’t hesitate to reach out.
Wishing you smooth travels, and we look forward to your arrival!
Best regards,
[Your Name]
[Hotel Name] Team”
Keep adjusting prompts until ChatGPT’s responses align with your brand voice and meet guest expectations.
Tip: Consider using different voice tones. Responses to families can be friendly and casual, while interactions with business travellers might lean more formal.
The final step is to monitor guest feedback and use it to refine your approach. ChatGPT is a flexible tool that can be continuously adjusted to better meet guest needs.
Analyse engagement rates, feedback, and common guest questions to identify areas for improvement. High open and response rates indicate effective messaging, while feedback helps pinpoint areas for adjustment.
Use this feedback to refine prompts and further tailor ChatGPT responses. This ensures the guest journey evolves in line with changing preferences, providing an even more seamless and personalized experience.
ChatGPT gives hoteliers the ability to scale personalisation like never before while staying true to their brand’s authenticity. By automating repetitive tasks and tailoring interactions to guest preferences, ChatGPT helps ensure every guest feels recognized and valued.
However, personalisation doesn’t have to come at the expense of genuine hospitality. When paired with your team’s human touch, ChatGPT becomes a powerful tool to enhance, not replace, authentic connections.
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