5 guest communication mistakes and how to fix them

How often have you found yourself rushing to write an email or message to guests at the last minute, possibly leaving out important details? Or worse—realizing too late that you forgot to send one at all? These situations are more common than you think and can negatively impact how guests perceive your property.

Even if your emails and messages are timely and include essential details, you’ll struggle to build trust and enhance the guest experience without a well-structured communication plan.

Develop a communication strategy that guides guests through every stage of their stay. For example:

At booking: Send a clear, detailed confirmation message, including cancellation policies, a booking summary, and an easy way for guests to contact you.

Before arrival: Provide useful travel information, such as check-in/check-out times, parking details, available transportation, and any extra services they can book in advance.

During the stay: Remain available to assist guests, but without being intrusive. Use tools like QR codes or an app to provide information and services they can access independently.

You wouldn’t suggest a couples' massage to a solo business traveler or an extreme adventure package to a family with young children in person. But if you send the same generic emails and messages to everyone, that’s exactly what you’re doing.

This impersonal approach not only fails to engage guests but also makes them feel like their needs and preferences are being ignored. That’s why it’s crucial to tailor your communication to offer real value to their stay.

The first step is segmenting your guests. If you haven’t done this before, we recommend reading our beginner’s guide to hotel market segmentation for a step-by-step approach.

Once you’ve gathered this data, you can personalize your messages based on each segment’s preferences and habits.

For example, for foreign leisure travelers, you can:

• Send messages in their language
• Recommend local activities available in in their language, such as guided tours, cultural experiences, or must-visit restaurants

Offering additional services can be a great way to increase revenue, but doing it the wrong way can annoy guests. A direct and overly aggressive approach, even if well-intended, might make your property seem more focused on profits than on guest satisfaction—potentially damaging their experience and trust in you.

The best way to avoid this mistake is to first ensure that your extra services and experiences truly align with your guests’ interests.

Then, introduce your offers naturally and discreetly, without disrupting the guest experience. Here are a few strategies:

• Include offers in useful communications – For example, promote extra services in a pre-stay email that also contains practical details, such as check-in instructions or travel information. This way, the offer is placed within a relevant and helpful context.
• Use subtle tools – In-room QR codes or dedicated apps allow guests to explore and book extra services on their own, without feeling pressured.

Even the most well-crafted messages can become a problem if they’re sent too often. A constant stream of emails, notifications, or promotions can overwhelm guests, causing them to ignore or even unsubscribe from your communications. This excessive outreach not only annoys but can also make your property seem intrusive, damaging your relationship with guests.

Find the right balance between promotional and informative messages, ensuring that every communication provides real value to the guest and is sent at the right time.

To avoid this mistake in the future, analyze how guests respond to your emails. Monitor key metrics like open rates, click-through rates, and unsubscribe rates to identify which types of messages are well received and which may be perceived as excessive.

Paying attention to these data points will help you fine-tune the tone, content, and frequency of your messages—keeping guests engaged without overwhelming them.

For many hoteliers, guest communication ends at check-out. But stopping there means missing the opportunity to build long-term relationships and encourage repeat bookings.

On the other hand, keeping the connection alive even after guests leave helps them feel valued and increases the likelihood of direct bookings in the future.

Here are a few simple ways to maintain guest engagement after their stay:

• Send a personalized thank-you email – Within a few days of check-out, express your appreciation and invite guests to leave a review.
• Offer special deals and discount codes – Provide exclusive incentives for future stays, such as a discount code for direct bookings.
• Launch targeted email marketing campaigns – Plan periodic newsletters with updates on events or special promotions at your property, keeping guests engaged without overwhelming them.

If you recognize yourself in any of these mistakes, don’t worry—fixing them is easier than you think, especially with the right tool!

Smartconnect is the platform that automates guest communication at every stage of your guests' stay—but that’s not all. It centralizes guest data, segments them, and automatically suggests personalized messages, newsletters, and upselling and cross-selling offers tailored to each guest.

Want to see how it works? Request a personalized, free demo.