Guest Engagement vs. Guest Experience: This Is What You Must Know

The hospitality industry is full of prominent aspects. And it is completely normal for most hoteliers to get perplexed by certain terms.

That’s not it.

There are times when hoteliers even overlook a term while directing all their attention to another one.

One such affair is “guest engagement vs guest experience”.

These two terms are highly misunderstood in the hospitality industry and I have witnessed it first-hand. Which is why I decided to do this article to help you understand these crucial aspects.

What Is Guest Engagement?

Guest engagement in hotels is the process through which a hotel communicates or interacts with its guests to create an enjoyable experience and make them feel special. And this can be measured in terms of how often the hotel communicates, offers guests the amenities, and so on.

Now, talking about how this communication or interaction happens, it could be in person at the property or through certain marketing channels.

What Is Guest Experience?

Guest experience is exactly what it reads. It is the overall satisfaction people get from staying at your property and interacting with every single element at your hotel.

Additionally, guest experience starts right from the moment someone looks for a hotel (be it online or offline) and ends when they check out and reach their home destination.

Are Guest Engagement and Experience at Odds?

Now that you know what these terms mean, it’s time to learn about various other affairs around them.

And one of the most frequently asked is — are guest engagement and guest experience in conflict?

The answer is an absolute NO!

Hotel guest engagement and guest experience despite being two different aspects are never at odds. They could work on different strategies and wavelengths but never go against one another.

To give you more clear insight into this, I spoke to an acquaintance of mine who also happens to be a veteran hotelier.

And this is what he said:

The query, “whether guest engagement and guest experience can be in conflict,” is absurd. It wouldn’t be wrong if you say that these two elements are the strong pillars of a successful accommodation business.

In my whole career as a hotelier, I don’t remember a single instance where I overlooked either of them.

Above anything else, I even hired professionals who would invest enough time strategizing and executing on activities around guest engagement and experience.

They would dive deep into it, extract insights, and come up with solutions that would just boost our hotel’s engagement metrics and experience by manifolds.

Where Do Hoteliers Go Wrong?

When I was researching this topic, I could see that the difference between guest engagement and guest experience is significant.

However, I could also see that these terms aren’t that complicated to understand. And by reading the sections above, I am sure you think that too.

But then, despite being two simple aspects of the hospitality industry, hoteliers do get it wrong.

The reason is that experience and engagement are frequently used interchangeably and are ultimately a part of what guests feel in and about your hotel.

And this is exactly where they often get conflated and most hoteliers confuse themselves.

Let me make it easier for you to understand.

For instance, Daniel is the owner of a brand new beachside hotel. Being new to the hotel industry, he is enthusiastic about delivering an above-par experience to his guests.

Now, Daniel doesn’t believe in strategizing anything around engagement or experience. Rather, he thought of offering certain freebies to his guests.

Rosie and Julia, two tourists from the Czech, recently visited Daniel’s hotel. They were impressed by the welcome. When they checked into their room, they were even happier seeing the breakfast placed on their table.

However, they didn’t eat the breakfast; rather, they called the manager to take the food away as both of them were vegan.

This incident was awkward, even though they appreciated the efforts of the hotel.

So, here’s what went wrong:

Despite having a guest-first mindset, Daniel missed out on the engagement.

The awkward incident would be amazeballs only if Daniel had interacted with Rosie and Julia beforehand, and asked about their meal preferences.

Can Guest Engagement and Experience Go Hand-In-Hand?

Of course!

It’s not whether they “can”, guest engagement and experience are meant to go hand-in-hand.  They are a match made in heaven.

How about an example, again?

(They are fun, aren’t they?)

Let’s spin Daniel’s example again in a different way.

After learning from his mistake with Rosie and Julia, Daniel is now betting big on playing the engagement and experience game.

Daniel now sends pre-trip emails and messages with suggestions for what guests might like to do during their stay.

Recently, for one of his guests, he arranged sightseeing tickets, arranged transportation to get around the town, and sent him a detailed itinerary of all the reservations.

When the guest arrived, Daniel personally greeted him and ensured that everything was according to the itinerary without any hassles.

The above example is evident that Daniel, despite being a newbie in the industry, managed to pull everything with utmost sincerity and delivered a supreme experience to his guests.

It wouldn’t be wrong if I say that he has discovered the secret to making guest engagement and experience work in sync.