Source: Are Morch, Digital Transformation Coach

One of the essential keys to digital transformation success is the ability to enable exponential people experiences that are found, seen, and shared.

Service Industry

Today hotels have shifted from the service industry to the experience industry. Now we have lived in the experience economy since the late 90s.

Though the hotel industry has thrived well as a service industry focusing on reactive experiences.

In the service industry during this period hotels delivered intangible experience packages. These packages were delivered on-demand and consumers could customize them within given perimeters.

Experience Industry

In the experience industry, every stage in the journey provides itself with new opportunities to create memorable moments. During these memorable moments, hotels need to differentiate themselves and create a unique experience offer that supports this part of the journey.

Just to be crystal clear this unique experience offer should not be a direct sales offer! Provide the traveler with something unique that makes them feel special, and they will remember that your hotel played a key role during this moment.

When we look at the service industry and the experience industry the key difference lies in what drives the demand. For the service, industry benefits drive the demand, while in the experience industry sensations drive the demand.

When we ask people what makes content great, the answer is the stories.

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, digital content consumption skyrocketed.

People now are in full control of what they watch, when they watch, and how they watch content.

Content is now reshaping a new future for hotel engagement.

With easier and more convenient access to data and information, people will define what makes for great content, and not the hotel.

Stories are what will help bridge the gap between people and hotels.

Content partnership

People now seek out not only content that is relevant to their interests but is also made by authentic, approachable, and relatable content creators.

Are travelers able to see themselves in your hotel's content?

Travelers today enjoy being introduced to new things. This is why content today is about learning and helping to learn.

Hotels need to look at creative content partnerships that will help them with educating their audience and embrace reputation as a bigger part of the picture.

Travelers want tips and inside information from people that could be their neighbors. Good stories are all about the details. A good story will drive the sensorial sensations that will help drive more direct booking for hotels.

One of the most important lessons I learned was that ‘perfection’ is built on several stages of imperfect actions.

And at the heart of content travelers are drawn to authentic, innovative, and creative imperfect content. Imperfect content shows that every micro-moment counts as long as it is authentic.

Digital transformation is not about perfections but identifying the moments where people and technology work in harmony.

Travelers today are seeking a new deeper connection and want hotels to work with them, not for them.

You don’t necessarily have to take inspiration from the hotel industry. Get inspired by reviewing content from alternative industries. You can get some stellar ideas by reviewing content from industries that have nothing to do with hotels or hospitality for that matter.

Travelers make their bookings based on their content experience, not traditional logistics.

Your job is to make sure your hotel is part of that content experience.

Digital Transformation Content Huddle

Many hotels make content more complex than it has to be.

With my digital transformation frameworks, I use a strategy I call Content Huddle. This is a strategy that keeps my focus on what is right now and responds to what is important now. It helps me learn more about other people's stories and create my own stories to help others learn.

Within the content huddle, I stage the content in different layers to help me create a compelling story that is found, seen, and shared.

I will start with my overall monthly goal which can be to create a content partnership with 10 business travelers that inspire people in their community to make more direct bookings.

Next, I start looking at what is my Collaboration goal for the week. Everything I set out in the Content Huddle has to be in a relevant context. The goal here can be improved communication.

Once I have the Collaboration goal I will start looking at my weekly theme. Which can be something like Business Travelers.

From here I move into more S.M.A.R.T.E.R. goals. I can get specific in how many business travelers I want to communicate with this week.

Within the S.M.A.R.T.E.R. goals, I also identify a more specific topic I want to focus on to achieve my goals. These can be topics like sustainability, diversity, inclusiveness, touchless technology, flexibility, etc.

One important aspect of this process for me is to reimagine the possibilities. Due to this I also make sure the Content Huddle focuses on mindset.

To start with I can ask questions like how will I challenge myself today?

And at the end of the day, I can ask questions what can I learn from today’s experiences or mistakes?

This way I gather content throughout the day and week, and I also make sure I take time to evaluate and re-adjust when required.

And at end of the week, I will evaluate the data and have a good picture of what parts of the story I need to focus on in the coming week to move closer to the primary goal.

Is your hotel ready for a new exponential partnership? If you have some feedback or questions, let me know in the comments below…

Are Morch is a digital transformation coach helping hotels open their digital front door, reimagine their processes and culture, and transform experiences in a fast-paced world!

Are Morch
Digital Transformation Coach
Are Morch, Digital Transformation Coach

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