If you’re interested in a hospitality program, no matter what role you’re after, it’s important to know how a successful hotel is run. With this knowledge, you’ll better understand how you can serve your team and guests while combining the basic principles of hospitality with new innovations to make a positive impact on the guests that visit your hotel. 

It can be a real challenge to run a successful hotel, as there are countless moving parts to manage at once and a delicate balance to maintain. However, when a hospitality team manages to consistently produce excellent results for their guests, the process is extremely rewarding. If you’re passionate about creating memorable experiences for your guests, consider the following five elements of successful hotels. 

1. Successful Hotels Align With Their Guest Demographic 

When a hotel can hone in on its typical guest and target them effectively, it can expect to continue thriving and likely growing. No matter how much money is invested into advertising, if there’s a failure to reach the right audience, it won’t be effective. After taking hospitality management courses, even if you’re not in a marketing role, you’ll want to keep your typical guest in mind. Think about what kind of experience they’d want to have at a hotel and seek ways to create that for them. 

2. Focus on Creating Valuable Experiences During Your Hospitality Career 

What exactly is a valuable experience? The answer to that is multi-faceted. Guest experiences refer to the feelings guests have before, during, and after a hotel stay. Of course, you’ll want those feelings to be positive. Because different guest demographics have different preferences, it’s up to hotel management and staff to create a personalized, guest-centric experience that is seamless, satisfying, unique, and memorable. After completing a hospitality program, this can be done by regularly taking feedback and adjusting the environment and services to better align with guest preferences. 

3. Connectivity is a Must 

Whether your guests are visiting you on vacation or for business, surely they’ll want to be able to stay connected on their personal devices. A free, strong Wi-Fi connection goes a long way in creating an excellent guest experience. In addition, connectivity may be the key to organically reaching other guests. How so? Well, when they’re having a great time, people tend to pull out their phones, snap a picture and update their stories on social media. This is a great way to be discovered, as potential guests will trust the opinions of their network. 

As you’ll learn throughout your hospitality career, guests will appreciate connectivity

4. Hygiene is Paramount for Guest Satisfaction 

An otherwise great experience is quickly ruined when the environment is dirty, scattered, or unhygienic in any way. Negative reviews about hotel cleanliness can destroy its reputation very quickly, so it’s important to value the health of your guests and stay on top of cleaning and organizing. In addition to a tidy environment, neatly decorated surroundings contribute to a pleasant sense of comfort for guests. Throughout your hospitality career, always be cognizant of the surroundings in your place of work and how they might affect guests. 

5. Successful Hotels Implement Tech Solutions 

Your guests will always appreciate convenience. For this reason, a successful hotel should implement as many tech solutions as possible in order to streamline the guest experience. For example, online booking software makes it easy for guests to begin their relationship with you, and that first impression will carry over into their stay. Property management systems can also be used to aid hotel administration by managing housekeeping, payment processing, reservations, and more. When you study a hospitality program at the Academy of Learning Alberta, you’ll be prepared for an exciting, rewarding career in the field.