Industry News Premier Construction Premier Hospitality

Incentives Hold The Key To Gaining Detailed Feedback From Hotel Guests

Aspire Executive Lounges, Swissport's global airport hospitality brand, has joined the British Institute of Hospitality, the world’s leading and award-winning membership body for hospitality professionals. Aspire Executive Lounges becomes the first business partner from the airport lounge hospitality sector to join the Institute of Hospitality. Aspire Executive Lounges, the fast-growing Swiss brand in the airport hospitality business, has joined the British Institute of Hospitality (IoH), the world’s leading membership body for professionals working and studying in the hospitality leisure and tourism industry. Aspire Executive Lounges is the first business from the airport lounge sector to become a member of IoH. The collaboration will foster an exchange of expertise and insights: IoH will benefit from Aspire's expertise in airport hospitality, while Aspire, by sharing its wealth of experience with IoH members, can extend its professional network to the hotel and catering sectors and hospitality management schools. “Our vision for Aspire Executive Lounges is clear and simple: We want to deliver a guest experience that is similar to what our guests are used to from their preferred hotels, meeting the needs and exceeding the expectations of today’s travelers,” says David Collyer, Global Vice President of Executive Lounges at Swissport International AG. “We strive to deliver an unparalleled experience and set a benchmark that transcends our industry, redefining excellence across the hospitality sector. The Institute of Hospitality is a great network to exchange insights and experiences, and to learn from others in the hospitality sector, which will help us bring our vision to life.” Robert Richardson, CEO of the Institute of Hospitality: “Our aspiration at the Institute of Hospitality has been to develop and grow our membership, the number of countries we operate in, and the number of hospitality sectors represented within our organization. With that in mind, it is a natural partnership for us to welcome Aspire into our family, and to learn from their teams, who serve travelers with passion and dedication. As two organizations with similar values, we look forward to collaborating in promoting high levels of excellence within our profession.” With over 30 years of experience, Aspire Executive Lounges is Europe’s largest brand in the airport lounges sector. In 2023, Swissport welcomed more than five million customers worldwide at over 69 lounges in 20 countries. The airport hospitality brand recently opened new lounges at Toronto City Airport in Canada, and Helsinki-Vantaa Airport in Finland. Aspire Executive Lounges recently created a new lounge concept in partnership with the airline alliance oneworld. The first oneworld branded lounge was launched at Incheon Airport in Seoul, Korea, in December 2023. Aspire Executive Lounges is owned by Swissport International AG, the global leader in aviation services, serving airlines at 286 airports in 44 countries across 6 continents
Written by Amy

Hotel guests are significantly more likely and happier to give detailed feedback on their stay when given an incentive to do so, according to research undertaken by hotel guest insight service The Know.

The founders of the innovative new service asked guests staying in luxury hotels about their review habits and found that almost 60% very rarely or never complete surveys at check-out or via email following their stay.

The in-depth research found those who do occasionally complete surveys rarely spend more than five minutes on them, or offer much in the way of detailed feedback.

According to the findings, only 3% of guests spent more than five minutes completing a guest survey, while the greatest number, 54%, spend between two and five minutes. A large number 43% spend less than two minutes responding to guest surveys.

Respondents were also asked how much detail they usually provide in hotel guest surveys and in the majority of cases it is minimal. While 14% said they give ratings and full detailed written feedback, the vast majority, 86%, provide ratings only or ratings and minimal words.

However, the findings also revealed that the chances of guests providing detailed feedback on a hotel stay rose dramatically if they were given an incentive. An astounding 79% of hotel guests said they would spend up to an hour completing an online survey about their stay within seven days of check out if they were offered the incentives and reward programme provided by The Know.

The Know co-founder Fiona Adams said: “Guest feedback is so important to ensure exceptional customer experience that the majority of hoteliers now actively try and gather it at check-out or through email. What is interesting from our findings, however, is that so many guests are giving limited feedback to traditional surveys that they can provide little value.  In addition, as almost 30% of respondents said that they would prefer not to be asked for feedback directly from hotels after their stay, in some cases we think there is a risk that the quest for direct guest feedback may actually alienate guests.”

The Know is an innovative service which enables hoteliers to receive detailed, confidential, qualitative feedback from real and highly targeted paying guests who have chosen to provide insight in return for incentives. In addition to the quality guaranteed feedback from individual guests, being part of The Know also enables hotels to benchmark their performance, gain proprietary market insight into guest preferences and create individual action plans using the sophisticated and bespoke question-led technology. 

Multi-night, extensive reviews are conducted by an invitation-only members club of ‘Knowers’ who are individually vetted and incentivised through reimbursements and loyalty points.

The unique proposition, which has been developed by operations and finance experts Fiona Adams and Mané Ryatt after conducting extensive research and product development, is making its debut at The Independent Hotel Show on 17 and 18 October at London Olympia.

About the author

Amy