How to provide a 5-star experience in-person and digitally

In a nutshell: 

Nobis Hotels, a luxury hotel chain with properties across Europe, was delivering exceptional in-person service but struggling to deliver the same through its digital communications. They partnered with Bookboost to reflect their luxury brand promise in the digital world and increase guest engagement across WhatsApp, email, and SMS.

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Nobis Hotels, a family-owned luxury hotel chain with properties across Stockholm, Copenhagen, and Majorca, has built its reputation on its five-star service and experiences worth sharing on social media. 

For them, maintaining their high standards of personalised service has been key to their success.

"Our key is to give a five-star experience throughout the whole process. Everything from when you find us, to what you read about us, to how you book, to when you come to the hotel," explains Jakob Lindh Tripolitis, Head of E-commerce at Nobis.

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The challenge: Bringing five-star service to the digital world

Despite the great in-person service guests were experiencing, Nobis faced a significant challenge when it came to the online experience. Their guest communication did not match the same warmth and quality as their in-person treatment.

"Our biggest challenge was how to streamline communication and give the five-star feeling in a digital way," mentions Jakob. "The front desk was giving great service at the hotel, which was our priority, but not digitally. We were sending out very generic messaging”. 

The big question: How could Nobis make their digital experience feel just as luxurious and personalised as their in-person service?

To solve that challenge, they partnered with Bookboost. 

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Three ways Nobis upgraded their digital experience with Bookboost 

Number #1: Offering multi-channel communication options as a luxury experience

Guests have different preferences, and this includes communication. "It's all about giving options, the same way we're offering a suite or a deluxe room", says Jakob. "It is a luxury for the guest that they can choose which way they want to communicate with the hotel."

By implementing Bookboost, Nobis could finally meet guests where they wanted to connect.

The hotel now offers communication through WhatsApp, SMS, and email, with WhatsApp proving particularly popular among international guests. This flexibility has significantly enhanced the guest experience.

"We have guests that don't actually pick up the phone when they're at the hotel room. They just send a WhatsApp requesting room service," explains Jakob. 

This approach also makes life easier for the team. “It frees up time for the front desk to give even better service to the guests that actually want to have this physical contact."

In addition, Nobis sends between six and seven different communications throughout their guest journey without overwhelming guests. 

“Since we're not sending six or seven emails, some go as emails, and some of them go as WhatsApp, it doesn’t feel like spam to guests”, he added. 

Number #2: Using advanced segmentation for personalised experiences

Nobis uses Bookboost's segmentation features to create different guest segments and send different messages, acknowledging their needs and preferences.

"One of our biggest segments is first-time guests versus returning guests. We want returning guests to actually feel seen in the message by simply just adding 'Welcome back, we're happy to see you again,'" explains Jakob.

But that is not all. Their segmentation strategy extends far beyond basic returning guest recognition, and they use different segments depending on the length of stay, travel party, which country they're coming from or language preference. 

This helps Nobis to provide content that actually matters to guests, one of their main objectives at the beginning of the partnership. 

"We can actually do an audience of people that have booked suites before, so they get a suite campaign, which has a higher likelihood to convert than if we were to send the newsletter to everyone", adds Jakob.

Number #3: Creating a unified communication hub

Nobis, like many other hospitality brands, was managing multiple communication channels separately. Questions from customers were arriving via social media, OTAs, their own website, and more. 

This created inconsistency and inefficiency. Now, all messages are handled using one single platform: Bookboost’s Unified Inbox.

“Basically, since we started using Bookboost, we have everything. All the communication is streamlined to one platform, which is very easy for us to have a great overview", mentions Jakob. "It's easy for the reception to answer guests quickly and in the way the guest actually prefers to be communicated to."

This unified approach ensures that staff members have complete visibility of all previous guest interactions: what questions they had before, who answered them, and what their feedback was, among other things. 

It allows the team to provide more informed and personalised service regardless of the communication channel. At the same time, it reduces friction and confusion since everyone has access to the same information. 

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Implementing a tech stack that allows for hyper-personalisation

Nobis has further enhanced their digital strategy by integrating Bookboost with their upselling tool, Oaky. Integrating the two platforms allows them to consolidate communications and create more effective upselling opportunities.

"Instead of sending out the welcome letter and an Oaky letter separately, we combine those and send them in one message, which decreases the number of emails sent to the guests," explains Jakob. "We actually are converting better than we did before."

They've also begun testing WhatsApp for upselling: "We're seeing that some people don't open the email, but they will read a WhatsApp message. So we're now testing sending the Oaky link via WhatsApp with Bookboost"

Three smart moves hotels can borrow from Nobis

1. Always look for comfort for guests

Luxury isn’t just about design; it’s about ease. Nobis lets guests communicate however they prefer, whether via WhatsApp, SMS, or email. Giving guests options makes their stay feel effortless and personalised.

2. Create balanced guest journeys and avoid spamming

Nobis avoids overwhelming guests by spreading messages across different channels. Instead of bombarding inboxes, they mix email and WhatsApp to keep communication relevant and welcome.

3. Segment like you mean it

Go beyond the basic first-timers and returning guests. Explore segments based on behaviour, language or past purchases.