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Not sure where to start with hotel automation?
The truth is that most hotels jump into tech without a clear plan and end up overwhelmed. But with the right approach, these best practices for hotel automation implementation can save your team hours every week.
From guest communication automation to streamlining daily tasks, smart automation has become a game-changer, allowing hotel staff to focus on delivering exceptional experiences while saving valuable time instead of being trapped with time-intensive and repetitive tasks.
In other words, it helps hotels boost efficiency without losing the personal touch (a clear must for hospitality).
Let’s talk about how to use it right and where it makes the biggest impact.
Hotels have many channels of communication, from social media to the hotel website to OTAs. Believe it or not, a lot of time is wasted by logging and switching between the different platforms.
And what is worse, there are also many messages that are left unanswered or that receive a very late answer.
To avoid this, you can gather all your messaging platforms into a general Unified Inbox. You can even create quick replies to reduce the time your team spends answering incoming messages.
With one click, the message is sent, instead of always typing or copy+pasting the same responses.
Hotels doing this are spending less than 1 minute per message, which translates into hours of saved time for the team.
If you’re still manually categorising your guests into groups, it’s time to stop.
Instead of spending hours manually filtering your data and splitting your guests, use technology and automation to segment people, spot trends, and extract insights easily.
One of the easiest ways to do it is to use a CRM with filters built specifically for hospitality, like guest type, booking source, stay history, demographics, and behaviour.
With the right tool, you can build automated segments in minutes instead of hours:
- Business travellers vs leisure guests
- OTA bookers vs direct bookers
- First-time guest vs loyal returners
From there, you can create tailored automation workflows for each segment — without repeating manual work every time.
For example:
- A business guest could receive pre-stay directions for a smooth check-in, and a quiet room upsell.
- A returning couple might get personalised dining recommendations or a post-stay thank-you with a loyalty offer.
- A guest who booked through an OTA could be encouraged to book direct next time with an exclusive incentive.
One of the best practices for hotel automation implementation is setting up smart triggers to automate your marketing campaigns.
It might seem like small guest communication automation efforts, but in reality, these settings allow you to reach guests with the right message at the right time without your team having to track time or set reminders to send every campaign.
Your messages will be sent exactly when the guest needs to receive them. For example:
- An online check-in reminder two days before the arrival date.
- An offer to upgrade room category three days before arrival.
This is exactly how hotels use automation to save time while delivering relevant experiences. With the right CRM, you can also track performance, test variations, and iterate based on guest engagement.
Read more: Best practices for creating guest journeys that amaze your guests
Implementing a chatbot on your hotel's website or mobile app can significantly streamline front desk operations by taking care of the most simple and repetitive questions.
It not only saves time for both guests and staff but also ensures consistent and immediate responses, enhancing the overall guest experience.
Available 24/7, chatbots instantly respond to common guest questions, from early check-in to local recommendations. It not only reduces front desk workload but gives your team the time to take care of more complicated matters like guest complaints and others.
And to cater to the needs of a growing number of international travellers, chatbots can be programmed to communicate in different languages so guests from all over the world can feel welcomed and understood.
Building every email from scratch or copy-pasting previous campaigns is a waste of time, and it leads to missing details.
One of the most effective ways to scale guest communication automation for hotels is by using dynamic templates built specifically for hospitality.
Instead of rewriting the same welcome, upsell, or post-stay messages, you create one smart template and personalise it automatically with data pulled from your hotel CRM.
Dynamic fields go beyond [first_name]. You can include:
- Arrival date and check-in instructions
- Preferred language
- Room type or upgrade options
- Booking channel-specific offers
- Loyalty status or previous stay history
These personalisation tokens actually make sense for hospitality, unlike the generic options in tools like Mailchimp.
And because the templates are dynamic, your team doesn’t need to second-guess or proofread every message. It’s all auto-filled, personalised, and ready to send.
The result? Faster campaign setup, fewer mistakes, and a lot less stress. Your team has more peace of mind knowing that every guest is receiving a relevant, well-timed message without starting from zero each time.
Read more: Personalisation revolution - how a CRM can level up your marketing efforts
Gathering feedback from guests is important for measuring satisfaction levels and identifying areas for improvement. Automation can simplify this process by sending automated surveys to guests post-stay.
These surveys can include questions about their experience, service quality, and suggestions for enhancement. By automating feedback collection, hotels can process a large number of responses effortlessly without placing an additional burden on staff members.
Moreover, automation tools can generate immediate feedback reports, enabling hoteliers to address any concerns promptly and enhance their service in real time.
Not all guests check their email. Some prefer WhatsApp. Others respond fastest to SMS.
That’s why one of the most important best practices for hotel automation implementation is using multi-channel automation based on your guest’s actual preferences.
With a hospitality-specific CRM, you can ask for the preferred communication channel at booking or check-in, then automatically send messages through the one they’re most likely to engage with.
For example:
- Business guests may prefer a quick SMS reminder about late check-in.
- International travellers might need WhatsApp support with directions.
- Loyal returning guests may still enjoy emails with personalised loyalty offers.
When your hotel uses guest communication automation, messages are delivered on the right channel, at the right time, with the right tone, without having to manually decide per guest.
This reduces miscommunication, improves engagement rates, and saves your team hours of follow-up.
Even better: guests feel like you’re paying attention to their preferences, not just sending generic updates.
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Automation can transform how your hotel communicates, operates, and saves time. But the most successful properties know that the goal isn’t to automate everything - it’s to automate the right things.
The best practices for hotel automation implementation focus on streamlining repetitive, time-consuming tasks — from handling FAQs to sending personalised pre-stay messages.
With the right CRM and segmentation, guest communication automation for hotels becomes smarter, faster, and more personalised.
But here’s the truth: Not everything should be automated.
Some guest interactions still need the warmth of human connection. Whether it’s handling a complex request, responding to a complaint, or simply welcoming someone at the front desk, these moments build loyalty in ways automation can’t.
The real win is finding the balance: Let technology handle the repetitive work so your team has more time to focus on what really matters, offering personal, thoughtful service when it counts most.
By combining automation with the human touch, you’ll be able to deliver guest experiences that are not only efficient but memorable.
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Are you ready to increase your revenue and build lasting guest relationships? Take the first step today.
