Mandy Green, the Social Media Director and hospitality industry blogger at Monscierge followed up with me recently about an article that she posted, ‘The Guest Experience Five Easy Ideas'.

The content of her post was inspired by a piece that appeared in Hotel Management about how Bill Spencer, GM at Hilton Memphis, selects guests on a purely random basis for a program he calls ‘Guest of the Day.'

Programs like this can really help your hotel to Stand Up and Stand Out from your comp set so here are a five ideas that I shared with Mandy that can help you to infuse some energy into your hotel and your guest's experience.

1. Create a social space.  Guests of your hotel are handed an ‘invitation' at check in to meet that evening with the GM, Head Chef or anyone else who would be considered a high profile representative of your hotel and/or the community.  The ‘meet and greet' lasts just 30 minutes and everyone who attends are eligible to enter a drawing for a prize that would be given away  at the end of the month or quarter.

2. Invite guests to collaborate.  If your ownership or GM is contemplating a change that would impact guests, your GM could check reservations for a selected day of the week and invite arriving guests who are members of your hotel's loyalty program to meet with him for a 30-minute cocktail reception where he shares the change(s) and solicits feedback from the group.

3. Promote local crafters and artists and allow them to showcase their work at your hotel in your social space or another high-traffic area in your hotel. This type of showcase is a 365-day program featured at the Pfister Hotel in Milwaukee, WI.  Here is a link to their ‘Artist in Residence' program.  I was introduced to it during a site inspection and it's pretty cool.

4. Some hotels are adding short classes to the guest experience, complete with take-home items to remember their stay. If your hotel has a bar, invite a small group of patrons each hour during happy hour and teach them how to make your hotel's signature cocktail.  Provide each of the participants with the cocktail recipe printed on your hotel's stationary.

5. No matter which of these ideas you elect to use, turn your guest's experience into a photo or video op that your hotel can include on your website, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Pinterest or Tumblr page.

If you have an idea or campaign that you would like to share with your peers send it to info@igroupadvisors.com and I will include it in my next post.

Tom Costello is a business owner, consultant, and author whose career encompasses more than 20 years of experience in the hospitality and travel industries that includes startups, strategic business planning, P&L management, branding, sales, marketing, social media, e-reputation management, technology development, channel distribution, vendor and third-party relations. As the Principal of Groups International, a meetings and events management company, Tom drives the strategic growth of the company in the areas of sales, marketing, brand image, social media, and vendor relations.

www.igroupadvisors.com