Data-driven decision-making is essential to businesses in all industry verticals, with the hospitality industry as no exception.
And for hotels across the globe, some of the best data can be captured directly from the guests themselves with guest satisfaction surveys.
This method of data collection is unparalleled in the world of hospitality, and it can provide organizations with countless insights into the guest experience.
In this article, our hotel and hospitality market research company will share everything you need to know about guest surveys, including what they are, how they can benefit your organization, and how to properly conduct one.
For more information on this topic, check out our post on interesting market research options for the travel and tourism industry, or watch the video below.
What is a Guest Satisfaction Survey?
Exactly what it sounds like!
A guest satisfaction survey is completed by a hotel or other lodging guest to gauge the level of satisfaction with their stay and to better understand their overall experience.
Typically, they’re completed online after the guest has finished their stay and checked out of the hotel.
The survey is composed of a number of questions, each with a certain objective.
Sections of a typical guest survey include:
- Hotel awareness and perceptions
- Feedback on the stay and their overall experience
- What guests were most satisfied with and what they were least satisfied with
- Likelihood to recommend the hotel to a friend or family member
- Demographic information such as gender, age, household income, ethnicity, and more
A guest survey is not so different from a customer satisfaction survey, as they are both looking to understand how an individual perceived their experience with a specific brand.
With 96% of worldwide consumers claiming customer service is essential, never underestimate the power of guest experience.
💡 The Key Takeaway: Questions in this type of survey gauge a guest’s happiness with their stay. The main goal is to gather valuable feedback in order to continue with or improve upon lodging practices.
Benefits of Surveying Hotel Guests
Below, we’ll cover the key benefits of asking successful satisfaction survey questions.
- They offer your organization real guest feedback in a timely manner. You don’t have to wait to collect feedback as guests are provided with a survey as soon as they check out. With this data at your disposal, changes can be made in real-time to improve the guest experience.
- Once drafted, guest surveys are not set in stone. If your hotel would like to gather more information on a certain topic or area of the guest experience, the survey can be amended whenever necessary, allowing you to easily pivot.
- You receive specific, actionable data from your guests. While online reviews are essential to an organization’s online reputation management strategy, you can only get so much data from this sort of feedback. Guest surveys ask specific questions and elicit targeted responses.
💡 The Key Takeaway: Customer satisfaction questions in this kind of survey aim to get specific answers to your unique objectives. Guest surveys are also fluid, meaning you can tweak them at any time to gather new information.
Recommended Reading: 6 Signs You Need to Conduct a Customer Satisfaction Survey
Example Questions for a Guest Survey
Here are some questions that you can ask in a guest satisfaction survey.
These will elicit some of the best responses and actionable data:
- How did you hear about our hotel/place of lodging?
- How did you book your stay with us?
- What was the primary reason for your trip?
- How likely would you be to recommend us to a friend or family member?
- How satisfied were you with your overall experience during your stay?
- Is there anything at our hotel/place of lodging that we can improve upon?
- How likely would you be to return and stay with us again?
- How would you rate your satisfaction with the check-in process?
- How would you rate your satisfaction with the check-out process?
- How satisfied were you with the interactions you had with any staff members during your stay?
Customer satisfaction questions like the ones above capture important demographic information and traveling behaviors, while also gauging satisfaction with a variety of factors associated with guests’ stays.
💡 The Key Takeaway: Digging deep with your questioning will yield the best possible feedback. The more details, the more usable information.
How to Conduct a Guest Satisfaction Survey
We may be slightly biased here at our travel and tourism market research company – but one of the best ways to conduct a guest satisfaction survey is by partnering with the experts at a third-party company.
The experienced, unbiased researchers at a third-party market research company can provide you and your organization with unparalleled insights and recommendations.
Below is an overview of working with a third party to craft a customer satisfaction survey form.
How does this work? It's simple:
- First, identify the third-party market research company that's right for you and your organization and submit a request for a market research study proposal.
- Once the details have been worked out and an agreement has been made, your dedicated market research team can begin drafting a survey document that will attempt to meet all of the objectives of the research.
- After the survey document has been completed and approved, you can begin to collect data from past guests. The market research company will continue to send survey invitations to guests as they check out of your hotel/place of lodging.
- When you have reached the desired number of survey completes and decide to end data collection, the market research team will begin performing their analysis of the data. A report will be drafted consisting of actionable insights and recommendations.
- After some time has passed, you can begin the process once more. By collecting data over a period of time, you will start to see how guest satisfaction wavers and where areas of the guest experience may be needing improvement.
💡 The Key Takeaway: Teaming up with a third-party firm is essential when crafting customer satisfaction questions. You and the firm will work together to create a survey, gathering quality feedback. Additionally, you’ll be given a thorough analysis of the data.
Contact Our Travel and Hospitality Research Company
Drive Research is a market research company based in New York. Travel-loving with plenty of experience, our team of researchers is ready to craft the most useful and creative guest satisfaction survey to best meet the needs of your organization.
Want to know what other market research services we offer here at Drive? Reach out through any of the ways below.
- Message us on our website
- Email us at [email protected]
- Call us at 888-725-DATA
- Text us at 315-303-2040
Devan Grant
Devan's love for learning serves him well as a market research professional. With two years of both quantitative and qualitative research in the healthcare space under his belt, he knows what it takes to answer some of the toughest market research questions.
Learn more about Devan, here.
