Hotel Guest Journey: Stages, Touchpoints & Mapping Guide
The hotel guest journey starts long before someone walks through your doors. From discovering your property through AI-powered search to comparing options on Google, visiting your website, and eventually booking a stay, every interaction influences a guest’s decision.
For hoteliers, understanding this journey means more than improving the experience after a reservation is made. It also means knowing where potential guests discover your hotel, what might prevent them from booking directly, and how to make each step easier.
This guide walks through the key stages of the hotel guest journey and how to map, evaluate, and improve the touchpoints that matter most.
Key stages of the hotel customer journey
1. Dreaming and Inspiration
Potential guests seek inspiration for their next travel experience in the dreaming phase.
Touchpoints:
- Social media posts showcasing your property.
- Blog articles about local attractions or unique experiences.
- User-generated content from past guests.
Strategies:
- Leverage Social Media and Influencers: Utilize platforms like Instagram and TikTok to showcase your property’s unique offerings. Collaborate with travel influencers to reach targeted audiences.
- Implement Virtual Reality (VR) Tours: Offer VR experiences that allow potential guests to explore your hotel and its amenities virtually, providing a tangible sense of what to expect.
Optimize for AI-powered hotel discovery: Travelers are increasingly using tools like ChatGPT and Gemini to explore destinations and find hotels that match their preferences. Beyond traditional SEO, hotels should consider how their property is represented in AI-generated recommendations, whether their information is accurate, and which relevant searches they’re missing.
2. Planning and Decision-Making
During the planning phase, travelers compare options and decide based on their preferences and needs.
Touchpoints:
- A well-optimized website with detailed information.
- Reviews and testimonials are available on platforms like Google and TripAdvisor.
- Personalization tools that suggest packages based on preferences.
Strategies:
- Enhance Mobile Experience: Ensure your website is mobile-optimized, as many travelers use smartphones for planning and booking.
- Offer Transparent Pricing and Flexible Policies: Provide clear information on pricing, inclusions, and flexible cancellation policies to build trust and encourage bookings.
Protect your hotel’s branded searches: When travelers search for your hotel by name, they’re already showing interest in your property. However, third-party booking sites may bid on those searches and appear above your official website. Monitoring branded search results and protecting your hotel’s visibility can help keep high-intent guests on the path to booking directly.
3. Booking
The booking phase is a critical touchpoint where a seamless experience can significantly impact guest perceptions.
Touchpoints:
- Direct booking is available on your website or through online travel agencies (OTAs).
- Email confirmations with clear next steps.
Strategies:
Make it easier for guests to book directly: Even after reaching your website, potential guests may have questions about room types, amenities, cancellation policies, or availability. Providing clear answers at the right moment, whether through helpful website content or an AI-powered booking assistant, can reduce hesitation and help guests move forward with confidence.
- Offer Multiple Payment Options: Provide various payment methods, including digital wallets and “Buy Now, Pay Later” options, catering to diverse guest preferences.
- Incentivize Direct Bookings: Offer exclusive perks like complimentary upgrades or discounts to encourage guests to book directly through your website.
4. Pre-Arrival
The pre-arrival phase sets the tone for the guest’s stay and offers opportunities to build anticipation.
Touchpoints:
- Personalized pre-arrival emails with local recommendations.
- Digital check-in options to save time on arrival.
- Mobile apps for itinerary planning.
Strategies:
- Personalized Communication: Send personalized emails or messages with details about their stay, local attractions, and any special requests they may have made.
- Offer Online Check-In: Provide online check-in options to expedite the arrival process and enhance convenience.
- Upsell Additional Services: Present opportunities to book add-ons, such as spa treatments, dining experiences, or excursions, tailored to the guest’s interests.
5. Arrival and Check-In
The arrival and check-in phase is the guest’s first physical interaction with your property, making it a pivotal moment.
Touchpoints:
- Efficient and friendly front desk service.
- Welcome kits or personalized greetings are available in their room.
- Smart or keyless entry options for seamless access.
Strategies:
- Implement Contactless Check-In: Use technology that allows guests to check in via mobile devices, reducing wait times and physical contact.
- Provide a Warm Welcome: Train staff to offer personalized greetings and assistance, creating a welcoming atmosphere.
- Offer Welcome Amenities: To enhance guests’ initial impression, surprise them with a welcome drink or a small gift in their room.
6. In-Stay Experience
During the in-stay phase, delivering exceptional service and anticipating needs are paramount.
Touchpoints:
- Room amenities and cleanliness.
- On-site dining, spa services, or local tours.
- Digital guest apps for requests or communication.
Strategies:
- Utilize Smart Room Technology: Equip rooms with smart devices that allow guests to control lighting, temperature, and entertainment systems, enhancing comfort.
- Offer Personalized Services: Use guest data to provide tailored recommendations for dining, activities, and services.
- Maintain Proactive Communication: Check in with guests during their stay to address issues and ensure satisfaction.
7. Departure and Check-Out
The departure phase leaves a lasting impression and influences future loyalty.
Touchpoints:
- Efficient billing and payment processes.
- Farewell gestures like thank-you notes or discounts for future stays.
Strategies:
- Streamline the Check-Out Process: Offer express or mobile check-out options to accommodate guests’ schedules.
- Gather Feedback: Encourage guests to provide feedback through surveys or reviews, demonstrating that you value their opinions.
- Express Appreciation: Thank guests for their stay and invite them to return, perhaps with a special offer for their next visit.
8. Post-Stay Engagement
The post-stay phase is an opportunity to build lasting relationships and encourage repeat business.
Touchpoints:
- Follow-up emails with surveys or review requests.
- Invitations to loyalty programs or future promotions.
- Personalized content, like a photo recap of their stay.
Strategies:
- Send Personalized Follow-Up Communications: Reach out with a thank-you message that includes a summary of their stay and personalized recommendations for future visits.
- Promote Loyalty Programs: Invite guests to join your loyalty program, highlighting exclusive benefits and rewards.
- Encourage Social Media Interaction: Invite guests to share their experiences on social media platforms, fostering a sense of community and authentic promotion.
Steps to focus on when mapping the hotel customer journey
Step 1: Define scope and type of map
The first step of creating customer journey map for hotels is to determine your goals and the scope. Once you defined your goal, you can choose one of these customer journey map templates to define the scope:
- Current state. This is planned to map the current state your guest is in. How they plan, act, and feel today. While it’s called “current state,” it’s meant to serve more as a retrospective to make future improvements.
- Future state. This template helps you guess what your guest will do in the future when presented with a new product or service. It’s like a pretend focus group.
- Day in the life. This template is similar to the current state. Its goal is to map how your guest plans, acts, and feels in the present but in specific situations that may or may not have anything to do with your business. This is useful to understand their pain points and see if there’s an untapped potential market.
You can also merge some of these hotel customer journey examples together to create your own custom journey map format.
Step 2: Outline your guest persona
A persona is an archetype of your target guest. You should give this persona a set of characteristics and write a description that explains who they are. To build a proper persona, you should review your guests’ information: Who they are, what they do, how they speak, and what they like/dislike?
It’s crucial that you get that information by speaking directly to hotel guests. Here are some of the things you can do to get this information:
- Conduct 1:1 or group interviews
- Ask guests to share feedback after their stay
- Revisit customer service conversations or service tickets
- Read your online reviews
- Use online forums and online reviews to read what guests like/dislike about hotels
- Invite employees who are in direct contact with guests to participate in the journey mapping
- Review where they are coming from (word of mouth, online ads, direct booking)
Step 3: Identify motivators and pain points
These two go hand in hand when mapping the hotel guest journey because one of the biggest human motivators is to avoid pain. And though your service is probably not causing physical pain to guests, they still experience what’s called a pain point.
A pain point is a problem or an issue your guest experiences with your service. Some examples include trying to book directly through your website if it’s glitchy, losing their key and not being able to contact you, or having to wait in line at the front desk.
Whatever your guests generally perceive as a pain point becomes your pain point, too. If they find it hard to book on your website, you’ll receive fewer bookings. Here are some of the reasons why something becomes a pain point:
- Money. Any activity that leads to your guest spending more money than advertised. For instance, hidden fees, invalid promotional codes, or false advertising.
- Time. This is a problem that pertains to anything that makes your guests lose time. Buggy websites, having them wait in lines at your front desk, housekeeping taking forever to tidy their room.
- Security. This relates to personal safety being at risk. Multiple people with access to your stay, insecure neighborhood, not having security personnel.
- Support. This one is about the support you give your guests. Ease of communication, low-quality service, inefficient problem-solving.
- Sense of well-being. Includes everything associated with comfort. Bed quality, toiletries, silence.
Step 4: List the stages of a guest journey
At this point, you actually get to map and illustrate the hotel guest journey. You start by listing all the stages your guest goes through before, during, and after their stay.
- Inspiration and research. This is everything your guest goes through before they decide to book any stay. During this stage, guests go online to plan their trip, look at possible bookings, and activities to do at the destination.
- Booking process. The second stage of the hotel guest journey works hand in hand with OTAs and property management systems (PMS). It begins when the guest assesses prices, online reviews, and books your stay.
- Pre-arrival planning. This stage starts when guests book your stay and ends when they arrive. During pre-arrival planning, guests will pack their bags, and buy excursions and things to do at the destination. This step is crucial when mapping out your guest’s journey because a lot of emotions come into play. You can also use this stage to start upselling other services.
- Check-in. This step is when your guest either sets foot for the first time in your hotel or starts the online check-in for hotels.
- Stay. The fifth phase of the hotel guest journey is when your guests are finally spending time enjoying their stay. It starts as soon as they check-in and ends when they check out. Everything you do in between can either impact your guest positively or negatively.
- Check-out. At this step, your guest is now ready to say goodbye. This is a crucial part of the guest journey because it’s the last chance you have to intervene before they leave a review in the booking engine or directly on your website.
- Review and post-stay. The hotel guest journey doesn’t end once they leave. It ends with guests remembering the trip, sharing experiences with friends and family, writing a review, and coming back.
Step 5: Define touchpoints
A customer touchpoint is when your guest interacts with your brand directly or indirectly. Identifying your touchpoints is crucial for a successful guest journey map since those are the places where you can make changes to better serve your guests.
You need to identify your touchpoints in three stages:
- Before they book. Where did they hear about your hotel first? These are some possible touchpoints at this stage:
- Offline hotel marketing campaigns: Billboards, hotel branding, print ads, word of mouth
- Online hotel marketing: Social media, paid ads, influencer marketing, emails, online reviews
- OTA listings
- Your social media profile and website
- Travel bloggers and influencers
- Email communication
- Automated chat support
- When they book and arrive. What channels did they use to book? Some possible touchpoints at this stage are:
- Email communication and reminders
- Booking confirmation
- Customer support or automated chat
- Ease of access to location
- Prompt check-in and room access
- Hotel concierge, staff, and front-desk interactions
- Quality of furniture, decoration, and services
- Things to do
- After they stay. What happens when they leave? Some common touchpoints include:
- Hotel staff interactions
- Check-out services
- Email communication (billing, requesting feedback, and reviews)
- Social gatherings where they talk about your hotel
- Ongoing communication afterward.
Technology can also help hotels identify and improve touchpoints that influence a guest’s decision to book.
For example:
During discovery: Understand how your hotel appears in AI-generated recommendations and identify opportunities to improve visibility.
During research: Monitor branded searches to identify third-party booking sites competing for guests already looking for your property.
Before booking: Help website visitors find answers to questions about rooms, amenities, and policies without waiting for staff assistance.
Tools like Operto ONE help hotels address these touchpoints, from improving visibility in AI search to protecting branded traffic and assisting potential guests on their websites.
The goal is to make it easier for travelers to find your hotel, get the information they need, and book directly.
Step 6: Spot your moments of truth
The previously mentioned touchpoints intersect with moments of truth (MoT). That’s because MoT’s are opportunities for brands to leave a mark and make a good impression, while touchpoints are the human or tech interactions that develop that impression.
An MoT is the space where a brand differentiates itself from others and engages with the customer. There are four moments of truth:
- ZMOT: Zero moment of truth, when the guest decides they want to go on a vacation or know they need to travel for work and they start researching online. At this moment you should anticipate your guests’ questions. You can win this MoT in the inspiration and research stage.
- FMOT: First moment of truth. This is when your guests see your listing next to others in an OTA. This is the first time they view your product as an option, and then choose to stay there. You can win this MoT in the booking and pre-arrival planning stages.
- SMOT: The second moment of truth, happens when your guests are already at your stay, and if they are or aren’t enjoying the experience. You can win this MoT in the check-in, stay, and check-out stages.
- TMOT: The third moment of truth is when your guests become fans of your service and they decide to recommend, leave positive reviews, and stay there again. You can win this MoT in the check-out and review and post-stay stages.
Understanding the moments of truth and the touchpoints within them is crucial to properly address pain points and improve your guest experience.
Step 7: Review and take action
The last step of this journey is to review and set ongoing actions. As a team, you’ll need to review everything you mapped out. Identify the areas of opportunities, make plans, assign responsibilities, and take action to improve the overall hotel guest journey.
A customer journey map is a living document that you’ll need to revisit before making decisions and/or changes to your service.
Other possible things to map
As we mentioned above, there are many different ways to do a hotel guest journey map. You can also include other areas to map, such as:
- Guests’ emotions at each stage
- Your tech stack
- Channels guests use to communicate
- Current experiences guests are having and the ones they’d like to have
The Bottom Line
A great hotel guest journey doesn’t begin at check-in. It starts the moment a traveler discovers your property and continues long after they’ve checked out.
By mapping each stage of that journey, hoteliers can identify friction, understand guest expectations, and find opportunities to improve the experience.
But it’s also worth paying closer attention to what happens before a reservation is made. Is your hotel appearing when travelers ask AI for recommendations? Can guests easily find your official website when they search for you by name? And once they arrive, do they have the information they need to book directly?
These early touchpoints can have a real impact on how guests find and choose your property.
Operto ONE helps hotels improve visibility, protect branded searches, and turn more website visitors into direct bookings.
Explore how Operto ONE supports the journey from discovery to direct booking.
Frequently asked questions
The hotel guest journey is a UX model that explains everything a hotel guest goes through before, during, and after they choose to stay somewhere.
It's a UX tool to help you understand their guests’ expectations and pain points and guarantee a positive experience. A successful customer journey map for hotel guests results in more bookings.
Understanding a guest's journey can be beneficial for the hotelier to:
- Improve brand perception
- Understand the hotel guest experience
- Improve the quality of your touchpoints
- Be more empathetic with your guest
- Improve the quality of what they value the most
- Gain more positive reviews and receive more bookings
- Identify and win moments of truth
There are seven stages to the hotel customer journey:
- Dreaming: Inspiring Wanderlust
- Planning: Creating the Itinerary
- Booking: Securing the Stay
- Pre-Arrival: Building Anticipation
- Arrival: Making a Great First
- Impression
- Stay: Delivering the Experience
- Departure: Ending on a High Note
- Post-Stay Engagement: Keeping the Connection Alive
Understanding the customer journey allows hoteliers to anticipate guests’ needs and work before their arrival to exceed expectations.
Ensuring guest satisfaction leads to positive online reviews. That results in improving the chances of getting seen by people in OTAs (Tripadvisor, Booking.com, Airbnb), receiving more bookings, and growing revenue.
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