Your Guide to What Guests Want from Their Hotel Stay

Hotels are an important type of business, ensuring that people are provided with a comfortable place to stay while travelling. Outfitted with comfortable bedding and luxury features, hotels have become known for offering pleasant experiences. Any visitor, therefore, will have a set of expectations for the hotel they visit. In this guide, you can discover the essentials that customers look for when visiting a hotel, helping you to prepare your property appropriately.

Why First Impressions Matter

A guest’s first impression of a hotel is often formed quickly, sometimes starting even before the guest enters the property. These initial impressions can have a significant impact on the guest’s overall experience, influencing customer satisfaction and the likelihood of them returning.

On the first investigation of a hotel, customers will likely look to see if their expectations will be met. When guests arrive, they’re often eager to determine if the hotel’s physical environment, staff interactions, and facilities align with the promises made through marketing materials or online reviews. Any discrepancies between what was promised and what they encounter in person can lead to disappointment and even dissatisfaction.

What Guests Expect

There are several things that most guests would expect to find in their hotel room, from comfortable sheets to evidence of cleaning. To help you meet these expectations with ease, here are the key expectations that a guest will have for a hotel and its rooms.

High Hygiene Standards

One of the most important expectations a guest will have for a business is a hygienic environment. If proper cleaning practices haven’t been followed, microorganisms such as germs and bacteria that can cause illnesses can remain on surfaces and linens in a hotel room. Guests will expect and desire a space that is kept clean and is routinely disinfected, particularly in spaces like bathrooms where germs have the opportunity to spread.

Cleanliness

Another key expectation guests will have for hotels is cleanliness. Dust, crumbs, and debris can often accumulate in hotel rooms and throughout the property, leading to a messy appearance. This can be incredibly off-putting for guests, and often leads them to doubt the hotel's overall quality. Guests will expect the entire property to be free of mess, offering a comfortable and relaxing environment.

Safety and Security

To feel comfortable sleeping in a space, guests need to first feel that they are safe. Guests will expect their hotel room to have security measures designed to secure their room from unwanted intruders, such as secure locks and chains. These added layers of protection go a long way in making guests feel more at ease, particularly when staying in a new or unfamiliar area.

Guests will also expect safety features to protect them from harm or alert them to an emergency. These should include fire alarms and sprinkler systems, as well as clear signage leading to the fire exits. When guests feel confident that the hotel is equipped to handle potential emergencies and that they are protected from harm, it enhances their sense of trust and allows them to focus on enjoying their stay without unnecessary worry.

Local Knowledge

Whether visiting on holiday or travelling for work, many guests will be unfamiliar with the local area. This lack of local knowledge can make them feel uncertain about how to navigate their new surroundings, especially if they are unfamiliar with public transport systems, local customs, or dining options. As such, they often look to the hotel they are staying in as a trusted source of information and guidance. They will expect staff to be knowledgeable about the area, able to provide their customers with recommendations and guidance easily.

Connectivity and Convenience

With so much of our work and entertainment found online, a reliable connection to the internet can be important to many customers. Particularly for guests who are travelling for business purposes, connection to the internet is typically expected from a hotel. Whether included in the price of the room or an optional extra, WiFi connection is expected of most modern hotels.

Professionalism

When paying for any service, we expect to receive a level of professionalism and courtesy in return for our investment. This is no different when guests check into a hotel. Guests will expect professionalism at every interaction, from the front desk to the efficiency of room service staff. Visuals are highly important too, from clean and neat staff uniforms to neatly folded linens available in the guests’ rooms.

Supportive Staff

One of the most important parts of a great hotel experience is the level of customer service that the guest receives. In high-demand and quality hotels, especially, guests will want the staff to be helpful and supportive at all times. They should be there to help if a guest has a query and be helpful in emergencies.

Comfortable Linens

When paying for a hotel room, guests will expect a comfortable bed to sleep in. This should include plenty of pillows, in addition to a soft duvet and a pleasant mattress. They will also look for high-quality bed sheets and pillowcases that will greatly enhance the guest experience, as the softness and smoothness of the fabric are immediately noticeable upon first touch. Fresh, crisp linens not only feel luxurious but also contribute to the overall cleanliness and hygiene of the room, further elevating the guest’s perception of the hotel’s standards.

How Commercial Laundry Services Can Help

If you’re concerned about your hotel meeting the expectations of your guests and visitors, commercial laundry services can often help. Provided by the professionals, expert cleaners and suppliers will collect the linens from your hotel and make sure they are washed and cleaned effectively. Below, discover how the laundry experts can be of assistance in the long term.

Consistently Delivers Quality Linens

With a professional laundry service, you can feel confident that the linens you are supplying your guests are consistent in their high quality and comfortable material. By using a thorough cleaning process that is still suited to the material, professionals can clean the linens without negatively affecting their quality. This ensures consistent quality for every towel.

Supports High Turnover

Busy hotels can experience high turnover rates, especially during busy seasons or after multiple events. Commercial linen cleaning services and hotel bedding suppliers can help support hotels during these periods, ensuring that they are always supplied with the linens they need. This helps to ensure that the services are consistently high quality, even in busy times of year.

Improves Guest Comfort and Hygiene Standards

While linens might look clean, it doesn’t mean that they are truly clean. Commercial linen cleaning can ensure the sheets, cloth napkins, bedding and other linens used by hotels are properly cleaned and sanitised. This can help prevent the spread of illnesses between guests, making sure each customer can have a pleasant stay.

Removes Difficult Staining

With a large number of guests coming and going, stains are a natural part of running a hotel. Left untreated, however, stains can be easily noticed by guests and therefore lower their overall impression of the business. Unfortunately, removing stains in-house can often be an overwhelming task, requiring both dedication and time.

Linen rentals and cleaning services are a great solution when it comes to making sure that your hotel linens are kept stain-free and sparkling. Removing stains is simple for the professionals, who have specialist techniques that allow them to remove stains quickly.

Stalbridge Linen Services

Don’t just meet your guests’ expectations, but exceed them. Based in Dorset, Stalbridge Linen Services can offer commercial linen cleaning and hire services that ensure your guests only experience the best. We supply a wide range of kitchen linens, restaurant linens and hotel linens, helping you to provide a wide range of quality services in one space.

As hotel bedding suppliers, we’re skilled in offering linens for businesses that offer overnight stays. Our team will ensure your sheets match the high-quality of your hotel’s services, making for an overall fantastic experience for your guests. Please visit our website to learn more about us and what we can offer you at Stalbridge Linen Services. Alternatively, get in touch with us directly to arrange a quote.