You’re juggling a dozen properties (or a few dozen) and every one of them wants time, attention, and tailored support. But you can’t be everywhere at once. And when the basics fall through the cracks like slow check-ins, missed housekeeping, clunky follow-ups, it’s a hit to your brand, your revenue, and your guest retention across the portfolio.
A smooth hotel customer journey happens when back-of-house operations are tight, repeatable, and automated. Because the less your teams are buried in checklists and status updates, the more they can focus on guests and the more consistent the experience across your properties.
In this blog, we’ll break down the hotel customer journey, stage by stage, from awareness to post-stay. And we’ll show you 11 practical ways automation is helping hotel groups cut waste, fix blind spots, and deliver a better guest experience at scale.
What is the hotel customer journey?
The hotel customer journey is the full experience a guest has with your brand. This includes the moment they start dreaming about a trip to the moment they (hopefully) leave you a glowing review. It’s every interaction, every click, every conversation. And it’s made up of dozens of customer touchpoints that shape how they feel about their stay.
It’s not just about the front desk or room service anymore. It’s communication. The ad they saw on Instagram. The ease of booking on your website. The “we can’t wait to welcome you” email. The late-night room request handled without fuss. And the follow-up that makes them want to come back.
When those moments are seamless, the guest feels taken care of. When they’re clunky they notice. And they tell the internet.
That’s why the hotel customer journey matters. It’s the foundation of guest satisfaction, brand loyalty, and long-term revenue. And if you're managing multiple properties, it’s also your best chance to create consistency without sacrificing the personal touch. Let’s break it down stage by stage.
What are the key stages of the hotel customer journey?
The hotel customer journey is a chain of experiences that either builds trust or breaks it. And when you're overseeing a portfolio, you need each property to get these stages right in their own way, while still delivering a consistent brand feel. Here’s a quick breakdown of the six key stages and where things often go right (or wrong):
Awareness Stage
This is the “We just popped up on their radar” moment. This could many things, including:
A social post
A Google ad
A friend’s recommendation
If you’re lucky, they click through. If not, you’re out of the running before you knew you were in it.
Why it matters: First impressions count. And with the right automated marketing tools, your properties can stay visible without manually chasing eyeballs.
Consideration Stage
Now they’re comparing, reading reviews, and browsing your site. Checking out the photos, amenities, cancellation policies. Your hotel has made the shortlist.
Why it matters: Consistency here is key. If one property’s info is out of date or hard to navigate, it reflects on the whole portfolio.
Booking Stage
Decision made. Now it’s time to lock it in. The experience should be fast, clear, and stress-free. That means no hiccups, no hidden fees, no clunky booking engines.
Why it matters: A poor booking experience can send them straight to an OTA or worse, to a competitor.
Pre-Stay Stage
Between booking and arrival, there’s a golden window. This is when guests start asking questions, making requests, or upgrading their stay. A good pre-stay experience builds excitement. A bad one builds doubt.
Why it matters: Automation can handle the repeatable stuff (confirmations, upsells, FAQs), so your team can focus on anything that needs a personal touch.
Stay Stage
This is the big moment. From check-in to checkout, everything needs to run like clockwork. Think clean rooms, quick fixes, and friendly service. If something goes wrong, how fast you respond matters just as much as what went wrong.
Why it matters: This is where most reviews are won or lost. And behind every smooth stay is a well-oiled back office.
Post-Stay Stage
They’re gone but their feedback sticks around. Whether it’s a glowing review or a frustrated rant, this is your chance to learn, respond, and (if you’re smart) invite them back.
Why it matters: A solid follow-up strategy is automated and timely. This keeps your properties in the guest’s mind and turns one-time visitors into regulars.
How automation improves the hotel customer journey: 11 practical wins
Automation is about creating a seamless experience for guests and event planners and a manageable workload for your teams. Here's how automation enhances each stage of the hotel customer journey:
1. Smarter housekeeping schedules
Stage: Stay
Manual scheduling often leads to wasted labor or late cleanups that frustrate guests. Automate housekeeping systems with tools like Flexkeeping or ALICE so tasks are prioritized based on check-in/out times, guest requests, and real-time room statuses.
Why it matters: At scale, this adds up to thousands of saved labor hours annually and fewer complaints about unready rooms or late turndowns.
Example: When Villa Copenhagen implemented Flexkeeping, they saw 13,778 tasks automated.
“I used to spend an hour opening the day because of all the small tasks that needed to be manually added. Now, everything is automated,” says Akvile Norkute, Housekeeping Manager at Villa Copenhagen.
2. Energy savings without disrupting the guest
Stage: Stay
Smart thermostats and motion sensors adjust heating, cooling, and lighting based on room occupancy. That means no more air-con running in an empty suite for 12 hours.
Why it matters: When scaled across a portfolio, even modest savings per room become significant.
Example: The DoubleTree by Hilton Dartford Bridge Hotel slashed energy use by 65% after using smart systems to automatically cut energy use in unoccupied rooms.
3. Stress-Free Room Layouts with Cvent Event Diagramming
Stage: Consideration & pre-stay
Before planners commit, they want to see what’s possible. Use event diagramming tech to help planners visualize room setups in 2D or 3D, drag-and-drop seating, and test different layouts long before arriving onsite.
Why it matters: It reduces time spent on back-and-forth diagrams, cuts surprises on event day, and builds trust with planners early in the process. Your sales team gets to say “yes” faster (and with more accuracy) without waiting on banquet staff or CAD files.
Example: Omni Boston Hotel at the Seaport uses Cvent Event Diagramming to help their clients quickly determine which of the hotel’s 54 meeting rooms will best suit the event. According to Allison Porter, Director of Sales:
“For people who are on the fence looking at square footage on a capacity chart, it is hard to understand what that truly means for their event. Once we understand the specifics, we put it into Cvent Event Diagramming, which helps them visualise how much square footage they need. We know that the time saved allows us to be more proactive in looking for and attracting new business.”
4. Predictive maintenance prevents guest complaints
Stage: Stay
Leaky faucets and broken ACs might seem minor, but they damage guest satisfaction scores. Internet of Things (IoT) sensors monitor equipment health and trigger work orders before issues become visible to guests.
Why it matters: Less downtime, fewer emergency repairs, and smoother guest stays.
Example: A mid-size hotel brand in the US reported a 30% drop in guest complaints related to in-room issues after installing predictive maintenance software that flagged early signs of wear in HVAC units and plumbing systems.
5. Mobile check-in and keyless entry
Stage: Pre-stay & stay
Guests want to skip the front desk, especially business travelers or repeat guests. A Mews survey revealed 80% of travelers prefer hotels with a completely automated front desk or self-service technology. With mobile check-in and keyless entry, guests can walk straight to their room with their phone in hand.
Why it matters: It cuts wait times, frees up staff, and removes friction especially during peak arrival hours.
Example: When Best Western Plus Truckee-Tahoe implemented mobile check-in with great results.
"What used to take 5-7 minutes now takes just 2-3 minutes, allowing us to focus on providing a warm, personalized welcome rather than getting bogged down in administrative tasks," says Ben Schynoll, General Manager.
6. Demand-based staff scheduling
Stage: All stages
Did you know that according to the American Hotel & Lodging Association, 65% of surveyed hotels report staffing shortages? Add to that unpredictable customer flow, high employee turnover rates, and the need to balance costs with service quality and staffing becomes a big challenge.
Automated labor management tools forecast demand based on bookings, local events, and even weather data. This ensures the right number of staff are scheduled. No more, no less.
Why it matters: Prevents costly overstaffing and avoids the burnout that comes with being short-staffed.
Example:Hotel des Nordens implemented tamigo’s cloud-based workforce management to simplify staffing. "tamigo has saved us a huge amount of time that we had to spend before we started using the solution,” says Ronny Wilke, Administration Manager.
7. AI chatbots for guest requests
Stage: Pre-stay & stay
Need more towels? Want a wake-up call? AI chatbots handle these common requests instantly via SMS, in-app chat, or WhatsApp.
Why it matters: Have your team focus on providing great face-to-face customer service while the bot handles the basics.
Example: A Caribbean resort chain implemented Canary Technologies’ AI-powered concierge bot and resolved 70% of guest inquiries automatically, reducing front desk call volume by nearly half.
8. Remembering guest preferences automatically
Stage: Pre-stay & stay
Automation pulls data from past stays and loyalty profiles to deliver personalized experiences without requiring staff to remember it all.
Why it matters: Guests feel recognized across properties, not just at their “home” hotel.
Example:Peninsula Hotels’ guest recognition system remembers everything from preferred pillow types to minibar choices. This consistency builds brand loyalty across markets.
9. Getting Found Where Planners Search: Cvent Supplier Network
Stage: Awareness & consideration
Being on the Cvent Supplier Network (CSN), means you’re visible to thousands of planners searching for venues every day. CSN automates lead routing, RFP responses, and venue discovery.
Why it matters: Automation puts your properties in front of planners earlier in their decision-making process without your team lifting a finger. It also ensures multi-property groups get consistent exposure and faster lead distribution across the portfolio.
Example:Renaissance Reno Downtown Hotel and Spa saw an 11% increase in RFPs received and an 8% increase in received RFP value using CSN. Danielle Kading, Assistant Director of Sales and Catering says:
“For the planners that have booked or sourced here before, they may have an RFP out there that, for some reason, they didn't source us on. I can find those RFPs in Planner Navigator and reach out to them and see if they are interested in our hotel. Just to have another conversation is nice.”
10. Real-time task management
Stage: Stay
What if your front desk staff could trigger work orders instantly with automated task systems whether it's fixing a broken lamp or delivering an extra blanket.
Why it matters: Delays kill satisfaction. Automation kills delays.
Example: Hotels using Flexkeeping reported a 40% drop in the average time to resolve in-stay service requests thanks to automatic alerts and mobile team apps.
11. Automated inventory management
Stage: Stay
Back-of-house operations often rely on manual stock checks. Track usage patterns and automatically reorder essentials like towels, minibar snacks, or cleaning supplies with automation.
Why it matters: You won’t over-order or run out. And your staff spends less time counting and more time serving.
Example: A hotel chain implemented an IoT-based inventory system and saw a 20% reduction in waste and a 15% increase in inventory accuracy.
12. Instant alerts for negative reviews
Stage: Post-stay
PwC reported that when people love a company or product, 59% will walk away after several bad experiences and 17% after just one bad experience.
Reputation management tools scan online reviews and send instant alerts when a guest leaves negative feedback often before it spreads.
Why it matters: Speed is everything. A quick response could turn a critic into a return guest.
Example: A multi-brand operator using ReviewPro received alerts within minutes of a bad review and within three months, their average response time dropped from six days to three.
13. Smart post-stay surveys
Stage: Post-stay
Automated surveys can be triggered immediately after checkout, personalized by room type or stay purpose (business vs leisure), and sent in the guest’s preferred language.
Why it matters: More responses, more insights, more chances to fix what’s broken—across the entire portfolio.
Example:HTL Hotels increased post-stay conversion rate by 33% with post-stay surveys. Plus, their WhatsApp-specific post-stay conversion rate reached 36%.
14. Seamless Room Blocking with Cvent Passkey
Stage: Booking & Pre-Stay
Managing group blocks manually is messy, especially with last-minute changes or inventory fluctuations. Instead,m work collaboratively with planners to build custom booking sites, track pickup in real time, and automate reminders to attendees with Cvent Passkey.
Why it matters: You avoid overbooking, planners stay in control, and guests get a friction-free booking experience.
Example:Christian Brothers Automotive Corporation and Marriott Marquis Houston used Cvent Passkey to manage over 167,000 room nights. This meant fewer phone calls, faster pickup, and smoother coordination with citywide partners. They saved 6,300+ hours. According to Katy Baronitis, Events Manager:
“Our attendees no longer have to send separate email requests or call in and can instead make their reservations with ease. The privacy factor for credit cards and sharing that information – and the ability to know that it's in a trusted database – is huge.”
Automation is the future
Managing a portfolio of hotels about delivering consistent, high-quality experiences across properties without drowning your teams in manual work.
From smarter room blocks to energy-efficient operations, automation takes the heavy lifting off your plate and helps every touchpoint of the hotel customer journey feel seamless. It saves time, cuts waste, and gives your staff the bandwidth to focus on what they do best: taking care of people.
