Today’s travelers are no longer content with one-size-fits-all service. They seek authentic, personalized experiences tailored to their individual preferences—and are willing to pay for them. In fact, a 2024 study of nearly 1,800 hotel guests found that 61% were willing to spend more for a custom-tailored stay. For hoteliers, this presents both a challenge and an opportunity: How can hotels consistently deliver high-touch, individualized service at scale?

The answer lies in leveraging a modern, flexible hotel Property Management System (PMS) as the central hub for guest data and personalization. With the right technology in place, hotels can consolidate guest data, automate key touchpoints, and curate a seamless journey that feels both personal and effortless.

1. Centralizing Guest Data for Proactive Personalization

The foundation of personalized hospitality starts with data. A robust PMS should capture and surface critical information (such as loyalty status, room preferences, prior service requests, special occasions, and even travel origin advisories) at every guest touchpoint. Equipping front desk and service staff with this information enables them to greet guests by name and anticipate their needs from the moment they arrive.

Making this data easily accessible within the PMS interface helps ensure consistency across departments and shifts. The more context your team has, the more meaningful and proactive the service can be.

2. Personalizing the Check-In and Check-Out Experience

A personalized stay begins with the very first touchpoint (check-in) and continues through the final interaction at check-out. A modern PMS should support a range of check-in options tailored to each guest’s preferences, whether through mobile check-in, self-service kiosks, or traditional staff-assisted service. Mobile and kiosk-based check-ins offer speed and convenience while still enabling personalized experiences, such as tailored room upgrades, amenity selections, and monetized early check-in or late check-out options. For guests who prefer a more personal approach, a cloud-based PMS that runs on a tablet allows staff to meet guests anywhere on property, access real-time guest profiles, and deliver thoughtful, bespoke service on the spot.

3. PMS Should Use Automation to Free Staff for Genuine Guest Engagement

Hospitality is about serving guests, not filling out paperwork. A modern PMS should leverage automation to eliminate the burden of manual, time-intensive tasks, allowing staff to be present with guests rather than being tied to back-office systems. Instead of being limited to transactional interactions, team members can focus on building genuine connections, anticipating needs, and delivering thoughtful, personalized service that elevates the entire guest experience.

4. Personalized Mobile Upselling with Dynamic Pricing

Mobile upselling represents a powerful opportunity to deliver relevant offers in real-time. With PMS-integrated upsell platforms, hotels can present dynamic, personalized upgrade options directly to guests’ mobile devices, whether with the online check-in or during the stay.

By leveraging guest data and demand-based pricing algorithms, hotels can offer upsell choices that are both attractive to guests and maximise revenue. For example, a guest with a history of booking high-floor rooms might receive a personalized offer to upgrade to a suite with a view, priced in real time based on availability and booking behavior. This approach not only enhances the guest experience through relevant and timely offers but also creates new revenue opportunities with minimal operational effort.

5. Leveraging Post-Stay Insights to Refine Personalization

The guest journey doesn’t end at checkout. Post-stay data provides a rich source of insights for refining your personalization strategy. Feedback, engagement metrics, and purchase behavior can inform future marketing campaigns and service enhancements.

By integrating their hotel PMS with modern CRM and reputation management platforms, hoteliers can identify which personalized tactics are most effective, which channels guests prefer, and where service delivery gaps exist. These insights enable continuous improvement and a more targeted approach to future guest interactions.

6. Prioritizing Seamless Technology Integration

Genuine personalization depends on seamless technology working in the background. When systems don’t connect well, it can disrupt the guest experience. That’s why it’s essential to choose a PMS with open APIs, strong integrations, and a collaborative vendor network.

These integrations allow guest data to flow freely across systems, creating a unified view of each traveler’s preferences, behaviors, and history. With connected systems, your hotel can orchestrate personalized experiences across every touchpoint, from marketing to on-property service to post-stay follow-up. By investing in a PMS built for interoperability, hoteliers can ensure that their personalization efforts remain flexible, future-proof, and deeply aligned with the guest journey.

Final Thoughts

Personalization is no longer a luxury; it’s a guest expectation and a key driver of loyalty and revenue. By leveraging a mobile, cloud-based PMS as the backbone of your personalization strategy, your hotel can meet rising expectations while streamlining operations and uncovering new sources of value.

With the right technology and strategy in place, personalization becomes less of a challenge and more of a competitive advantage.

About Stayntouch

Stayntouch delivers a full-featured and Best-in-Class cloud property management system (PMS) with a comprehensive library of over 1,200 best-in-class integrations. Our cloud-native PMS empowers hotels to drive revenue, reduce costs, enhance service, and captivate their guests. Stayntouch’s newly expanded PMS platform, Stayntouch 2.0, further simplifies hotel operations, allowing hotels to streamline and accelerate direct bookings, process payments easily, and simplify integrations – offering an even more enhanced guest experience. Stayntouch is supported by a team of professionals with deep roots in the hospitality industry and is a trusted partner to industry-leading management companies including Sage Hospitality, HEI Hotels & Resorts, EOS Hospitality, and Stoney Creek Hotels, innovative independent brands such as Village Hotels, Pod Hotels, and First Hotels, and iconic independent properties such as the TWA Hotel and Zoku Amsterdam. For more information, visit www.stayntouch.com.

Elliott Mest
MFC PR
Stayntouch