Improving the customer experience means generating satisfaction, positive reviews and, ultimately, recommendations that enhance your hotel's brand image and services. The aim: to retain your existing clientele and, above all, attract new ones.
A real challenge for your business, breakfast, when poorly optimized, will also be poorly perceived by your customers. Yet breakfast is the last experience your customers have before they leave. It is one of the key factors influencing their level of satisfaction when it comes to judging the quality of services provided during their stay. So it's vital not to underestimate this service.
An important breakfast, but one that sometimes attracts few hotel guests
Today, there's a discrepancy between the importance given to breakfast by travelers when they're at home and the Breakfast Capture Rate in hotels (TCpdj). The latter fluctuates between 60% and 80%*, depending on overnight stays and hotel type, and therefore seems rather low.
There are several reasons for this. They include price and quality variables.
The price of breakfast depends greatly on the type of overnight stay and the range of services required. However, on stays that are sometimes very short and therefore less expensive, breakfast can significantly increase the cost of the stay.
The quality of your breakfast can be analyzed and optimized in a variety of ways to achieve a balance with the price you're charging! Don't forget that your customers will want to see reasonable value for money before they are tempted by your offer..
The discrepancy between the hotel capture rate and the importance of breakfast can therefore be explained by :
- on the one hand, hoteliers sometimes see this service as a constraint, and therefore don't give it the attention it deserves;
- on the other hand, travelers who expect special product quality at a price commensurate with the level of service offered.
What your customers look for at breakfast
The most important service, the last memory of their stay, the service that reflects the hotel's image... That's how guests talk about breakfast during their stay. As a result, the quality and experience of breakfast are of paramount importance to your hotel and its brand image.
Customers will naturally look for products on your breakfast buffet that match their expectations.. For example, an international clientele will prefer a hot and cold buffet featuring savory products, while a French clientele will prefer a "continental" breakfast with viennoiseries.
But customers' choice criteria for breakfast can also be linked to
- allergies,
- preferences (organic, local, homemade)
- or dietary choices (vegetarian, vegan...).
These criteria can even be real deciding factors when it comes to travel. They must therefore be anticipated to enable you to offer the same quality of breakfast as your hotel's other services.
However, if your buffet offers an experience that promises to be pleasurable for your customer, thanks to an assortment of quality food and beverages, your customer still needs to have access to all the food and beverages on offer. the information you need to make your choice in the best possible conditions. What could be more frustrating than standing in front of a buffet and not knowing what it's made of?
Knowing what information you need to give your customers to make their choices is as essential as the product selection itself. By displaying clear information on your breakfast buffet, you can communicate transparently about your product range and enhance the choice you offer.
Make it easier for your customers to choose with clear information
Don't hesitate to offer your customers all the useful and important information concerning the products you offer, which go from the essentials:
- product name,
- composition,
- origin/provenance
Up to more precise information :
- translations if you have an international clientele,
- allergens,
- calories,
- nutritional values,
- preparation or cooking methods...
Customers tend to think that the hotel catering offer is boring, uninspired and often not renewed. So don't hesitate to highlight products that differentiate you from your competitors ! The added value of your buffet is only important if your customers are informed of your efforts in terms of choice proposals. Clearly indicate which of your products are new, vegan, local, homemade, organic...
Relevant labelling to guide your customer's choice. In this way, he or she can avoid making a mistake and feeling the dissatisfaction and disappointment of having chosen a dish that didn't correspond to his or her expectations, or on the contrary, of not having tasted a product for lack of information.
Your customer's experience in the establishment is all the better for it, as they feel they've taken full advantage of the possibilities offered during breakfast! Your breakfast is therefore a driver of satisfaction and a successful customer experience.
Intercontinental Beijing breakfast buffetCase history: InterContinental® Beijing
Since spring 2018, more than 300 special buffet labels in an ultra-refined matte black finish were created and printed for the breakfast buffet at the InterContinental Beijing hotel.
Each label clearly indicates the food category, allergens (represented by small pictograms) and also the names of the dishes in Chinese/English, to satisfy both local and international customers. The clarity of this information enhances the customer experience in the hotel.
Read the use case