The boutique hotel market is booming, driven by the increasing guest demand for unique and personalised experiences. But if you’re a hotelier in the rising boutique hotel niche, how can you stay competitive and maximise your share of the market?
The global boutique hotel market is expected to be worth $40.26 billion by 2030, growing by 7.1% every year between 2024 and 2030. Industry experts put this impressive growth rate down to the increasing appeal of tailored experiences, with travellers looking beyond what they consider to be ‘conventional’ hotel stays.
More and more, travellers are drawn towards independent and boutique hotels that can offer a distinctive experience. Research by ibis shows that 58% of Gen X and Millennials prioritise experiences over material things, and this is significantly shaping their travel decisions.
Technology has been helping boutique hotels thrive and reach new audiences. By working with a flexible property management system (PMS) such as SIHOT.PMS, boutique hotels can make their operations more efficient, and tap into helpful functionalities to elevate personalisation opportunities. But every PMS is different. So what features should boutique hoteliers be looking for in a PMS?
Managing customer relationships
Guest experience is everything in the hospitality industry, and it’s a particularly important part of the boutique hotel niche. Ensuring your PMS has a customer relationship management (CRM) element will enable you to create guest profiles and capture preferences, which can in turn be used for creating personalised experiences. Our SIHOT.CRM module also includes market segmentation functions, plus reporting and analysis to give you a deeper understanding of your customers.
Help setting competitive rates
With fewer staff than larger hotels, maximising employee time in boutique hotels matters even more. Choosing a PMS that automates rates depending on fluctuating occupancy saves hours of staff time, and improves revenue opportunities. For example, SIHOT.YIELD|EXPRESS enables hoteliers to define which rate level is applied for different occupancy percentages, as well as for different seasons and times of the year.
Communication opportunities
Staying in touch with guests before and after their stay is a critical area of work for boutique hotels. Before their stay, you need to communicate key information about their arrival and forthcoming stay. Afterwards, staying in touch is a way to invite feedback and share new offers – which can be personalised if integrated with a CRM too. Automating this process is efficient for both hotel employees and guests. The SIHOT module for this is SIHOT.PRE- & POST-STAY, and it can also be used for upselling, by inviting guests to make restaurant reservations or book activities in advance.
Training and support
Boutique hotels need a PMS to be intuitive and easy-to-use, so all staff can be up and running on it quickly. You’ll also want to know support is available from your tech provider, whether it’s to troubleshoot issues or to help you get the most out of the system you choose. SIHOT.eLearning has short learning videos to help staff learn specific aspects of the system quickly, plus more in-depth video tutorials. The SIHOT support team is also available 24/7.
Customisation options
A key aspect of selecting a PMS for a boutique hotel is flexibility to adapt it to your individual property needs. This means being able to add on more functionalities that will bring you extra benefits, and the opportunity to integrate and connect with third party technology you may use. SIHOT enables all of this, with additional modules that include an app for guests (SIHOT.GO!) and ways to manage cancellations and no-show charges (SIHOT.RULES), plus integrations with hundreds of third party systems.
SIHOT has a range of solutions ideal to meet boutique hotel needs. With a presence in key regions across Europe too, we also understand local regulations and requirements. Contact us to find out more.