| | 8 HOSPITALITY BUSINESS REVIEWJULY - AUGUST 2025IN MY OPINIONHOSPITALITY INTHE DIGITAL AGEBy Anna Fenten, Marketing Director, SearcysForging strong relationships with customers is more important than ever before, and the hospitality industry is no exception. According to new research by one of the leading restaurant management platforms, SevenRooms, 46 percent of UK consumers are focusing more on the quality, rather than the quantity, of their dining experiences due to economic pressures. With the arrival of the digital revolution in restaurants and events spaces, however, there is an invaluable opportunity for us to provide our guests with hyper-personalised, memorable experiences. Restaurants that can provide meaningful, stand-out service through tailored offerings will undoubtedly win when it comes to retaining guests and securing repeat business in this new age. Improving Guest Experiences With Data Making use of guest management platforms that enable the ownership and capture of data is vital in making the guest experience more memorable for guests. Everything from preferred dishes, previous experiences, table seating requests, allergies, and average spend can be noted and leveraged by both front and back-of-house staff upon each visit. Having this important knowledge can help staff proactively shape their experience based on what they know, rather than guesswork. For a guest, too, feeling welcomed and recognised can go a long way to making a dining experience feel special ­ it's a great feeling for a waiter to remember your name or your favourite cocktail, for example. In fact, according to a recent data report from SevenRooms, consumers are so keen to have staff adapt their experience to their preferences that almost 1 in 5 will book direct for that specific reason. What's more, almost two-thirds (61 percent) will give their contact information to a restaurant if it guarantees them a more personalised guest experience during their visit.Sharing notes across multiple restaurant locations is crucial too - should a repeat customer with a specific seating preference visit one of our other locations, the staff there should be empowered to maintain the level of experience they would have become accustomed to. Considering that it's up to seven times more expensive to gain a new customer than to retain an existing one, the importance of repeat visits for a successful long-term strategy cannot be overstated. Crucially, the best technologies work seamlessly behind the scenes to flag up the right data, at the right time, to the right person, without staff having to lift a finger. This data can take many forms - from custom auto-tags that surface up data crucial to the guest experience, to other important insights like allergies and dining preferences, all stored within a guest's profile. With a 360-degree view of each diner, we can curate experiences that inspire loyalty and drive revenue. And consumers, too, are certainly happy to impart relevant information: 37 percent will share personal data with a venue if it's used to create tailored experiences for them.UK's oldest events caterer and hospitality company, Searcys, joined forces with SevenRooms during COVID-19, migrating its entire restaurant estate to help them Anna Fenten
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