The best practices for campsites to make the guest’s stay easier

“Perfecting the guest experience” means facilitating administrative procedures, providing information at the right time and offering a service or recommendation when the guest needs it. By using a platform to manage guest data and send cross-channel messages such as Tipiz, these campsites facilitate the guest journey and interact with each holidaymaker at key stages of their stay.

⓺ great practices for outdoor hospitality businesses that will transform the guest experience:

PRACTICE ➊: FACILITATING THE GUEST’S ARRIVAL

The guest experience starts well before their stay. Email remains the favourite communication channel for delivering information to guests about preparations before their arrival..

❯ With anopening rate of 85%, the Camping Lou Broustaricq has well integrated the pre-stay email into the guest journey by inviting holidaymakers to check-in a few days before their arrival date. This process includes validating the holidaymakers’s details and paying the deposit online, which speeds up arrival.

❯ The click rate on the forms within these emails is between 50 to 70%,, which shows a clear client demand to deal with administrative procedures before they travel. On the day of arrival, travellers are automatically sent an SMS to inform them that their mobile home is ready to receive them and then staff meet them later to make sure they’ve settled in well.

❯ Similarly, the Landrezac Plage campsite collects the number plates of its clients before their stay, which makes the flow of holidaymakers’ arrivals more fluid:on the day that they arrive, the entrance barrier detects the vehicle and opens automatically to allow guests to have direct access to their mobile home..

PRACTICE ➋: SAVING TIME FOR CAMPSITE STAFF

Transferring administrative formalities online is extremely advantageous, both to create a more fluid journey for the holidaymakers and to facilitate the daily life of the working staff. By making these procedures less time-consuming, it allows staff to focus more on guest relations.

❯ The Campings Paradis chose Tipiz to offer their clients online check-in to make their arrival more fluid and to reduce waiting times at reception by having the client fill in all the information the campsite needs before their stay. The payment for the deposit is also dematerialised, which saves time for both parties.

❯ Thanks to the Messaging Hub, the Campings Paradis teams can also manage all client requests and messages sent via email, SMS, Facebook Messenger or via the in-app chat 'Les Vacances Camping Paradis' developed by LoungeUp. Advanced message management features (conversation status, pre-written messages, scheduled messages, translation tools, etc.) allow teams to avoid missing any guest request and to easily manage multiple communication channels, all whilst being extremely responsive!

❯ The campings-villages Homair have set up a digital inventory with a form that clients can fill in directly on their mobile. When completed, the form is sent directly to the reception and is processed more quickly. Moreover, if a holidaymaker encounters a technical problem, they can inform maintenance from their mobile phone with a photo to support their message, thus avoiding unnecessary round trips and decreasing incident resolution times.

❯ As for the exit inventory on departure, holidaymakers make an appointment directly in the app, which synchronises with the team’s schedule and makes it easy to reserve an available slot. Tipiz also allows you to manage schedules by zone, so that you can redirect campers to the right schedule according to their location.

❯ Integrations between the Tipiz platform and partner systems such as Dmbook Pro, RoomChecking and Minut’Pass enable internal processes to be optimised. For example, technical problems can be directly reported to maintenance or cleaning teams, renting equipment can be allocated according to the stock of each item, and appointments can be made according to the schedule of each team. Thanks to the integration of these solutions, client requests are processed more quickly and guest satisfaction increases significantly.

PRACTICE ➌: BE MORE AVAILABLE FOR GUESTS

Facilitating contact with holidaymakers increases their satisfaction considerably because they feel more valued and closer to their campsite, and are therefore more likely to return.

Playa Montroig Camping Resort has seen its reception satisfaction index increase by 8 points simply by implementing LoungeUp’s mobile and web guest portal. 82% of the usage is on the mobile version of the portal as a large proportion of holidaymakers (40%) have downloaded the application to access services and recommendations, even those that are found outside of the campsite. Campers are particularly fond of the chat which allows them to have direct contact with the reception.

“As the client is better informed, they visit the reception desk less, which leaves more time for the teams to improve the management of reservations, incidents and the experience” – Alejandro Giménez, General Manager Playa Montroig Camping Resort

PRACTICE ➍: RECOMMEND TOURIST ACTIVITIES

Offering holidaymakers a map highlighting the tourist points around the campsite makes it easy for customers to plan their holidays.

❯ This is a feature which camping Port Pothuau makes brilliant use of, giving campers access to a detailed programme of trips, hikes, dives, markets and restaurants so that travellers have the best stay possible. They have in their pocket all the information they need to liven up their days with visits to provincial towns, craft workshops, and museums, or simply with an outing to the various leisure parks near the campsite.

❯ Since there is no limit in the number of categories or recommendations you can add to the app, campsites are free to offer as many tourist activities as they want so that they can provide a real tourist guide for their clients! ! The multilingual feature allows this content to be provided to foreign holidaymakers to help them have the best holiday possible. The feedback from campers is very positive, they are delighted to have recommendations from their campsite just a click away. Who better to know what to do in the area than their host?

PRACTICE ➎: LIVEN UP THE GUEST’S STAY

Keeping a schedule of activities and events up to date is a rather tedious job. The advantage of offering a digital version is not only in the ability to easily update it and limit the number of reprints, but also in the efficient distribution to all guests.

❯ Camping du Bois Fleuri uses this feature to look up in advance the list of participants at each event and notify them all easily if there’s a time or location change.

❯ In addition to the entertainment programme, the push message functions are useful to remind holidaymakers of what’s going on at the campsite: highlights of the week, evening events, programme changes, daily specials in the restaurant, lost property, etc.

❯ The Domaine La Yole Wine Resort, a forerunner in its use of the Tipiz customer portal, uses these functions in a very advanced way and sets record utilisation rates of its guest portal season after season. Holidaymakers don’t need to go and look for the information they are interested in, they are aware of what is happening on the campsite in real time.

❯ Campings Paradis have their own entertainment programme (such as the Fiesta Boom Boom) but also have individual entertainment at each campsite. Holidaymakers sign up for the activities and entertainment they are interested in so that they receive messages and push notifications for the event. They are also able to organise activities themselves and to propose them to other campers to reinforce the campsite’s conviviality.

❯ The “Les Vacances Camping Paradis” guest portal also allows you to liven up your stay on your smartphone. The chat allows you to get in touch with other campers! The guest portal allows holidaymakers to create a real social link with both the campsite staff and other holidaymakers. The application also allows the organisation of quizzes, announcements of parties, concerts and other events on the campsite.

❯ The calendar of events and the various interaction features appeal to both holidaymakers and campsites , as Jordane Vernerie, Communications Manager of Villages & Spa Les Méditerranées campsites testifies:

"The application is intuitive and very easy to use. We have complete control over the content and can modify it as much as we need in real time, which is handy for updating our events programmes! If you need help, the customer support is very reactive and efficient. This is a tool that allows us to distinguish ourselves from our competitors by offering an interactive experience to holidaymakers who use it on a daily basis during their stay. " - Jordane Vernerie, Head of Communications at Campings Villages & Spa Les Méditerranées

PRACTICE ➏: COMMUNICATE EFFICIENTLY

❯ To maximise the use of the application, Les Campings Villages & Spa Les Méditerranées take advantage of the pre-stay period to communicate to holidaymakers the existence of its mobile guest portal. Thus, guests already know how to use the app when they arrive on site. Les Méditerranées have lined up a series of automatic emails highlighting the different sections of the application which are sent a few days before the campers’ arrival. The result? Very high download rates with an application adopted by a large majority of tourists.

❯ Les Méditerranées  have also programmed a series of automatic notifications to intelligently inform holidaymakers of important information regarding their stay. Whether it’s the satisfaction questionnaire to detect problems before departure, the programme of activities taking place at the campsite or the check-out just before the end of the stay, these notifications are programmed according to the booking dates of each guest.

❯ Finally, another way of communicating the campsite’s activities and services is to use screens that continuously display the week’s programme, the weather forecast, photos of yesterday evening’s activities or of the campsite’s services and partners. The projected information comes from the customer portal and so there is no need to update it, it’s automatic!

For more information, visit Tipiz.