What is a digital guest journey? (And why it matters)
The guest experience today doesn’t begin at the front desk - and it certainly doesn’t end at checkout.
Across today’s leading hotels, a quiet transformation has been brewing. Processes that once relied on manual touchpoints, printed forms and late-night, last minute calls are now being reimagined into something faster, convenient, and more human. Thanks to a new era of technology, the shift is powered by digital guest journeys that serve both the guest and the teams behind the front desk.
A digitalised guest journey isn’t just about a tool or an app. It’s a complete paradigm shift, from pre-arrival upsells to in-stay services and post-checkout feedback, all connected by technology that reduces friction and unlocks operational clarity.
- For guests, it means convenience, personalisation and control.
- For staff, it means fewer bottlenecks, less admin work, and more time spent on what matters most: delighting guests
In this blog, we’ll break down what a digital guest journey truly is, why it matters more than ever in 2025, and how forward-thinking hotels are architecting journeys that don’t just function, but delight and scale effectively.
So, what is a digital guest journey?
A true digital guest journey starts from the second they book to long after the guests leave, all managed through an intuitive and natural mix of digital touchpoints. And with this comes a responsibility of adapting your hotel’s service models to work better for everyone, guests and staff alike. When executed right, it removes friction, improves operations and makes service feel effortless.
Two birds, one stone
The best digital guest journeys aren’t loud and obnoxious, it’s quietly delivered and elegantly serves both sides of the equation:
For guests, it’s personal, intuitive and on their terms. No queues, no awkward phone calls and no wondering who to ask for what. Your hotel lives in their hands, and they get what they want on demand.
For staff, its streamlined, visible and manageable. No paper trails, less time spent behind a screen and fewer moments where someone says ‘oops’.
So when both sides work in sync? That’s when the true beauty of digitalisation reveals itself. Guests feel truly looked after. Teams stay ahead. Everyone wins.
This isn't tech for tech's sake
The misconception today is thinking ‘digital’ just means ‘adding tech’. It’s an intentional choice that defines how you want your hotel to feel at every stage and interaction. Whether a guest is ordering in-room dining, asking for an extra pillow or checking out late, it should feel simple, considerate and consistent.
Here's an analogy:
When a guest orders in-room dining through the app, the order gets sent straight to your POS, the kitchen prints the ticket and the chef works his magic, front desk don’t waste precious time relaying the order and the guest maintains full visibility on the progress. That’s what digital is all about, clear expectations, flawless delivery.
Why it really matters?
Let’s rewind back to a difficult point in time… COVID-19. COVID didn’t create the need for digital guest journeys in hotels, it simply exposed what wasn’t working. It showed how reliant hotels were on legacy processes, front desk queues, paper forms and unclear handovers. Since then, guest behaviour hasn’t gone back - and it’s not going to.
Guest habits have shifted... permanently
Today we live in a world where digitalisation spans across every aspect of our lives, we can check-in flights, order food, book a cab and manage banking - all from our phones. Hospitality hasn’t been immune to that shift either.
- 86% of travellers now say they’d pick a hotel with contactless, app-based services over one without. [source: htn]
- Mobile registration, in-room ordering, messaging - these aren’t perks anymore. They’re baseline expectations
And when the experience doesn’t match expectations? It shows. In NPS scores, reviews and return rates.
And the pressure on staff has never been higher
I’m not sure if we’ve ever truly recovered from COVID, since then, hospitality has and continues to take a huge hit on staffing. Teams are operating leaner and everyone has to juggle more with less. So the result? More pressure, more mistakes and consequentially, more dissatisfaction from guests.
But with the right digital guest journey in place;
- Requests are clearly tracked and resolved
- Workflows are automated
- Teams stop relaying information and start delivering real service
This isn’t about replacing people, its about empowering them to focus on what truly matters.
Digital isn't just nice-to-have, it's also profitable
The best part of this is how tangible and measurable it is, with the tight margins and revenue objectives hotels consistently deal with - the impact of a digital journey is clear to see on the balance sheet:
- Hotels reported that using digital tools reduce staff workload by up to 70% [source: rg]
- Web based check-in tools have cut wait times from 15+ minutes to under 2
- Properties that personalise guest flows with digital systems report 10-30% increase in loyalty and NPS
The leaky bucket theory
Most hotels know their entire guest journey - but few know where it’s quietly leaking or worse, have no means to fix it
From missed upsells to broken handovers, hotels lose trust and operational clarity in the moments that don’t look significant. Not because they don’t care - but because their systems are fragmented. Let’s take a look at the most common value leaks, and how a digital guest journey turns them back into your advantage.
The pre-arrival silence
Hotels often send out one polished confirmation email. Maybe a welcome note. Then… silence.
❌ Lost Value: no upsells, no early prep, no guest insights, no personalisation - just a name in the arrivals list
✅ Digital Journey: branded mobile registration, guest preference captured straight to the PMS, early personalised upsell offers, warm and familiar welcome on arrival
Imagine your front of house clocking in their shift, the morning rush of arrivals already registered and checked in, multiple upsells confirmed and special requests pre-tagged and prepared.
That's time saved. Revenue gained. And service elevated.
The in-stay disconnect
This is where constant friction is truly visible. Guests calling to chase an order. Staff radios going off during service. A extra pillow request. A handover missed. These aren’t just delays, they’re signals that no one’s really in control.
❌ Lost Value: no audit trails, fragmented departments, slower service, lower satisfaction
✅ Digital Journey: mobile ordering, time stamped requests, internal routing with real-time syncing to PMS
Post-checkout goodbyes. Forever.
Checkout shouldn’t be the end of the road. But for most hotels, it’s a full stop.
No structured feedback, no behaviour tracking, no personal follow-up. Just a generic ‘thank you’ and saying your last goodbyes.
❌ Lost Value: no repeat conversion, no feedback loop, loyalty left to chance
✅ Digital Journey: smart review prompts, loyalty incentives, information permanently synced and logged into the PMS, automated flows
The guest who raved about the chicken noodle soup and ordered it 5 times in their stay - did anyone make note of that? Will you remember next time? Or is it buried in a chat box you’ll never reopen?
Loyalty isn’t built in marketing. It’s built in moments - and stored in systems that remind you the next time you see them.
How to start building your own digital guest journey
Knowing the gaps is one thing. Closing them is something entirely different. Unfortunately, the hospitality industry is plagued with countless point solutions which require you to duct tape five digital tools together - one for check-in, one for ordering, another for messaging. But that’s not a guest journey, it’s a tech stack headache that will set your team back to square one.
Hotel Manager, the truly end to end platform to launch your digital guest experience
Hotel manager was created not as a point solution, but as the digital infrastructure that powers your digital guest journey - built specifically for hotels that care about both their people and their product.
We’ve helped hundreds of hotels transform their guest journey and connect their pre-arrival through to post-checkout into one, beautifully branded interface. And crucially: it works just as well for your guests as it does for your teams.
- Guests can digitally register, submit preferences, order, request, message, book and so much more all in one convenient place, their phone.
- Staff see it all in real time - with workflows routed, upsells fulfilled, requests tracked, and preferences stored accurately.
- And for your hotel? Departments streamlined, not siloed off. Whether you’re using Opera Cloud, Simphony, or both - we keep all your data synced and your reports in check.
You don’t have to overhaul everything overnight, many of our partners start with one flow, from mobile order & pay, messaging, or digital registration. But what matters is every layer connects. Our intuitively designed modules sets your hotel up for scale allowing you to roll out beautiful touchpoints in your own time.
But one thing remains certain, the digital guest journey isn’t no longer a nice-to-have, it’s now the standard by which service, satisfaction and loyalty are measured. Hotel Manager delivers that journey in full: from check-in through to in-room dining, promotions and more - all through one fully custom branded, no-download web app that feels premium and natural.
