Op-Ed: Is going back to basics the key to moving forward in 2025?
SevenRoom's Paul Hadida on the importance of good old-fashioned hospitality
The hospitality industry innovated and adapted throughout 2024 as economic pressures persisted, consumer habits evolved and new opportunities and challenges arose. While hospitality struggles made headlines, many venues also thrived – particularly during the critical peak season.
Based on millions of reservations at thousands of venues in Australia, SevenRooms data showed that monthly reservations increased by 9 percent and covers-per-venue increased by 27 percent from October to December.
With a new year now upon us, operators are devising strategies to maintain that momentum or generate more of it. Yet, the key to moving forward might be going back first. Back, that is, to basics.
For operators, success in 2025 will not come from reinventing the wheel or taking major risks – particularly as economic pressures persist and a federal election looms. Instead, the key to success is focusing on the principle of hospitality and the pillars that underpin it.
The principles of hospitality
The principle of hospitality is simple: ‘the act of being friendly and welcoming to guests and visitors’ or the ‘food, drink, entertainment, that an organisation provides for guests’. With the last five years causing uncertainty and challenges, it won’t be plain sailing by any means in 2025. However, if operators focus on doing the basics well, they’ll be well-positioned to generate sustainable long-term success.
This includes solving why a guest visits a venue in the first place, ensuring that their guests’ experience is frictionless and memorable, and understanding how to transform a one-time visitor into a loyal guest.
Be their ‘third place’
While it’s easy to get caught up in the excitement of thinking big and bold, venues should hone in on two crucial questions to begin. Why do guests visit a venue? And how can a venue provide more of that?
In recent years, consumer habits, expectations and routines in Australia have shifted due to fluctuating social, economic and technological environments. Today, Aussies are looking for their ‘third place’: ‘somewhere a person spends time that is not their home or their work’.
To be their third place, they’re looking for convenience, personalisation and value, from brands they trust, in environments they feel comfortable in. And when they’re happy with the hospitality, communication and meal or drink experience, they’re more than just happy customers – who are willing to pay more – but brand ambassadors. That’s hospitality.
Elevating experiences
It’s easy for venues to think that technology inhibits meaningful relationships and human hospitality. However, if an operator can automate as many mundane, repetitive processes as possible, it enhances the guest experience and enables the operator to spend more time with their guests. When an operator can streamline their backend processes such as reservations, table waitlist management, orders and payments, it removes friction from these critical touch points. They leave thinking of the food and the experience, not the processes.
Think of reservations, for example. Rather than viewing it as a process, venues should treat it as an opportunity to make a great first impression. Including options for guests to upgrade their experience, like pre-purchasing a bottle of wine, can turn a meal into an ‘occasion’ while driving revenue. Meanwhile, automatically showcasing other availability if their first choice time or venue is booked reduces the risk of churn, and shows a venue’s commitment to getting them through the door.
With insights gathered from the booking, staff can then tailor their in-person approach accordingly. Thanking a guest for returning, welcoming them for their first visit, wishing them a happy birthday, or even something more personalised based on their previous visit.
What’s more, with staff unburdened from the need to answer as many phone calls or manually record reservations, they can be more present for the guests already seated. When a venue ensures that every guest interaction is thoughtful, from a warm greeting at the door to attentive service throughout their stay, it boosts their likelihood of returning. It doesn’t end when the bill is settled, though.
From acquisition to retention and revenue
According to SevenRooms research, the average repeat visit rate for restaurants is 21 percent, and there are many opportunities for venues to improve this number – especially if operators don’t view the bill as the end of a transaction, but the start of the journey to retain them. People want to feel like they’re getting value by sticking with venues, and research shows that 83 percent of Australian restaurants offer loyalty schemes as an incentive. However, loyalty programs aren’t the only way to turn them from a one-off diner into a repeat regular.
Capturing guest data to better understand their guests’ preferences and habits is crucial. Then, through automated marketing – which has significantly higher open and click-through rates than one-size-fits-all email blasts – a venue can target a guest with an offer based on a previous order, an incentive to book for their upcoming birthday or anniversary, or early access to an exclusive event or new menu. This level of personalised follow-up, to an already enhanced experience on the previous visit, will set the best venues apart in 2025.
We’re standing on the threshold of a golden age of hospitality; where technology-empowered venues can focus once and for all, entirely on the guest, because so much of the ‘busy’ is automated and optimised. If from the point of reservation to the post-visit follow-up, a venue can prioritise convenience, personalisation and experience, their guests will treat them as their third place.
By Paul Hadida, General Manager, APAC at SevenRooms, a data-driven guest experience and retention platform for the hospitality industry