Your Guest Journey Is Wrong: Here's the 5-Step Fix from Elon Musk

Love him or question him, there's no denying that Elon Musk is one of the most disruptive figures of our time. While his public persona often sparks debate, if you separate the man from the method, you discover a compelling framework for innovation. This framework is a universal logic for deconstructing any process and rebuilding it to be dramatically better.

Elon Musk's approach to any project is about relentlessly questioning the status quo and having the courage to tear things down to their essential components. It's a mindset ideally suited for the hotel industry—an industry rich with tradition but ripe for transformation.

In this post, I will focus purely on the power of his five-step algorithm (question requirements, remove parts, simplify & optimize, accelerate cycles, and automate) and apply this exact process to the backbone of your business: the hotel guest journey. The goal is to move beyond minor tweaks and find transformative improvements that not only elevate guest satisfaction to new heights but also drive significant gains in efficiency and, ultimately, profitability. Let's break down how to apply this to the five stages of the guest journey.

1. Attract: Getting on the Guest's Radar

This stage is about marketing and first impressions. It's often bloated with legacy strategies and assumptions.

• Question Requirements: Do you really need to be on every social media platform? Do you need to pay high commissions to every Online Travel Agency (OTA)? The fundamental requirement is to reach your ideal guest profile where they are actively looking. Question the assumption that more channels are always better.

• Remove Parts: Analyze your marketing channels. If a specific OTA consistently brings low-margin, high-complaint guests, have the courage to remove your listing. If you're spending hours creating content for a social platform that generates zero bookings, delete that effort.

• Simplify & Optimize: Instead of a dozen complex promotions, create one or two simple, compelling offers for direct bookers. Focus your efforts on the 2-3 channels that deliver the highest return on investment. Simplify your brand message to its absolute core.

• Accelerate Cycles: Instead of running a three-month marketing campaign to see what works, run one-week A/B testing sprints on your ad copy, images, and offers. Get feedback from data fast so you can iterate quickly.

• Automate: Use software to automate social media posting on your core channels. Implement automated bidding strategies for your most effective digital ads.

2. Capture: Securing the Booking

This is the booking process itself—a common point of failure where friction kills conversions.

• Question Requirements: What information is absolutely essential to secure a booking? A name, an email, and a valid payment method. Do you need their home address, phone number, and guest title (Mr./Mrs.) right now? No. Question every single field on your booking form.

• Remove Parts: Delete every non-essential form field. A guest's journey from selecting a room to confirmation should be brutally efficient. Remove pop-ups, unnecessary clicks, and confusing rate options. The goal is to eliminate anything that causes hesitation.

• Simplify & Optimize: Aim for a single-page checkout. Make the "Book Now" button the most prominent, obvious element on your website. Ensure your booking engine is lightning-fast, especially on mobile.

• Accelerate Cycles: Time how long it takes an average user to book a room on your site. If it's more than 90 seconds, it's too long. "If the timeline is long, it is wrong." Shorten the path from landing page to "Thank You for Booking."

• Automate: Use an AI-powered chatbot to instantly answer common questions that might stop a user from booking. Automate "abandoned cart" emails to recapture guests who drop off during the process.

3. Prepare: The Pre-Arrival Experience

This crucial period between booking and arrival sets the tone for the entire stay.

• Question Requirements: What does the guest truly need to know before they arrive? Directions, check-in time, and maybe an opportunity to enhance their stay. Do they need a five-page PDF of hotel policies? No.

• Remove Parts: Eliminate the long, generic, text-heavy confirmation email. Stop sending multiple, uncoordinated messages from different departments (e.g., spa, restaurant).

• Simplify & Optimize: Replace the dense email with a simple, scannable message (or even an SMS) with clear links for "Directions," "Upgrade Your Stay," or "Local Tips." Offer a simple mobile pre-check-in to get formalities out of the way.

• Accelerate Cycles: How quickly can you confirm a guest's request for an early check-in or a dinner reservation? The learning cycle here is about response time. Aim for near-instant confirmations, not "we'll get back to you in 24 hours."

• Automate: Fully automate the pre-arrival communication flow based on the number of days before arrival. Use your property management system (PMS) to automatically send offers for paid room upgrades when higher categories are available.

Continue to read about how to fix stages 4 and 5 here: https://www.demandcalendar.com/blog/your-guest-journey-is-wrong-heres-the-5-step-fix-from-elon-musk