Introduction
Notifications play a pivotal role in the functionality of any digital concierge app, which is why they are the most sensitive area of all digital concierge apps; notifications are therefore extremely powerful in that they can be displayed outside of the app experience, often on guests’ lock screens, which provides hotels with direct communication but also comes with a significant burden of responsibility.
Guests do not want their hotel app treated like a spam channel; they want notifications that are useful, timely, and respectful. This is the key to developing a robust notification strategy.
A well-defined notification strategy for a guest experience app for hotels should answer five key questions:
- What moment does this notification support for the guest?
- Is the notification operational, informational, or promotional?
- Which system triggered the notification (e.g., PMS, booking engine, housekeeping, POS, payment provider, etc.)?
- Where does the guest land upon tapping the notification?
- How do we measure the success of this notification in supporting the guest?
The technical side of the notification strategy involves utilizing tools, such as Firebase Cloud Messaging, to manage multi-platform delivery of notifications. According to Firebase, FCM is a cross-platform messaging solution that enables sending both notification and data messages. Targeting either a device or a group of devices. Supporting client-side handling of the messages.
It would also be a good idea for technical teams to review Apple’s notification guidelines, which encourage the development of useful notifications that help provide users with the actions necessary to complete common actions without having to open the app unnecessarily.
Why the Use of Notifications is Important for Hotel Apps
Having a guest experience app at a hotel doesn’t just involve digital check-in, ordering room service, or having a pretty mobile interface. Sometimes, the biggest value inside of a guest experience app is actually the smallest thing: a timely notification to inform the guest of what to do next.
A good hotel app notification can answer the guest’s question before they contact the front desk. For example, providing the guest with a notification that their room is ready. Or providing the guest with directions to the proper entrance. Or confirming that they are receiving extra towels. Or reminding the guest of quiet hours without causing friction.
On the other hand, an example of a bad notification causes an interruption (e.g., sending the same information again). Bad notifications are typically sent at times that are less than ideal (offers at the wrong time).
For hotel founders, operators, and C-level executives to invest in hotel app development, the notification strategy should be treated as a product decision versus something to be considered after the fact as part of marketing efforts. Notifications are located at the crossroads of guest experience, operational workflow, personalization, and building trust.
At Appricotsoft, we want our software to have a practical, useful purpose and be proud to ship each time we release updates. In hospitality, we don’t design notifications to be sent because the technology allows us to do so – we create the design of notifications to reduce confusion, increase service completion rates, a nd create an overall smoother journey for your guests.
If you are still mapping where your hotel app should add value, our article on guest journey mapping for a guest experience app for hotels is a useful starting point. That article explains why app features should be connected to real journey moments, not built from a generic wishlist. Appricotsoft’s article also emphasizes measuring app value through outcomes like reduced check-in delays, request fulfillment, and guest satisfaction.
Building a Notification Strategy for Hotel Apps
1. Focus on Guest Journey Versus Just the Message
Before writing notification copy, consider mapping the guest journey. Notifications should be designed to support specific moments in the guest journey, including:
- Before arrival: “Your check-in information is ready.”
- During Arrival: “Your room is ready. Tap here for directions.”
- During stay: “Your room service order is currently being prepared.”
- Evening: “The quiet is set to begin at 10 PM.”
- Post stay: “Your invoice is available.”
Each message should reduce effort, so if a notification does not assist the guest in completing a task, avoiding a problem, or gaining an understanding of what will happen next, do not send it.
This is especially true for hospitality software development companies, as hotel apps interface with the real operations of the hotel. If the app states “Your request is on its way,” then there are housekeeping or service employees who must actually have knowledge of the request, own it, and complete it.
A guest-facing notification without an operational workflow to support it will frustrate guests. Guests assume that the hotel understands they are to receive the service, but there is no communication to the hotel employee that the service was promised to the guest.
2. Group Notifications Based on Purpose
Not all notifications carry the same weight. To effectively manage guest preferences and keep hotel staff from bombarding them with too many messages at once, a hotel app should categorize notifications.
A basic way to organize notifications is as follows:
Transactional Notifications
The transactional notifications are critical and pertain directly to the guest’s reservation. A few examples are: reservation confirmation, check-in instructions and information, payment confirmed, room is prepared, requests submitted to staff and/or guests, and checkout information.
Service Updates
Service Updates provide guests with information about what will happen with a service request they made or what type of service will be available. Some examples of service updates would be: housekeeping update, food being prepared for room service, scheduled maintenance of guest room, scheduled appointment at the spa, assistance with luggage, etc.
Property Information
Property Information will provide guests with various aspects of the property that will enhance their experience while at the hotel. Examples include: pool is closed, hours of operation for the pool, breakfast hours, parking instructions, elevator maintenance, and hours when the hotel is to be quiet.
Recommendations
Recommendations are where the hotel can assist guests with their stay by offering personalized suggestions based on several areas, including stay context, guest preference, and/or timing. Examples of recommendations would be: late checkout, dinner reservations, airport transfer, where to obtain spa service, and what events are happening locally.
Marketing and Loyalty Messages
Marketing and Loyalty Messages promote guests’ ability to book again at the hotel, upgrade, or earn loyalty points, and receive seasonal promotions. Great care should be taken when using these messages, and guests should always be allowed to provide consent.
The various types of notifications must be separated for the benefit of the guests. For example, guests might accept transactional notifications, but be frustrated or turned off by marketing and promotional communications. A good hotel application will provide guests with the option to control how many notifications they receive from the hotel, while still giving guests access to important information regarding their stay.
3. Use Arrival Instructions to Lessen Stress
Arrival is one of the most emotionally charged points of the hotel trip. Guests can be exhausted from travelling; can be late; might have kids to deal with; can have luggage with them; or can be in an unfamiliar city. Notification provides useful help during this emotional moment.
Helpful arrival notifications include:
- Check-in time reminder
- Parking/entrance instructions
- Required document/payment reminder
- Room readiness update
- Digital key availability
- Directions from reception to the room/apartment
- Contact info for late arrival
The key to effective use of notifications is timing. If parking instructions are sent 3 days before arrival, this is too early for the guest. If they are sent when the guest is standing outside the wrong entrance, it is too late.
Combining reservation information with estimated arrival times and preference information creates better notifications. For example: “Your stay is today; tap here for parking, entrance, and check-in instructions.”
Deep link to this notification should go directly to the arrival screen, not the home page of the app.
Utilizing notifications also reduces front desk calls and improves initial perceptions of the property if the property has multiple buildings, multiple entrances, multiple parking areas, or multiple check-in processes. The first few minutes in any hospitality setting express how the guest will feel about the entire stay.
4. Keep Service Notifications Functional and Simple
Service notifications are important when hotels include features in their apps that enable guest requests for room service, housekeeping, maintenance, or concierge services.
Guests expect three key pieces of information:
- That their request has been successfully submitted
- Who will be managing their request
- When their request will be fulfilled
Here is a possible guest request workflow from an app perspective:
- “Your towel request has been successfully received!”
- “The housekeeping team is currently preparing your towel request.”
- “Your towel request has been successfully fulfilled!”
Although this workflow seems straightforward, it requires a great deal of thought put into how these various pieces need to connect through an integrated system between the various hotel systems (i.e., staff dashboards, PMS integration services, POS systems, task management tools, and hotel internal workflows).
The level of integration required for each type of guest service request will determine whether or not your hotel can provide accurate and timely service to its guests through the use of the app. Examples include the following:
- For room service, the app will require POS integration and payment status to complete a room service order.
- For housekeeping requests, the app will require information about which staff member has been assigned to fulfill the request and the response time to fulfill the request (SLA).
- For airport transfers, the app will require coordination with an outside vendor.
- For the late check-out service request, the app will depend on the availability of rooms in the PMS and the number of available rooms.
That’s why a custom mobile app for hotels must include a user experience for guests as well as a service system that ensures that the service delivered to the guest meets the level of expectation of the guest. A polished notification is only as good as its ability to provide reliability in service delivery.
5. Respecting Guests by Understanding Their Environment & Context
The hotel’s notifications must take the physical setting of where the guest resides into consideration. Unlike an e-commerce app or social networking app, hotel app notifications are experienced in the physical location of the guest (sleeping/resting/working/travelling).
It is critical to incorporate quiet hours into a hotel’s notification strategy.
Some examples of this would include:
- Do not send non-urgent, promotional notifications after hours.
- When operational notifications are sent, they should be done quietly (silently).
- The guest should have the option to select their own preferences for how/when they receive notifications.
- Use local time for the hotel.
- The only exceptions should be for urgent safety or critical stay updates.
The definition of quiet hours is not just about noise; it is also about respect. For example, if I receive a notification at 11:30 pm that I can get 25% off spa services, I may feel violated, even if my phone is off; however, if I receive a notification at 11:30 pm about an urgent problem with my building, I would want to know immediately.
Notifications should reflect varying levels of urgency:
- Critical: safety-related notifications, access-denied, issues regarding payment failure regarding stay, urgent operational change.
- Important: Check-in process complete, Guest Request completed, Check reservation status, and Checkout or departure reminders.
- Optional: Upsell/or promote restaurant, event, or offer incentives.
This helps build trust between the hotel and the guest. When guests see that the hotel is being responsible in its communication with the guest, they are more likely to leave their notifications on.
6. Require Deep Links With Every Notification:
Missing a deep link when sending a notification means you missed an opportunity.
When a guest taps on “Your airport transfer details are ready,” they should go directly to the airport transfer screen. If they tap on “Your invoice is available,” they should go directly to the invoice. If they tap on “Breakfast starts in 30 minutes,” they should go directly to breakfast details and not just the homepage of the app.
Deep Links provide a better experience for guests because there will be fewer clicks between the time they try to do something and the time it happens.
They also improve measurement because if you can see that a guest tapped a notification and went directly to the appropriate screen, you can then follow up to see if they completed the next step as well.
Example:
- Notification sent.
- Notification opened.
- Guest arrived at the service request screen.
- Guest confirmed the request.
- Staff completed the request.
- Guest rated the service.
This gives you the full funnel from message to outcome instead of simply measuring open rates.
Firebase has documentation that shows how notification messages (which you can choose to automatically display) are different than data messages (which will be handled by the client app and could have custom behaviour). Their documentation also indicates that a message that has both notification and data payloads will behave differently based on whether the app is currently in the foreground or in the background.
Notification Metrics Hotels Should Track
A notification strategy is only useful if it can be measured. For hotel leaders, the goal is not “more notifications.” The goal is better completion, less confusion, and smoother operations.
Here are the most useful metrics to track.
Delivery Rate
This shows whether notifications are successfully reaching devices. Low delivery may indicate token issues, permission problems, device restrictions, or implementation errors.
Opt-In Rate
This measures how many guests allow notifications. A low opt-in rate may mean the app asks too early, gives no clear value, or has weak onboarding.
A better permission prompt explains the benefit:
“Enable notifications to receive room readiness updates, service request status, and arrival instructions.”
CTR
CTR, or click-through rate, shows how many guests tap a notification. Define it consistently. Some teams calculate taps divided by delivered notifications. Others calculate taps divided by opened or visible notifications.
CTR is useful, but it should not be treated as the final success metric. A guest may tap because the message is useful, confusing, urgent, or unclear.
Deep-Link Success Rate
This measures whether guests land on the correct screen after tapping. If deep-link success is low, guests may be sent to the wrong place, asked to log in unnecessarily, or blocked by poor app state handling.
Request Completion Rate
This is one of the most important hospitality metrics. It measures whether the notification helped the guest complete the intended action.
Examples:
- Arrival instruction viewed.
- Mobile check-in completed.
- Room service order confirmed.
- Housekeeping request submitted.
- Late checkout purchased.
- Invoice downloaded.
Operational Completion Rate
This measures whether the hotel completed what the guest requested.
For example, a guest may complete a towel request in the app, but the operational task may still be delayed. Tracking both guest completion and staff completion helps reveal where the real friction lives.
Time to Completion
This measures how long it takes from notification tap to task completion or service fulfillment.
For example:
- Room-ready notification to mobile key activation.
- Room service confirmation for delivery.
- Maintenance request submission to staff resolution.
- Check out the reminder to complete checkout.
Opt-Out and Mute Rate
If guests disable notifications, the app may be over-communicating or sending irrelevant messages. Track opt-outs by notification category, not just overall.
Complaint or Support Rate
If guests call reception after receiving a notification, the message may be unclear. For example, if many guests receive “Your room is ready” but still call the front desk, the app may not explain where to go or what to do next.
Mistakes to Avoid
Sending Multiple Notifications
Sending guests more than 1 notification does not create added engagement; in fact, studies show that sending more than 1 notification creates additional noise. Therefore, hotels should focus on sending notifications at the right time or for the right reason.
Treating Push Notifications Like Email Campaigns
Push notifications are more intrusive than an email, but still contain marketing messages from your property. Consumers will often respond to promotional messaging via email, but sending a long promotional message via push notification may not be effective when using a lock screen.
Not Getting Consent
Users must understand what they are opting into when receiving push notifications. It is especially important to have consent and transparency when sending a push notification based on reservation data, behavior, or preferences.
Not Considering Staff Workflow
Your staff will only be able to fulfill the promise of an automated notification if your staff can fulfill that operational process, so do not automate the guest notification until you have your operational process in place.
Opening the Wrong Console
When creating notifications, ensure they link to the exact piece of information the guest needs to act on. Deep links are a required component of a top-of-the-line hotel app.
Measuring Only Opens
While tracking opens provides valuable data, it does not provide any relative detail about whether or not the guest processed the action from the notification or whether the action was successful by the hotel.
Frequently Asked Questions.
What notifications should a hotel app first send?
Start by providing relevant hotel stay details such as check-in instructions (when your customers arrive), notifying them when their room is ready, confirming their requests, again updating on service and when to check out, and letting them know when their bill is ready. This type of information gives your customers immediate value and is easier to demonstrate its worth to them than promotional messaging will be in the same timeframe.
Can hotel apps send promotional push notifications?
Yes, hotel apps can send promotional notifications to their customers; however, all promotional notifications should be contextual, consent-based, and limited. For example, a dinner promotion sent to customers at a time when they would be looking for somewhere to eat may be useful, while a generic discount sent at 10 pm may undermine your customers’ trust in you.
How do quiet hours work in a hotel?
Quiet hours housing defines the time during which the app should no longer deliver notifications that are determined to be non-urgent. However, critical operational messages as well as safety messages that need to be sent must still be sent even during quiet hours. The time zone used for quiet hours must be consistent with the hotel’s local time zone and should also show consideration for guests’ preferred hours, where applicable.
What is an acceptable CTR in a hotel app for notifications?
There is no single recognized CTR (click-through rate) for hotel apps because the CTR for a notification is determined by numerous factors, such as message type, guest segment, timing, and stage of need. Transactional messages are typically going to have a different CTR than an upsell message. You should establish your own baseline by category of notification based on your own performance and work to continue improving from there.
How do deep links benefit a hotel app?
Deep links allow guests to click on a notification and navigate directly to the page that is appropriate for the notification received. This provides a lower amount of friction and, therefore, provides a means of measuring whether a notification results in a guest making a transaction.
How Appricotsoft Builds Notification Strategy for Hotel Apps
At Appricotsoft, our notification strategy is part of the entire hospitality product experience, not just a final technical add-on.
The Unison Framework ensures a predictable, transparent, and accountable method of delivery by integrating client priorities, Appricotsoft product and engineering discipline, and responsible AI-supported execution. The key principle is simple: AI can support execution, but outcomes will always be managed by people. We utilize weekly demos, provide clear artifacts, maintain decision logs, manage risks in a risk register, and develop release checklists to demonstrate progress and to provide clients with sufficient information to make informed decisions throughout the duration of the project.
When developing hotel guest experience apps, we generally follow the steps listed below:
1. We Map Guests’ Moments: We identify and classify each moment in which notifications can reduce friction (for example, pre-arrival, to arrival, during a stay, and post-stay). We focus on the moments when improvement in the guest experience happens due to the effective use of communication and the reduction of unnecessary labor on behalf of hotel staff.
2. We Identify Notification Categories: We classify notifications as either transactional, service, property, promotional, or critical in nature. These classifications help teams manage consents, quiet hours, and guest preferences.
3. We Connect Notifications to Operations: Before we automate a notification, we need to first identify what operational systems trigger and support each notification so that a hotel guest’s experience never creates an expectation that cannot be met by the hotel’s operations.
4. We Design Deep-Link Flows: We make sure each notification opens the right screen, handles logged-out states, and supports both iOS and Android behavior.
5. We Add Measurement From the Start: We define metrics such as CTR, request completion, operational completion, time to completion, opt-out rate, and revenue conversion for upsell flows.
6. We Test With Real Scenarios: We test common and edge cases: late arrival, room not ready, payment failure, guest offline, device permissions disabled, staff delay, and multi-property routing.
This is the kind of practical detail that separates a simple mobile app from a reliable hospitality product. If you are planning a broader rollout, our hotel app development roadmap from MVP to rollout explains how guest journey design, integrations, app store launch, and staff training fit together. Appricotsoft notes that hotel apps often include digital concierge solutions, upselling, streamlined services, and repeat-business support, but that the process should begin with guest needs and operational reality.
Conclusion
In summary, notifications to guests using hotel applications have the ability to either improve or degrade the user’s experience, depending upon how well they are planned and executed.
The critical factor is how well the notifications are executed.
By receiving the right notification, at the right time, about something relevant and in a manner that demonstrates respect for them, and is linked back to the operations that generated the notification, guests are provided with value. Not only do these values provide hotel leaders with quicker means of guest task completion, but they also reduce duplicate communication needed by hotel staff.
Hotel Leadership should not judge the effectiveness of the notifications on how many are sent. Instead, special importance should be attached to creating a communication model around the experience of the guest.
At Appricotsoft, we approach all projects with this philosophy. All of our solutions are developed with value, favourite features, easy workflow, reliable and meaningful integrations, and undergo rigorous testing to ensure successful implementation of measurable results.
Whether you are looking for a digital concierge app, a room service order app, an upselling app, or a complete guest experience platform, we will work with you on developing a system that will provide value to both the guest and the property.
Notifications within an appropriately constructed hotel app add value and should therefore never be considered noise. Notifications should always be perceived as providing service to the user.