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Guest Experience
Make journeys easier, reduce friction and help guests make choices that improve their experience.
Behavioral Decision Intelligence for hotels
Better hotel performance begins with better human decisions.
Guests and teams make thousands of decisions every day that influence experience, efficiency, revenue, wellbeing and resource use.
BehaviorSMART helps hotels identify the decisions that matter most and turn them into practical, measurable improvements, from smoother operations and stronger commercial performance to more meaningful and memorable guest experiences.
Your hotel measures what happens. We help uncover why.
Hotels already track occupancy, revenue, reviews, energy, waste and operational performance.
But behind those numbers are thousands of everyday human decisions.
What do guests notice? What do they choose? What feels easiest? What creates friction? Which moments make them feel welcomed, restored, connected or genuinely cared for? And what will they actually remember after they leave?
BehaviorSMART helps identify which of those decisions and moments are influencing the outcomes you care about, then shows where practical changes can make the biggest difference.
That is Behavioral Decision Intelligence.
A hotel is shaped by thousands of guest and staff decisions every day. Only a few may matter disproportionately for a particular outcome.
Different decisions shape different outcomes.
02
Meaning, Wellbeing & Memory
Understand the moments and decisions that shape how guests feel, connect and remember their stay, creating experiences that can contribute to wellbeing and feel genuinely meaningful.
03
Revenue & Loyalty
Understand the decisions influencing purchases, upgrades, food and beverage choices, perceived value, return visits and recommendations.
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Operational Efficiency
Identify everyday behaviors that create unnecessary work, friction or cost for hotel teams.
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Food, Energy & Resources
Improve decisions around food, energy, water and materials while protecting, and where possible enhancing, the guest experience.
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Staff Experience & Execution
Make desired actions easier for teams to understand and carry out consistently, while supporting more natural and meaningful interactions with guests.
The best hotel experiences do more than remove friction.
They can help people slow down, connect, discover, feel cared for and return home with memories that last.
But meaningful experiences do not happen only because they were intended.
They are shaped by hundreds of moments: what guests notice, where their attention goes, the choices they are offered, how environments make them feel, how staff interact with them and which moments become memories.
Behavioral Decision Intelligence helps hotels understand and intentionally design these moments, while connecting better human experiences with the outcomes that matter to the business.
Different ambitions. The same intelligence.
Improve an Operational Outcome
A hotel wants to reduce room energy use without compromising guest comfort.
Simply asking guests to use less energy assumes motivation is the problem.
Behavioral Decision Intelligence asks a different question: What is actually shaping the decision?
Comfort expectations, habits, defaults and the way the environment is designed can all influence what guests do.
Once those influences are understood, practical changes can be designed around the actual decision, implemented in the hotel and measured against the outcome.
Create a Deeper Guest Experience
A hotel wants guests to feel more connected to the place they are visiting.
Adding more information or activities does not necessarily create a more meaningful experience.
Behavioral Decision Intelligence can explore which moments shape curiosity, attention, participation, emotional connection and memory, then help the hotel design the environment and experience around those moments.
Different ambitions. The same question: what is shaping how people actually think, choose, feel and behave?
Documented hotel results
Tested in real hospitality environments.
BehaviorSMART's approach has been developed through years of behavioral science, field testing and implementation in real hospitality and tourism environments. These examples show how understanding the environment around a decision can lead to practical changes and measurable results.
Energy & Guest ComfortKvitnes Gård · Norway
27% lower overall energy consumption
- The challenge
- Reduce energy consumption while maintaining guest comfort.
- What changed
- Smart thermostats were set to 19°C in summer. Guests were offered wool blankets and socks framed as "Nordic luxury", alongside simple visual cues.
- Documented result
- Overall energy consumption decreased by 27%. Buildings containing only guest rooms saw a 61% reduction, while mixed-use buildings saw a 15% reduction. Most guests kept the default temperature settings.
- What it shows
- Efficiency does not necessarily have to mean less comfort. The environment can make the more efficient choice compatible with the experience guests expect.
Toolbox of Behaviour Change Tactics — EU First Mile ProjectPDF index page 96; printed toolbox page 98.BehaviorSMART methodology — EU First Mile Project, Kvitnes Gård, Norway.
Water & Guest ExperienceIbis Styles Lavaur · France
25% less water per guest night
- The challenge
- Reduce guest water consumption without relying entirely on guests remembering to use less.
- What changed
- The hotel installed smart water-saving shower heads and added simple in-shower information explaining how they worked. Staff were also trained to explain the technology at check-in.
- Documented result
- Water consumption per guest night decreased by 25%.
- What it shows
- Sometimes the better outcome can be made easier rather than requiring guests to remember to behave differently.
Toolbox of Behaviour Change Tactics — EU First Mile ProjectPDF index page 104; printed toolbox page 106.BehaviorSMART methodology — EU First Mile Project, Ibis Styles Lavaur, France.
Local Food & Commercial ChoiceTriangel Boutique Hotel · Slovenia
+19% local ingredients purchased for breakfast · +8% local dishes sold
- The challenge
- Encourage guests to choose more local food.
- What changed
- The hotel made two changes at the same time: it moved its local à la carte section to the beginning of the menu, and it introduced a new 100% local tasting menu.
- Documented result
- The hotel purchased 19% more local ingredients from local suppliers for breakfast, and guests chose 8% more local dishes. The two changes ran together, so the result belongs to the pair — it cannot be attributed to either one on its own.
- What it shows
- Two figures measure two different things here: what the kitchen buys and what guests order. Both moved when local food was made easier to find and easier to choose, though this case cannot say how much each change contributed.
Toolbox of Behaviour Change Tactics — EU First Mile ProjectPDF index page 63; printed toolbox page 65.BehaviorSMART methodology — EU First Mile Project, Triangel Boutique Hotel, Slovenia.
Waste & EaseHôtel La Résidence · France
+146% waste recycled per month
- The challenge
- Help guests separate waste correctly and make recycling more convenient.
- What changed
- The hotel added sorting points in high-traffic areas, guest rooms and common hallways, with simple visual guidance placed where guests actually disposed of waste.
- Documented result
- The amount of waste recycled per month increased by 146%.
- What it shows
- The desired behavior became easier at the moment the decision was made.
Toolbox of Behaviour Change Tactics — EU First Mile ProjectPDF index page 22; printed toolbox page 24.BehaviorSMART methodology — EU First Mile Project, Hôtel La Résidence, France.
Guest ExperienceALPINIA Hotel · Slovenia
+30% more families biked during their stay
- The challenge
- Encourage families to explore the surroundings actively during their stay.
- What changed
- Child-friendly communications framed the outing as a family bike-and-hike adventure, addressed to the children rather than only to the adults booking it.
- Documented result
- 30% more families cycled during their stay.
- What it shows
- Framing an activity around what children want can move a choice the whole family makes together.
Toolbox of Behaviour Change Tactics — EU First Mile ProjectEvidence register row 11.BehaviorSMART methodology — EU First Mile Project, ALPINIA Hotel, Slovenia.
Featured case · Campofelice, Switzerland
When the infrastructure already exists, behavior can still be the missing piece.
The refill stations were already there.
The opportunity was not primarily about installing new infrastructure. It was about whether guests noticed the existing option when they made their decision.
Making the refill stations more visible contributed to:
- 23% less plastic waste
- Approximately €100,000 in savings across the season
Sometimes the opportunity is already there. The human decision around it is what needs to change.
Watch the Campofelice storyAvanti con la sostenibilità — Ticino Turismo (Smart Ways Ticino, 2022)Nudge evidence register row 7; verified CEO ruling dated 2026-07-30.BehaviorSMART methodology — Smart Ways Ticino, with Ticino Turismo; Campofelice Camping, Switzerland.
The human story
Real people. Real operations.
Hear directly from the Campofelice team about the work behind the documented result.
Built in hospitality. Proven in practice.
BehaviorSMART combines 10+ years of behavioral science and real-world implementation with continued development inside the hospitality ecosystem. Our work spans hotels, restaurants and tourism businesses across multiple markets, applying behavioral science to guest experience, wellbeing, operational performance, commercial outcomes and resource use.
BehaviorSMART is a member of the EHL Innovation Hub, bringing Behavioral Decision Intelligence into one of the world's leading hospitality innovation ecosystems.
Through our Living Lab collaboration, we are working to develop, test and translate Behavioral Decision Intelligence into practical applications and best practices across hospitality, including how environments can shape guest and staff decisions, experience, wellbeing and operational outcomes.
From behavioral science to practical implementation.
BehaviorSMART did not begin with technology.
Our methodology has evolved through 10+ years of behavioral research, field testing and implementation in real tourism and hospitality environments.
Earlier initiatives such as Smart Ways translated behavioral science into practical applications for tourism businesses, spanning commercial performance, customer choice, energy, waste, food and other business challenges.
The EU-funded First Mile project expanded real-world implementation across tourism businesses in multiple European markets.
Today, Behavioral Decision Intelligence builds on that accumulated expertise and evidence, while technology helps us apply it more consistently and at greater scale.
From business challenge to measurable improvement.
- 01Understand
Start with the outcome.
What would you like to improve? Guest experience, revenue, costs, wellbeing, loyalty, staff execution, food waste, energy, a stronger sense of place or more memorable experiences?
- 02Identify
Find the decisions and moments shaping it.
Behavioral Decision Intelligence helps identify which guest or staff decisions and moments may be having the greatest influence on the outcome.
- 03Improve
Design around the real decision.
Turn behavioral insight into practical changes that fit the hotel environment, guest experience and real operations.
- 04Measure
See what changed.
Measure the outcome, learn what worked and determine what should be maintained, adapted or scaled.
Start where it makes sense for your hotel.
Pilot Projects
Have a specific challenge?
Test Behavioral Decision Intelligence against a defined guest, operational or commercial outcome and measure what works.
Explore a PilotExpert Partnership
Need deeper support?
Work directly with our behavioral experts to understand and improve complex guest, staff or operational decisions and experiences.
Talk to Our TeambeSMART Platform
Ready to apply the capability more widely?
Bring practical Behavioral Decision Intelligence into everyday hotel operations and use technology to support implementation at greater scale.
Explore the PlatformDifferent ways to engage. One Behavioral Decision Intelligence capability.
Proof of concept
Turn one hotel performance challenge into a measurable result.
A property-specific 12-week proof of concept: practical changes that improve hotel performance and support more sustainable operations.
One property. One priority. One measurable result.
Your hotel selects one option for a focused 12-week proof of concept. There is no fee to participate.
- 01
Water efficiency
Reduce avoidable water cost by improving recurring guest and staff decisions.
Business value
Lower operating cost
25% less water per guest night
Ibis Styles Lavaur · France
Reference result only. The participating hotel's target will be established after baseline analysis.
BehaviorSMART methodology — EU First Mile Project, Ibis Styles Lavaur, France.
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Digital commercial uptake
Improve how guests respond to relevant offers in the hotel's existing digital journey.
Business value
Higher ancillary revenue
+383% local menus sold
Snowhotel Kirkenes · NO
Reference result only. The participating hotel's target will be established after baseline analysis.
BehaviorSMART methodology — EU First Mile Project, Snowhotel Kirkenes, Norway.
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Low-touch hospitality
Improve one digital guest moment while protecting personal service.
Business value
A stronger guest experience
Weeks 1–3
Baseline
Establish the property's own starting point.
Weeks 4–10
Activate
Run the intervention in the live environment.
Weeks 11–12
Validate
Measure against the baseline, then decide: scale, adapt or stop.
What participation means
The hotel receives
- A property-specific behavioral diagnosis of the chosen priority.
- The intervention, run in your live environment against your own baseline.
- The measured result, and the property-specific playbook to repeat it.
The hotel contributes
- One property, and one priority chosen from the three options.
- Access to the operational data behind that priority, and a named internal contact.
No personal guest data leaves the hotel.
The hotel retains the result and the property-specific playbook.
Ask about the proof of conceptHuman expertise. Made scalable through technology.
BehaviorSMART combines behavioral science, real-world implementation experience and technology.
Technology helps us apply that expertise across more decisions, environments and operational challenges.
Human expertise remains central to how the methodology evolves, how evidence is validated and how complex challenges are addressed.
Start with one outcome
What would you like your guests or team to do, feel or experience differently?
Start with one outcome you want to improve.
It could be operational, commercial or human: a smoother journey, a more memorable stay, stronger guest wellbeing, better team execution, greater loyalty, lower costs or more efficient resource use.
BehaviorSMART helps uncover the human decisions and moments shaping that outcome and identify practical opportunities for measurable change.