In the concluding part of CRM: A Hotelier’s Guide, we’re looking back at what we’ve learned along the way.

This was in a way the hardest of our six posts to write due to the magnificent contributions from McKinsey’s Del Ross, software providers Cendyn and Revinate, and of course San Antonio’s Hotel Emma.

However, we’ve done our level best to condense the key messages into this final post and a handy downloadable infographic for anyone that wants to spread the word.

Download the infographic now

If you have any unanswered questions, we will be hosting a webinar on everything CRM next month. Find all the details you need below. In the meantime, here’s our CRM recap.

Shift from a transactional mindset

Historically hotels have treated every booking and stay as if it were the very first and focused on costs. But this risks ignoring the customer and missing an opportunity to develop a deep, long-term relationships. OTAs tend keep up the conversation with customers, which can give them an edge.

With CRM, hoteliers can adopt a more customer-centric approach that can lead to the kind of service expected by today’s consumer and at the very least match that offered by OTAs.

Ease of use and automation is critical

Both Del Ross and Hotel Emma’s Jamie Fox put ease of use as the number of criteria for a CRM system. For Jamie, that means a system that can be updated and adapted in-house, saving hours on the phone to service centers.

The ability to automate is also an essential element, if hotels want to get the most of their investment in CRM. As Del put it: “Hotels need a system that can be set up with thoughtful targeting rules, event-triggered communications, and a library of good content, offers, and creative, which then can run on its own with minimal human oversight.”

Get staff buy-in

An easy to use system is likely to mean more of your staff will employ CRM, but don’t leave it to chance. As Cendyn explained you need to have defined and clearly communicated your overarching goals, how exactly you plan to reach them and what you will see as success.

Hotel Emma goes further with its staff incentive scheme. Team members use CRM system to help improve their service and win bonuses, while bosses use feedback gathered by the CRM to assess performance.

Segment and personalize

CRM is often used to segment communications and personalize offers. When done right it can have impressive results: segmented marketing emails can generate 73% higher revenue per recipient, according to Revinate. Targeted email marketing campaigns also work wonders, for instance a post-stay email aimed at winning back the customer from an OTA typically gets a 33% open rate and 3.3% click-through rate.

CRM’s ability to fine-tune marketing can give hoteliers working to strict budgets the kind of return on investment they are seeking.

CRM has huge potential

We’ve talked about the way CRM can extend the relationship with the customer, but Cendyn showed it can also help your hotel appeal to new customers. By identifying most valuable guests via CRM, you can seek out prospective customers with similar attributes and target them with relevant content, contact and promotions.

For more on each of these takeaways re-visit the individual blog posts:

• CRM: A Hotelier's Guide, part 1 — The building blocks
• CRM: A Hotelier's Guide, part 2 — The expert view
• CRM: A Hotelier's Guide, part 3 — A case study with Hotel Emma
• CRM: A Hotelier's Guide, part 4 — The proof that it works!
• CRM: A Hotelier's Guide, part 5 — How to maximize CRM

The webinar

Join Triptease’s Chief Tease Charlie Osmond and Revinate for a webinar dedicated to CRM on Wednesday 14th March. We will be talking through CRM: A Hotelier’s Guide and taking your questions.

Register for the session now to secure your place!

Our thanks again to Del Ross, Hotel Emma, Revinate and Cendyn. We hope you enjoyed the series as much as we did. We'd love to hear your thoughts — email us at content@triptease.com.

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