TECHNOLOGY : CRM
HOTEL COMPANIES ARE GATHERING MORE DATA THAN EVER , BUT FULL CRM INTEGRATION REMAINS ELUSIVE AS HOTELS COMPETE WITH OTAS FOR CUSTOMER LOYALTY .
contributed by BRENDAN MANLEY
Hotel companies are working to collect data from guests at every step of the stay — whether it ’ s through a booking engine , loyalty program , mobile app or on-site at the property — but often hit roadblocks .
Integrating the treasure trove of data in guests ’ social media accounts with CRM systems remains a thing of the future as hoteliers must navigate through intermediaries like online travel agencies that can block direct connections with customers , sometimes even enrolling them in their own competing loyalty programs . As a result , hotel companies are left to employ a kind of “ spray and pray ” approach to grab as much data as possible . “ We use every opportunity to collect relevant data from our guests : past history , what they consume as well as what they tell us about their personal guest experiences through surveys , social media and reviews ,” says Amy Weinberg , vice president of consumer insights and analytics for Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide . “ We don ’ t limit ourselves to one single platform , but do work hard ensuring our associates and systems have intelligence about the guest to deliver branded experiences that are meaningful to the individual .”
Casting a wide net At Louvre Hotels Group , La Défense , France , primary data flows in from the company ’ s Opera CRS as well as the hotel ’ s PMS . The company collects information from its branded website , central reservation office , HotelForYou smartphone
ON THE BLEEDING EDGE
Josiah Mackenzie ’ s blog , Hotel Marketing Strategies , is read in high places in the hotel industry , and he works to create partnership leads for social media data collection vendor ReviewPro . HOTELS spoke with Mackenzie about the best methods of collecting guest data .
HOTELS : What are the most effective channels for data mining ?
Josiah Mackenzie : In terms of direct marketing , email still remains very powerful . And the more you integrate the various
Josiah Mackenzie systems , you enable a new level of matching the offer to the recipient , which reduces the annoy factor , and conversion rates go through the roof . H : What ’ s a key emerging channel ? JM : The rise of big data , or contextual information gathering . The idea that we have more capacity to look at a lot of different touchpoints we weren ’ t tracking in the past . If someone clicks on an email or visits a certain page on the website , we have the technological capacity to capture all that information and create stories around it . H : How can you measure ROI on CRM efforts ? JM : One of the most direct ways would be an increase in the sales conversion rate . You accomplish that through better targeting , better messaging . In terms of guest satisfaction , it gets a little fuzzier , but this is typically one of the brands ’ top objectives — to increase guest satisfaction . H : What ’ s next ? JM : Looking at social data is the frontier of information . Right now at luxury hotels , guest services teams are manually scanning the social web for a little information on customers , whether it ’ s the birthday of one of their children , their favorite food or favorite sport , and providing some little service or amenity as a surprise . This has big implications on guest satisfaction and reputation management .
www . hotelsmag . com December 2013 HOTELS 49