TECHNOLOGY : CRM
IS THIS CREEPY ?
An important issue in engaging guests on social media and analyzing their data for personalization is not to put off guests by appearing to invade their privacy . Global Personalization at Starwood has already garnered blog posts and articles criticizing it for invasiveness .
“ Hoteliers must tread very carefully as far as any integration between their fiercely protected loyalty programs and social media profiles ,” says Max Starkov , president and CEO , HeBS Digital Hospitality eBusiness ,
Twitter and Facebook into the databases , that would get hotels in touch with them on social media more efficiently .”
Currently the technology for full integration is not quite there , and most loyalty club databases remain without social media account handles , much less data compiled from them . However , hotel social media-tracking software developers predict that it will become possible within the next five years .
“ They are still managing those databases separately , but in the future those will be connected more and more and highly interrelated ,” says R . J . Friedlander , CEO , ReviewPro , Barcelona , Spain . “ I think in the next five years there will be more and more hotels connecting to social media users through their CRM profiles .”
One trend in data sharing that will help facilitate this is the increase in open ID systems such as Facebook Connect , which allows Facebook users to log into their TripAdvisor profiles using their Facebook login information . “ If the social media use can be
New York City . “ The main reason is that traditional loyalty programs have established one-to-one ‘ two-way-street ’ relationships between the brand and the loyalty program members , while social media by default is a multi-dimensional ‘ maze ’ of relationships . Social networks are perceived as being personal socialrelationship networks by the vast majority of users , while a loyalty program is typically perceived as a business-relationship entity , not a socialrelationship one .”
Of course , guests can only have information researched that they have posted online , and if they are benefitting from having the information checked by hotel companies , software developers say most guests will find it acceptable .
“ If the hotel gives you a free upgrade , I don ’ t think you ’ re going to mind ,” says R . J . Friedlander , CEO , ReviewPro , Barcelona , Spain . “ People are more and more used to having their lives out there . They put photos of themselves and their families in bathing suits on Facebook . People are used to that , and if they can benefit from it at a hotel , that will be fine with them .”
tied to a real person , you have more potential to connect ,” Friedlander says . The first step down this road is for a hotel company to use social mediatracking software to efficiently pull data from the multitude of social media websites and travel review websites .
Connect the dots The benefits of entering social media data into the loyalty club database would be numerous given the importance of these frequent guests to the large hotel companies ’ bottom lines . For example , Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide reported that 2 % of its guests drove 30 % of the company ’ s EBITDA in 2011 .
With this data tied to loyalty club members , hotel companies could increase the personalization of customer service , give special treatment to customers with social media clout and track online reviews to individual guests . Hotel companies could also recruit potential loyalty club members after researching their social media profiles .
These changes could , in turn , make guests ’ loyalty club member profiles more akin to social media profiles — something that is not widespread now .
“ I continue to be surprised at how little we as hoteliers draw on our knowledge of the guest in our ‘ dialogue ’ with
“ DETAILED ANALYTICS AND SOCIAL MEDIA TRACKING HAS MADE IT VERY EASY FOR US TO GET A HANDLE ON WHO OUR MOST PROFITABLE BRAND ADVOCATES ARE — THAT IS , OUR TRUE VIP GUESTS .”
– Mark Lankester , Tune Hotels
70 HOTELS July / August 2012 www . hotelsmag . com