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It is surprising to know that regardless of the rise of social media and other digital communication channels, email remains the main channel of reference for hotels to: drive more direct sales, issue special offers, promote online reputation management, and build a successful distribution strategy.
Capturing hotel guest data, and most importantly, email addresses, as well as other contact details, is fundamental for a prosperous hotel management strategy. A modern email marketing approach is central to a winning digital marketing approach.
Guest data is a game-changer...
Especially for independent hotels. Guest information helps connect the hotel to its guest to create and enhance the best experience for each traveler. Email is still the number one channel to engage with guests and actually maintains a steady increase of new users year after year.
With the impact of the global pandemic on the hospitality and travel industries, it has become a more critical medium through which hotel owners and operators can catapult their business to continued success. First, let's look into how to effectively capture hotel guest data.
Always Be One Step Ahead.
Long before your guests arrive at your hotel, the guest experience has already started. As we know, you only get one chance to create a great first impression. Keeping this in mind, attain hotel guest data before they arrive.
This will allow you to help guests feel heard and taken care of by making special requests or asking for preferences, or inquiring about ways to improve their stay. Here are some steps and tips you should follow to collect guest data effectively.
Enhance your Direct Sales Strategy
You want an uninterrupted line of communication to your guests, no third parties - and direct sales from your hotel website is the key. You can own the customer experience from the very beginning as well as save on third-party booking fees. This will promote a consistent experience for your guests and allow you to advertise your hotel without limitation.
You can begin collecting any specific guest information that you want/need. Email capture forms should be designed professionally yet fun for both mobile and desktop for maximum success.
Many guests aren't clear on the advantages of direct bookings versus an OTA. Improve hotel guest information capture by including a direct-booking discount and place subscription forms on your blogs or as a pop-up while browsing.
Perform a Reviewing Procedure
Your hotel's social media, POS, CRS, and PMS can all align to harness their full potential. Implement a full operational review with sales and marketing departments to distinguish opportunities for earnings and establish communication issues between systems.
Verification at Check-In
Some guests will book your hotel via OTAs, wheras other guests might have booked directly in response to an email marketing campaign. With this in mind, it is crucial to verify the particular conditions of every guest booking, including looking into the specific details.
Some guests will book your hotel via OTAs, wheras other guests might have booked directly in response to an email marketing campaign. With this in mind, it is crucial to verify the particular conditions of every guest booking, including looking into the specific details.
Using Competitions and Promotions to your Advantage
Promote, promote, promote! Use your gathering of hotel guest email address to shower them with competitions and promotions. Hotels find great sucess in offering a chance to win a free night's stay, a meal, food and beverage credit, or another price, by signing up to your email list. There are countless ideas for really prosperous promotions and competitions.
Three Reasons Why Hotel Guest Capture is Important.
After the crisis for the industry, hotels are exploring new and fresh ways to attract guests again and, of course, increase revenues. Let's look at 3 solid reasons why collecting hotel guest data is crucial.
1. Ownership of the Relationship
Search engines and social media companies are continuously updating their corresponding algorithms. Significant updates have monitored traffic flowing from specific sites and drop sharply as a result. Make sure to build and cultivate your email list and strategy.
With your potential/future/past guest emails, you won't have to depend on social media or search engines. With a record of guest information at your hotel, there is no risk for any algorithmic changes that would suddenly change your outreach capability.
2. Creating Repeat Guests
Guest data provide valuable insights into profile type, unique preferences, and purchasing behavior. Capturing the most relevant data for your hotel and market is key. This will enable your hotel to provide incredibly, hyper-focused and personalized service. Thoroughly understanding the specifics of why your guests enjoy a certain booking can equip you to offer personalized marketing in the future and lure them back as repeat guests.
3. Looking out for Crucial Errors
Capturing hotel guest data is an opportunity to rethink your current strategies and figure out whether or not you are effectively reaching out to your target audience. There is a significant cost in capturing irrelevant data or receiving data that contains errors.
Unusable guest data puts a damper on offering personalized service, and can leave your marketing team guessing. Tip: it is a great idea to ask for more than one email address, in case a guest's first email is written incorrectly or they do not receive your property's emails.
If you find that your email strategy does not focus on the best ways to drive more guest engagement and direct bookings to your property, there is a huge risk in fumbling the possibilites of attracting future guests and boosting your hotel's online presence - social media, search engines, OTAs, blogs - with positive feedback across the internet.
With the right email marketing approach, you can starting cross-selling and even upselling to drive revenues beyond what your basic booking fee would be.
With the right email marketing approach, you can starting cross-selling and even upselling to drive revenues beyond what your basic booking fee would be.
Here are some strategies for successful guest data collection...
Understand your motive.
Knowing why you are gathering data is the foundation upon which you can build the best results. This will help you generate maximum client engagement and creates new opportunities for cross-selling and repeat clientele.
Knowing why you are gathering data is the foundation upon which you can build the best results. This will help you generate maximum client engagement and creates new opportunities for cross-selling and repeat clientele.
Email gives your hotel an early chance to personalize the customer journey on a large scale. Plus, it grants you much better control over guest data management.
Technology is everything.
The digitization of data signifies greater accuracy and security, in addition to efficiency in storage and updates. It will also accurately increase the touch points where you can gather data.
Deliver true quality.
No more "one-size-fits-all" marketing - we are in the age of personalization and specialization. Moreover, customers want hyper-personalization, which means a completely unique customer journey entirely based on their preferences, transaction history, and profile.
This will guide your segmentation process, and position your hotel to incorporate an email strategy that truly provides high quality and value to your guests. Resulting in more bookings, leverage upselling, and cross-selling opportunities.
This will guide your segmentation process, and position your hotel to incorporate an email strategy that truly provides high quality and value to your guests. Resulting in more bookings, leverage upselling, and cross-selling opportunities.
A thriving hotel revenue management plan of action needs to include a strong email marketing strategy. It is crucial for guest conversion, whether it be for first-timers, or repeat stays. Email marketing will give you the chance to create an ideal platform for upselling and cross-selling and possibilities for cross-over from leisure to business and vice-versa. To conclude, it enables you to collect higher quality guest data which you can use for endless commercial applications.
Explore Hotel Revenue Growth with RevOptimum.
Unlike hospitality management companies, RevOptimum exclusively focuses on hotel revenue management. Our experience of 30 years mastering revenue increase skills has helped grow substantial revenues for hotels across the industry. We are hotel revenue management strategists who know your field, set revenue planning goals, and use our industry leadership to boost your hotel revenues.
We’re here to work with your hotel one-on-one to build a revenue management plan that brings in more RevPAR. Contact one of our revenue growth experts to learn how you can reach your hotel revenue goals.
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