smarter customer contact Ways Hotels Can Use PMS Data to Improve 7 Marketing Results

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1 Ways Hotels Can Use PMS Data to Improve 7 Marketing Results

2 Introduction OTAs (or online travel agents ) like Booking.com can be a great way to drive occupancy rates, but in the long run they can be very destructive to profit margins. remains one of the most powerful tools in the hotel marketer s arsenal to reach previous guests with relevant, timely offers. So once you ve acquired a new guest through an OTA, how can you use marketing to drive revenue and increase margins? The secret is in smart use of data, to turn each one-off booking into a loyal customer who is more likely to book directly with you next time. Here are 7 methods that you can use to make your property management system (PMS) data work much harder for you, as part of your marketing strategy. Save big on weekend breaks! Last-minute deals on 4 star rooms!

3 Capture explicit opt-in for your marketing communications This comes before all else. While a new guest is visiting your hotel, why not sign them up for your newsletters to receive exclusive offers? Most PMS systems that we ve come across (so far!) include a field for storing an opt-in or opt-out preference for marketing comms, so use this; then feed the opted-in guests details into your marketing software. Always try to get explicit opt-in; don t assume that all guests will want to receive your marketing. If a guest receives your newsletter and doesn t believe they signed up, they ll probably click the unsubscribe link or even worse, they might hit the Report as spam button. This not only affects your sending reputation with Internet Service Providers (ISPs), it leaves the guest with a negative feeling about your brand. Once you have an explicit opt-in, you re in a great position to build a valuable, long-lasting relationship. Sign me up for: E-news Special offers

4 Hi! Personalise, to make the recipient feel valued Who doesn t like to be greeted by name? Your PMS data is likely to include information such as your guest s title, first and last name so use it! A recent study by Mailchimp found that although personalisation of an subject line doesn t significantly increase open rates, broader use of personalisation can have much greater benefits. Personalisation can help build a direct relationship with a new guest, making them feel valued and more likely to book directly with you in the future. Here are a few examples: Hi %FIRSTNAME%, we hope you enjoyed your recent stay with us. an opening greeting, using the guest s first name and knowledge of a recent stay. Priority booking opens tomorrow, %FIRSTNAME% a subject line that uses the guest s first name, and also recognises them as a valued customer. Join our VIP club, %FIRSTNAME% a call-to-action for guests who aren t yet flagged in the PMS as a VIP or member of the hotel s loyalty program. Simple name personalisation is a common feature in pretty much all marketing software these days. For more advanced personalisation you ll need to look for software that lets you segment your database, or better still, that lets you vary the content within each based on what you know about the recipient (often called variable content ).

5 Tailor your offers to each guest s budget Your PMS contains a whole bunch of spend data for each guest. The systems we ve worked with include things like: all-time spend total spend in the past 12 months average spend, and total spend on each individual reservation. Use this data to profile your guests and target your campaigns, so you don t leave money on the table. How? Let s say you re running a room promotion and you have 3 categories of room available standard rooms, exec rooms and suites. It s likely that your lower spenders will be more attracted to a price-led offer on your standard rooms, whereas a higher spender might respond better to a savings-based offer on a suite (with a few bundled luxuries like champagne and chocolates). Any good marketing software will let you create segments (or groups ) of people, and the best ones will pull data from your PMS to keep these groups up to date so that you don t have to keep adding and removing people from lists. If the software also lets you create variable content, you can run a single campaign that automatically adjusts the offer(s) for each recipient so there s very little extra work for you to do!

6 Use guest location to deliver timely, relevant offers The Mailchimp study also found that subject lines were more effective if they contained localisation (such as a town or city name). Location can also be extremely valuable when targeting campaigns that promote news, offers or events that are likely to appeal to local people vs those further away. This can be especially true of hotels that offer a range of services in addition to rooms, but can apply equally well to any hotel that runs a restaurant. It s likely that you ll have address details for individual guests within your PMS, so use these to your advantage. A few examples: If you offer golf days or spa treatments, package them with an overnight stay for guests from further afield. If you run local events such as quiz nights, Christmas parties or a Valentine s ball, target people within reasonable travelling distance otherwise they re likely to consider it spam. If you have a seasonal menu in your restaurant, use it as an opportunity to engage with local diners and fill quieter mid-week evenings. Guests within 10 miles: Save 10 on dinner for two this Thursday!

7 Target campaigns based on guests previous reservations Your PMS data is a great source of intelligence for filling rooms around seasonal events. For example: Who stayed with you last Christmas? Are there any romantics who live locally but have stayed with you in the past around Valentine s day and would they be interested in a suite? Which of your guests have recently stayed with children and might be interested in activities over the summer holidays? Most PMS systems store details of the most recent stay within each guest profile record, so it s pretty straightforward to import this data into an marketing software package and use it to create segments for targeting your campaigns. Stayed last Valentine s Day: Surprise your Valentine with a romantic suite - 20% off! Stayed with children: Save on family-friendly holiday packages this summer!

8 31 Trigger pre-stay communications using guests arrival date Once you ve captured a guest s address, you can turn them into a loyal repeat customer by wowing them with a great experience. By feeding your PMS reservation arrival dates into your marketing software, you re in a great position to trigger pre-stay s or SMS messages that: Make your guests aware of all the facilities and services available to them, so they can plan their stay in advance. Give guests an opportunity to pre-book services before they arrive; for example, spa treatments or a table in your restaurant. Invite them to join your loyalty club, so they can receive discounts and other benefits when they arrive. Look for marketing software that can pull in the arrival dates from your PMS and trigger messages automatically, so there s less work for you to do. Your visit is only a week away! Want to book a table for dinner?

9 Use guests departure date to trigger a post-stay survey Guest feedback is invaluable, whether good or bad. By bringing your PMS reservation departure dates into your marketing software, you can automatically trigger s to each guest, inviting them to provide feedback on their stay. Some software will let you build forms and surveys that collect data and feed it straight back into your marketing database, so you can follow up right away. To minimise the workload, look for a system that automatically triggers different responses based on the guest s feedback. For example: If the feedback is very good, send a follow-up asking the guest to share their experiences on TripAdvisor (and give them a link to do this quickly). If the feedback is poor, offer the guest a call-back or an additional form where they can tell you what went wrong. By handling problems sincerely and quickly, the guest may be less inclined to post a bad review. This kind of insight will help you turn one-off bookings into repeat customers; to build direct relationships, grow your revenue and increase your profit margins. Thanks for visiting! Did you enjoy your stay?

10 What s next? The next step is to make sure you can feed all your valuable PMS data into your marketing software. You don t need everything, but ideally you will want to use the Guest and Reservations data. Some PMS and systems will let you set up an automatic data feed, while for others it may be a matter of file export/import using spreadsheet files. By bringing each guest s complete reservation history into your digital marketing software, you ll be able to target offers much more effectively. Not all marketing software supports this level of data management, so ask before you buy! At HTK we ve worked with a range of PMS systems, so we know how to make the most of your data. Our Horizon digital marketing software allows you to send targeted messages across multiple channels, helping you use your data to build better relationships with your guests. If you re interested in finding out more about how this might work for you and your hotel, just give us a call or sign up for a free online demo. Get in touch - we d love to chat! hello@htk.co.uk +44 (0) htk.co.uk/hotel