Holiday season is your business season. Contact your customers & make the most out of it
The investment you made on that booking engine was worthwhile. Your booking rate has reached its maximum status and your Sales Department is happier than ever. Booking requests keep pouring in and your hotel business is flourishing. Everything is running smoothly, the season goals have been reached and you yourself are ready to take your time off. Stop right there!
How about making the most out of your customers’ visit? How about contacting them in such a way so as not to annoy them, but rather to inform them, invite them, urge them to take advantage of the extra services that your business provides, so as to make their stay even more memorable?
Now that we got your attention, let us provide you with the “solution”. SMS, Email and Viber them. Yes, you heard us, based on what you have to offer, and based on your customers demographics, habits, needs and likes, you can create a series of SMS, Email, or Viber campaigns to communicate with them. Don’t “ambush” them by pushing your services to them via your Reception desk upon their arrival; on the contrary, communicate with them discretely, and allow them to read and digest your message in their own time and space. Don’t forget that both SMS, Email and Viber campaigns are cost-conscious, they provide your customers with a short, compact and valuable amount of information, they are safe when it comes to their delivery status – provided you have done your homework validating your database- and if what you have to offer is relevant and interesting, the response rate will be really interesting.
How about a case study to simplify theory?
A customer (hotel chain) wished to simplify the communication with his customers, while at the same time increase the business’s revenue by further promoting the extra features and services that the hotels were offering. The customer asked for the whole procedure to be simple, fully automated and involve the human factor as little as possible. The specific customer preferred the use of email campaigns, so we moved towards that direction.
The answer
Initially, what we did was to link the customer’s booking engine and CRM with Routee’s email API. Second step was to create, alongside with our client, the workflows and emails that responded to each step of the customer’s booking and stay in the hotel (booking confirmation, check-in procedure, restaurant special evening, spa offer, car rental etc). In addition to all different workflows, we also suggested a series of reward messages (with coupons and special discounts) for those guests who booked two or more of the extra services.
The results
1. We managed to increase the revenue of parallel activities by 21% compared to the previous year.
2. By automating the email sending procedure, we decreased the workload of a group of employees who were absorbed in other positions, more beneficial for the hotels’ operations.
3. We achieved an astonishing 87% open rate for emails sent during the guests stay in the hotels.
It becomes clear to see that such a communication logic is not only quick and simple, but it provides business with the opportunity to welcome their guests and “pamper” them while benefiting from it, with a minimum cost. Wanna give it a try? Visit Routee and learn more about our product portfolio.