A hotel CRM is not something unheard of. You can find the same kind of software in any other industry. Generally, CRM stands for Customer Relationship Management, and this title speaks for itself. The main purpose of these applications is to administer provider-client interactions at every stage of the customer's lifecycle.
This means that a quality CRM system should cover every aspect of these relationships. You should be able to initiate and continue communication with leads and customers without any obstacles, gather and store users' data, manage sales opportunities and marketing campaigns, deal with clients' issues and complaints.
However, the hospitality industry requires a delicate approach to client and reputation management. Therefore, you might want to pay attention to some specific functional requirements of any CRM provider before making your choice.
What is a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Software?
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is an online platform that is needed to establish high-quality customer relations. The CRM platform helps your sales teams improve customer satisfaction and customer loyalty by providing key features like:
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cloud information storage;
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customer data analytics;
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lead generation tools;
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communication and collaboration tools
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numerous charts to outline customer journey;
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customer support management;
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tools for creating marketing campaigns.
CRM systems help you not only understand who you and your customers are and what their problems and desires are but also predict their behavior. This way, you can provide the best services to improve your brand image and drive up sales.
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What is a Hotel Customer Relationship Management System?
Hotel CRM software is a type of usual CRM that has all the features that can be implemented in a hotel or hospitality business to enhance guest satisfaction. There are numerous CRM systems on the market, and each of them has a unique set of features. You should look into the options that are suitable for your industry and purposes.
When it comes to hospitality CRM software, it works by being implemented in 2 processes and connecting one with another. The first one is to collect all the information about your hotel guests. This includes data you have in the existing property management system, guest interactions, feedback, and other details your hotel staff has collected when interacting with customers.
The second process is all about guest interactions. With the help of a hotel CRM system, you can construct new communication channels. Guest data you have collected is used to create personal emails and offers, helping you enhance customer loyalty.
Essential Characteristics of a Good Hotel CRM
Any hospitality business has its own unique features that make it stand out from the others. Surely, you must make a choice based on your needs.
However, there are several must-have elements you should be looking for. Existing standards demand that a contemporary hotel CRM include several vital characteristics.
CRM System Integrations
A hospitality CRM must be cross-platform with the ability to integrate and synchronize with other applications and services. Globalization and technological progress have made it possible to work without being attached to a certain place or device, even in the hospitality industry.
So, why not use it as an advantage? Organize your contact management and guest communication remotely and access everything you need from Gmail, Evernote, Dropbox, Trello, etc.
Collaboration and Communication tools
A high-quality hospitality CRM must provide you with multiple communication channels. The contemporary world offers a variety of means to contact somebody, whether it is your team member, an employee from another department, or a customer.
Of course, conventional texts, e-mails, and calls are good, but sometimes, using messengers or social media could be more efficient. This is especially important when your goal is to improve customer experience and guest loyalty.
This is why the best CRM software must provide internal communication channels for collaboration as well as ways to communicate with potential customers when establishing lead management. So make sure you will be able to not only collect data but also contact others.
Automation Features
Modern technologies offer unprecedented opportunities when it comes to process automation. You can afford to no longer spend time and effort on manually setting up or launching such things as notifications and reminders, marketing campaigns, and repeated tasks.
Collecting guest feedback and online reviews can be set up with the use of a CRM system. Improving customer engagement is much more productive when you can address the issue in a timely manner.
CRM System must be User-Friendly
Surely, a multifunctional CRM is good, but it also should be easy to navigate so you can access everything with a click without turning to instructions, manuals, and FAQs every 15 minutes.
Essential Features of a Hotel CRM
Of course, an efficient hotel CRM should be designed to coordinate the actions of different departments and present stakeholders with all the necessary information at the same time. Hence, it should become your toolkit with ready-to-use solutions for every occasion:
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A comprehensive client database. Impress guests with the knowledge of their room preferences, build trust by keeping in mind their habits and taking care of their complaints, keep in touch with travelers between stays to make them feel welcome.
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Marketing. Use customers' info to make messaging warmer and more personal, analyze behavioral patterns, gather feedback, initiate automated campaigns, and create loyalty programs, especially if you have a seasonal business.
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Sales. Identify lead sources, study sales reports, dashboards, and sales funnel, track unpaid invoices, issue quotes, and do many other things to ensure that your business is blooming.
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Task management, reporting, and HR instruments. Managing relationships with customers also implies administering your employees, starting with managers and ending with maids. Assign tasks, delegate resources, evaluate performance with checklists, activity reports, Gantt charts, and Kanban boards, calculate work hours, and use every available tool to identify weak spots and boost your productivity.
How Does Hotel CRM Software Work?
Implementing customer relationship management in the hospitality industry can improve your guest satisfaction and hotel operations in many different ways. The numerous features of the CRM solution allow hotel managers to improve various processes. Here's how hospitality businesses can benefit from hotel CRM software.
Guest Data Collection with a Hospitality CRM
The first step of implementing hospitality CRM software is the collection of all guest information. This includes all details, transaction details, and booking history of both your existing and incoming customers.
Hotel CRM software is able to interconnect all your marketing and customer support channels. Many property management systems do not have a feature to transfer all data to another platform, so you might be required to manually input the customer data.
Make sure not to disturb the work of your employees, so it might be better to schedule processes for the nights.
As a result, you will have one hotel CRM platform that provides access to all the data you could possibly need to improve the guest experience and customer engagement. Payment history, preferences, contacts, and guest reviews will be displayed in one place.
Clean and Store Guest Data with a Hotel CRM Software
You might not even be aware, but there is a lot of repetitive and disorganized guest data in your systems. Hotel CRM platforms help you sort all information and prevent this from reoccurring.
For example, one person could make a booking using both personal and work emails. This can lead to the appearance of duplicate personas and disturb the analytics.
A hospitality CRM solution will allow you to not only organize all files without losing vital details but also spot spelling mistakes. These, unfortunately, do happen, yet automatic systems are a great aid in spotting such errors which is essential to any hotel business.
Implement Easy Reservation Management in Guest Profiles
After the sorting is completed, hospitality CRM software will create detailed guest profiles with all vital customer data outlined. There are several advantages of this feature for both guests and hotel staff.
With all guest information being correctly displayed, the family guests will be categorized accordingly and treated as single guests. The information will be visible across all platforms so you can monitor guest behavior accurately and provide good customer service to the hotel guests.
Hotel CRM systems allow you to see all previous bookings, email status, and all other related purchases. There won't be several unnecessary profiles, and you can provide the best guest experiences based on collected data.
Create Personalized Campaigns Based on Guest Preferences
With all the information in the hotel CRM system on the preferences, you can predict potential needs and improve guest engagement by creating customized campaigns and loyalty programs. The system will show you the entire purchase history, preferred activities, stay duration, and much more.
All this guest data allows you to spot the trend and create a personalized campaign tailored to the specific needs of the person. When you are proposing the exact hotel amenities, it is very hard to decline your offer.
Automated Contact Management based on Guest Behavior
There are endless possibilities offered by the automation features in a comprehensive hotel CRM. It allows you to offer customer support as soon as a potential problem occurs.
Based on negative and positive reviews, your staff can navigate the approach to improve the guest experience as much as possible. After negative feedback is received, your team can receive a notification and send a follow-up email or make a call to resolve the issue and keep potential customers.
Confirmation emails are also an essential part of the hotel industry. After the booking is made, your guests receive all the details, saving time on guessing whether the process is finished. It is much easier to make any adjustments to the reservations and check their status.
Exploring The Best Hotel CRM Software Options for B2C
When we talk about business-to-customer (B2C) hotel CRM, we imply that it should focus on communication with private guests who come to stay at your facility. This means that more attention should be paid to giving B2C interactions a more personal touch.
That's why having detailed customer profiles and a complete history of interactions, alongside a wide range of marketing features, should be a priority when it comes to this kind of CRM. If you're searching for a B2C CRM solution for your hotel business, we have prepared a list of the best options.
Bitrix24 - The Best Hotel CRM Software
This CRM is designed to accommodate every need of your business. You can have unlimited customer records and unlimited users 100% free. Enjoy the benefits of marketing automation, customizable email templates, phone call recording, helpdesk, instant messaging, and mail integration for individual emails.
This all-in-one tool allows you to create high-quality guest profiles with all essential data to create the best guest experience. You will have access to all customer communication as well as vast analytical tools.
All marketing and social media campaigns can be created with Bitrix24 as well. Improve customer loyalty with targeted emails that are based on person segmentation and analytics.
ZDirect
This guest management solution takes personalization to the next level. It creates user profiles, analyzes their preferences, and edits the messages accordingly. In addition, it issues recommendations on deals, upgrades, and offers that a particular guest might find interesting.
For-sight
This system is incredibly scrupulous. It thoroughly studies the clients' data and then uses it to add an individual touch to each message. You can also adjust the application's settings, so it can ask guests to send feedback. All the received information will be stored and used to improve provider-customer relationships.
Guestfolio
This software prefers a smart approach to combining acquired travelers' info with marketing automation. It allows you to gain control of all the aspects of B2C interactions by providing you with a comprehensive analysis of the guests' profiles. With Guestfolio's set of tools, your marketing campaigns will always be perfectly tailored.
Revinate
This application was created solely for hotels. Therefore, its developers kept their specific needs in mind. Eliminate the guessing element from your marketing strategy. With this ultimate toolkit for analyzing guests' preferences, you will constantly have helpful insights into your clients' behavioral patterns.
Is your CRM ready? Check the guide
Enter your email to download a guide that will help you get started with any CRM system.
Choosing a B2B CRM for a Hospitality Industry
A Business to Business (B2B) CRM allows your hotel to manage relationships with corporate clients. Companies aren't interested only in finding accommodation. They often look for catering, conference halls, and many other additional services.
Plus, as the number of people involved grows, business interactions also start to call for a functional upgrade. Of course, you still need to store information on your customers and use it for marketing purposes, but you should also have event planning, task management, and reporting tools.
If you are looking for the best B2B CRM for hospitality businesses, start by reviewing the solutions we have prepared.
Bitrix24 - The best option for the Hotel Industry
Indeed, Bitrix24 is a complex CRM software with more than 35 tools at your disposal to keep your customers happy and satisfied. This CRM system help you create the best guest experience by helping you:
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Work with leads efficiently,
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access all the data and documents with a click,
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issue quotes and invoices,
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use the extensive capabilities of an event planner,
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shared schedules and calendars,
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task and project management instruments, sales, and marketing automation,
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wide range of internal/external communication channels to maintain long-term and trusting relationships with your clients.
Salesforce
This application is widely recognized for its integration capabilities and an impressive selection of features and services. This makes it so well-suited for B2B interactions. Use marketing automation, more human and personalized customer support, and advanced lead management to keep your corporate customers satisfied and increase profits.
Amadeus
This software is specifically designed to accommodate large events. As soon as it obtains all the data on the upcoming gathering, it distributes the details to the departments involved, so everyone from catering and event planners to sales and maintenance could join their forces to make this go as smooth and joyful as possible.
Sales Suite
This solution is swift, mobile, and simple. Isn't it great to receive regular updates and notifications with customers' data, even if you are on the go or work remotely? Moreover, it handles every request for proposal (RFP) immediately, so you wouldn't miss a promising new business opportunity.
Tripleseat
This is a new, yet promising player on the hotel CRM's market. It specializes mostly in event management, but you can also use it as an organizing, planning, and reporting tool. Its main advantage is that it covers every activity of your hotel. It can deal with restaurant bookings and lodging requests, or generate proposals for your new marketing campaign.
