In today’s hospitality landscape of 2023, the evolution of hotel marketing continues to redefine guest experiences. Technological advancements have revolutionized guest tracking, with a focus on leveraging social media, influencer collaborations, and personalized online interactions. From harnessing the power of social networking to engaging through immersive blogs, hotels now prioritize online reputation management through authentic reviews and dynamic website setups.
To maintain a competitive edge in today’s digital landscape, hotels recognize the pivotal role of online visibility. Travelers predominantly rely on online platforms rather than traditional travel agents for trip planning. In 2023, the utilization of advanced CRM systems like Microsoft Dynamics CRM or Zoho CRM has become instrumental for hotels.
These systems facilitate direct communication, targeted marketing efforts, and comprehensive guest management, encompassing current, past, future, and prospective guests. By leveraging such CRM platforms, hotels adeptly navigate the dynamic landscape of guest interactions, ensuring personalized experiences and fostering lasting guest relationships.
Call Centers. The use of a call center is one way a hotel can ensure that guests are being taken care of in an effective and timely manner. The call center is used to make and receive calls regarding the hotel and offer travel plan information. It can also be used to track customer calls and gather feedback through customer surveys. Sometimes centers are used to make phone calls to offer guests a deal on their next stay.
Social Media. Social media has exploded in recent years and it is only continuing to increase in popularity. MS dynamics CRM can be used to input a variety of information about guests, including Twitter accounts, Facebook IDs and email addresses. Through the latest social media sites, hotels are then able to send out messages, special promotions and announcements to guests via the computer or smart phone. Hotels have also been utilizing Foursquare as a method of engaging mobile users.
Websites. Though it sounds obvious, hotels are now setting up their own websites, featuring specials, showing photos of rooms and amenities and other travel related information. All hotels strive to get their site top placement on Google, Yahoo!, Bing or other similar search engines. This is primarily because approximately 97 percent of travelers will base their vacation plans by only looking at the top 10 results. Hotels are also making the websites mobile friendly for the increasing amount of smart phone users.
Email. MS dynamics offers what is known as “intelligent emailing,” which is when the database is able to send out emails for confirmations, thank you, pre-arrival and surveys. Hotel websites make is possible for guests to set up for intelligent emailing services at one location.
Other Online Sites. There are a large variety of other online resources that hotels utilize as part of the company’s marketing strategy. Some hotels sign up with travel and discount sites, such as Groupon Getaway with Expedia, Travelocity, Booking Buddy and so on. Some other resources are online reviews and blogs.
In order to keep up with the advancement of how travelers make travel plans, hotels have to alter the marketing strategy. Everything from online resources to utilizing MS dynamics CRM can help keep the hotel competitive and on top of current marketing tactics.