In the hospitality industry, where smiles and warm greetings are key components in bolstering sales and revenue, where does customer relationship management software fit in?
The hotel industry banks heavily on its relationship with the customers. It’s one of the fields where client satisfaction is achieved through much more face-to-face interactions as compared to others. This is why the industry’s frontline employees are required to be presentable at all times and to always have smiles on their faces. They want to make sure that the customers’ overall experience is more than satisfactory. It’s easy to assume that things like body language, voice inflection, proper posture, and courtesy upon customers’ arrival at the hotel premises are all it takes to satisfy them and ensure their return to the establishment. A positive feedback directly from them might just be the ticket, but in order to build a longer-lasting relationship with your customers, you must be able to dig deeper and not rely on surface level information. This is how you can take advantage of CRM software.
To put it simply, customer relationship management encompasses the overall techniques, strategies, methodologies, and plans that help store, analyze, and project customer behavior from the very first point of contact. The CRM software guarantees that all of these functionalities are performed with some more extra services provided. We’ll get to that later.
The very purpose of the CRM software is to manage – as its name implies – the interaction between the business (in this case, a hotel) and its customer in a more statistical and predictive manner. Most of the time, it is completely customizable, and you can choose to add any other features you want or remove them, if need be. The operative word here is ‘control’ and that’s what CRM software can offer you. You have full control over your decisions because you’ll be equipped with data that comes directly from your customers’ dealings with you.
Furthermore, aside from handling business-customer interactions, CRM software also caters to your other needs such as contracts, employee relations, and more.
Regardless of whether you are using state-of-the-art, top-of-the-line CRM software or just an average, semi-successful one with just the basics, you’ll soon find positive changes in your return of investment. It’s not a question of whether the CRM software will work or not, but it’s about asking how much more you can earn financially with the right CRM software. The profit is always there.
Now, incorporating this to a hotel setup, where nearly everything lies on customer satisfaction through interactions, CRM software can do wonders to your business. Here are a list of advantages that you can consider.
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Enhances customer satisfaction
We’ve already established that the hotel industry relies heavily on customer satisfaction. Sure, most – if not all businesses – aim to satisfy their customers, but the responsibility and the opportunities for both success and failure are far greater in this field. Suppose in a retail store that sells shoes, a customer walks in. She gets a pair, pays, and then she leaves. That’s it. Unless the shoes are to be returned, that is the end of the interaction for that particular pair of shoes. The customer might not even remember the name of the person who assisted her, if there was even anyone who did. In hotels, customers stay for far longer periods of time. From the time they book their reservations up until they check out, the hotel must maintain a level of consistent quality customer service. After that, the customer has a higher possibility of remembering certain events in the hotel where they stayed at or the tourist lodge they visited. Their entire vacation experience – or business transaction – will always be tied to their stay in your hotel. It is quite a burden if you think about it, but if done right, the reward is worth it.
With a complete set of standards and goals to guide you, you can customize the customer relationship management software however you see fit. You can completely align its functionality to your objectives in every aspect of your business. For smaller hotels, car rentals, or travel agencies, they usually go for reservation software, but for the bigger ones, a full-functioning CRM tool does the trick best. In addition, CRM software utilizes both integration and automated operation in order to store customer profiles. The gathered data can help in making predictions based on preferences, which can prove useful when it comes to email marketing and improved analytics. Using this tool, you can have a better picture of what your customers need and meet those needs efficiently. You can create loyalty programs that eliminate the need to hire a third party organization to build and manage your clientele. You get to manipulate the right information and use it at the right time for an improved overall customer experience.
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Reduces costs and increases revenue
For one, based on the above item, CRM software removes the guesswork when it comes to figuring out what your customers need. Let’s take a look at a very simple example. If you didn’t have on record that a regular customer had an allergy to peanuts, and it just so happens that a new employee catered to that customer, there’s a high possibility that the employee missed that information and by chance served the customer peanuts. The customer experience can take a turn for the worst, and your business is ruined for that customer, and others. Now, if that same scenario transpired, but this time, the new employee was already made aware of the customer’s preferences based on information saved on a database, the customer might even be pleasantly surprised. How does this relate to reducing cost? Simple. The best form of advertising is through word of mouth. It’s better for potential customers to learn about how dedicated you are when it comes to customer satisfaction from someone who had already been a customer of your hotel, as compared to, well, you.
Once you have more customers, it’s only inevitable that your profits will increase. You’re giving your customers the best possible experience that they can gain from staying at your hotel. They’ll want to stay there more often, and they’ll want to tell their friends. Not only are you able to gain new customers that way, you also don’t have to worry about outsourcing your marketing efforts to a third party organization for onboarding.
You will also be able to track more effectively your sales transactions and the cycle in which you make more sales or less. In short, you might just be able to predict the future through patterns of purchase. You can put in more effort during your non-peak times like creating promotions to invite more people in. You’re improving your sales channel and methodology, and this is all because of CRM software.
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Provides you with tools tailored to your success
Your employees, not just your customers, are going to be grateful if you get CRM software. In more ways than one, the CRM software is the tangible bridge between the business and the customers. One of the best things about it is that it stores all the pieces of information that become relevant across all departments. Everyone benefits from CRM software in their own way. From the bottom line up to top management, this tool can provide you access to useful information. This promotes collaboration among all departments and employment levels. It helps promote transparency and makes their jobs a lot easier. It means they are happier. Happier employees provide better services to your customers.
Also, you have the freedom to customize the CRM tool however way you see fit in order to make sure that you have all the necessary features to run your business. You can add, remove, and modify functionalities before making that final decision.
Sharing is tremendously improved, and it becomes much easier and faster for information to be delivered to the concerned departments whenever necessary. With the right CRM software training, employees from different levels can maximize their potential to fulfill their respective roles. Guest relation officers can use CRM software on a daily basis to guide them when choosing the best approach that will yield the most favorable results in handling customers. This will guarantee that your customers and employees are both happier and easier to manage.
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Allows room for flexibility
With the help of CRM software, you gain more control over the structure of your company. For example, if you have gathered on your data that some guests are going to a particular tourist spot near your hotel, or if they are participating in a specific kind of tour package, then you can certainly make arrangements so that you can start offering those services. You can include them all in a bundle and let your customers enjoy more of your local scene.
Instead of this kind of business going elsewhere, you can claim it for yourself, and of course, more business means more profit. It will not only increase your guests, but it will also attract outsiders to take your package if they hadn’t thought about checking into your hotel already.
It’s true that customer relationship management software is a tool that can be used by several other industries to increase profit and improve customer loyalty. With the hotel industry’s efforts to keep a steady clientele through better guest relations, the CRM software can greatly help towards that goal.
Once you’ve finally decided that this is what you need and if you’re ready for the next step, go ahead and check out CrowdReviews.com for reviews of the best customer relationship management software in the market.
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