According to Internet World Stats (www.internetworldstats.com), there are over 1.9 billion Internet Users (roughly 28.7% of the world’s population). Over 77% of the North American population uses the Internet, followed by Oceania/Australia (61.3%) and Europe (58.4%) with the highest levels. As of July 2010, 500 million people all around the world are actively using Facebook to stay connected with their friends and the people around them. There are now over 100 million Twitter accounts, tweeting 65 million messages per day.

Does your hospitality organization have an Internet strategy? That’s a loaded question. That’s because, today, there are various components to the Internet. First, most hotels are available to be booked on travel agency systems (GDSs) and other online travel agencies (OTAs) like Expedia, Orbitz, Travelocity, along with thousands of others. In fact, approximately 90 million American adults planned travel during the past year, with 76 percent of them using the Internet to plan their trip. Most online travel planners are somewhat or extremely satisfied with their experiences in using the Internet to plan their trips. Importantly, most see the Internet as a very useful or essential tool for planning many/most aspects of a trip including where to stay overnight, planning travel routes, potential places to visit, attractions to visit, as well as learning about what to do. The primary tools for travel planning are online travel agency websites, search engines, company websites and destination websites. Airline tickets, overnight lodging accommodations and car rentals are the dominant travel products and services purchased online by travel planners. (Source: Travelers’ Use of the Internet)

Your organization’s website probably provides your customers the ability to book rooms directly. But, is that all it does? As the general public becomes more Internet savvy, it is more important than ever to position and represent your hotel properly on your website, while providing plenty of features and functionality. For example, in addition to pictures and directions, does your website allow you to communicate and exchange information with your customers? Can they make changes to their profile? Update their preferences? Manage past and future stays? Get a copy of a past folio? Make service requests?

A Customer Portal is a consumer-facing application that offers stay-aware content and self-service options for hotel guests and customers. It can also be extended to include links to your hotel’s web booking engine, car rental reservations or airline check-in options, thus providing your customers with a single access point to all their travel online. It’s been established that people are more likely to provide details about themselves (phone numbers, email address, birthdays, likes, dislikes) in a secure Internet environment than in a paper questionnaire or face-to-face interview. Embedding a Customer Portal into your website provides this security to your guests along with upcoming reservation information to print property maps, directions or even coordinate airport pick-up. Additionally, your customers may request room assignments, review concierge offerings and make activity reservations for their stay.

A Customer Portal can also provide a set of applications that are stay-specific. These features allow your in-house guests to learn about hotel amenities, along with local attractions, weather and maps. Customers can request housekeeping services or review their bills. They can even schedule spa appointments, golf tee times and other activities at the click of a button. From dining reservations and room service to posting their online survey, customers can directly customize their stay. And, for those guests that have already checked out, they are able to view past stay information and guest folios, sign up for email offers, post travel reviews and update their stay preferences for future visits.

A Customer Portal can also become an integral part of your loyalty and rewards program by offering program members a way to view and manage their membership data online, redeem reward points, purchase gift certificates and request room upgrades.

And here’s the best feature. A Customer Portal can integrate seamlessly with your Customer Relationship Management application. What’s the benefit? All information such as guest preferences, service requests, activity reservations or survey results is then automatically reflected on your customer’s profile, triggering any pre-defined task assignments and workflow rules.

What’s your go-forward website strategy? A simple booking engine doesn’t cut it any longer. Your customers are demanding more, and a Customer Portal can deliver.

How well do you know your customer? In a hotel’s attempt to offer a high level of guest service, I’m often asked when checking in, “Have you stayed with us before?” When I reply “Yes,” it is often followed by “Welcome back” or “It is good to see you again,” together with “As you know then the restaurant opens at 6:00 AM” or some other item they feel is important to tell me. Shouldn’t they already know I’ve stayed with them before?

This tells me that the hotel is not practicing effective customer relationship management. Wouldn’t a better interaction be once I tell them who I am, “Welcome back, Mr. Hopkins. Your requests and preferences have been noted. Please let me know if there is anything additional you require during your stay. And, we’ve recently introduced a new Executive Chef in our restaurant so be sure to check out the new menu.”

You probably spend thousands of marketing and email dollars every year trying to earn your customer’s loyalty. To have that relationship ruined by one simple question is obviously a bad business practice. Ideally, the only time your guests should be asked, “Have you stayed with us before?” is if there is no indication of any previous history. An answer of “Yes” should trigger the guest services agent to dig a little deeper in matching the reservation with the CRM profile, while a confirming “No” answer should invoke the standard welcome your guest services agent normally goes through in orienting new guests to the hotel.

Effective CRM allows your organization to develop a one-to-one relationship with each and every customer. It allows you to “learn” your guest’s preferences, requests, comments, spending habits, booking patterns, etc. from their stays or activities at all of your hotels, restaurants, golf courses, spa and other venues. From a CRM technology perspective, the key is to have connectivity to all systems that contain the customer’s profile (CRS, PMS, Spa, Golf, Dining Room Reservation, Service Optimization, Concierge, etc.) allowing you to have a 360-degree profile of that customer. This will provide you with information you need to make specific, targeted email offers and other suggestions to that customer, and anticipate their requests and requirements to insure a positive stay experience.

Knowing your customer may be even more important in the reservations office. When taking a reservation on the telephone or via your organization’s website, it’s vital that you know WHO is inquiring before knowing WHEN they want to stay. Wouldn’t you agree that establishing and maintaining repeat business is one of the most important, if not the most, aspects of a successful hospitality organization? You need to understand the value of your individual customer. How much business have they given you in the past? How much can you expect to have them in the future? Shouldn’t some of your most loyal and valuable guests always have a room, or table, or tee-time, or appointment available to them? One easy way to lose a customer is to open up the opportunity to let them try out your competition.

This happened to me. My business takes me to Miami for meetings at least 9 times per year. I, typically, stay at the same hotel for 2 to 3 nights each time. In addition, others in my company stay at the same hotel. I would estimate, that as a result, we give the property 100 room nights per year. Not a huge amount of business, but significant. Several months ago, I booked a reservation at the hotel. The website told me that the first 2 nights were available, but the property was sold out on the third night. I went ahead and booked my reservation. When I arrived, I inquired about the third night. The guest services agent recognized me and told me that he would leave a note for the General Manager, and they would let me know. I hadn’t heard anything, so on the third morning I inquired about my status. I was told that I would have to checkout, and that if anything opened up during the day they would call me. Later that afternoon, they did call me. But, out of necessity, I had already arranged a room at another hotel and they lost my business. I was treated as just another customer, without regard to if this was my first visit or my one-hundredth visit. To my surprise, I was more satisfied with my accommodations and rate at the competitor’s hotel and have therefore stayed at that hotel ever since, together with others from my organization. What’s amazing is that I’ve not received any communication from the original hotel asking me “Why don’t you stay with us anymore?”

Summary

CRM is the only effective way to know your customer. Once your guest checks out, it is easy to lose touch with them until they make another reservation. Central reservation and property management systems do a great job at recording upcoming and past stays, but most are limited. This information needs to be shared with the customer relationship management system so that you can predict, prepare, communicate, and serve your guest. It is with CRM that you truly “Know Your Customer.”