Automate Your Marketing to Improve Guest Interaction

Thanks to these advances, hoteliers are now able to optimize their time and conversion rates. Hotel technology offers many benefits and allows hoteliers to quickly adjust rates to market conditions, optimizing pricing. This capacity for analysis and market knowledge, as well as the ability to implement actions 24/7, is only possible with automated systems. Hotel marketing automation has arrived to optimize certain tasks, minimize errors and reduce costs associated with mechanical tasks.

Hoteliers now have the ability to communicate at the right moment. Tools like email marketing and SMS allow you to be at the right place and time, helping you drive conversions.In a very interesting article for Tecnohotel magazine, Emilio Galan, our CTO at BEONx, commented on the topic of hotel marketing automation and machine learning.  

Here are key factors to keep in mind when using hotel technology to learn about guest behaviour and automate marketing actions:

• Analyze behavior with lead nurturing and scoring. By using a strategic lead scoring system, you can track how potential customers interact with your hotel, maximize relationships with prospects by sending customized marketing material, and ultimately increase sales. This system also lets you pinpoint where your lead is within your hotel’s sales funnel- all in real time. Having all this information in one place will make it easier for you to understand your customer and be more targeted and strategic in your communications.

• Segment guests by purpose of visit.  By segmenting guests by purpose of visit, you can understand what incentivizes travelers to book with your hotel. This information is also useful in hotel operations, particularly with product design and campaign planning. By determining what motivates guests to book, hoteliers can tailor their product to attract more guests to their hotel.

• Segment by guest purchase history data. Tracking guest expenses can give you valuable information regarding your hotel. For example, you can identify what kind of products and services your guests are most interested in and determine their level of spending. Thanks to this information, you can group your guests based on similar needs and level of spending to create micro niches.

• Interact with prospects at the right time. Determine the moments the traveler is most sensitive and most likely to book a hotel room. Demand for certain periods is usually seasonal so it’s important to consider when communications are sent. Micro-moments  is a concept closely related to the time factor in automation and something Google highly considers in the relationship between hotel and traveler.

• Revitalize previous leads. Lead nurturing is the building of relationships with individuals who are not currently ready to buy so that they become a future customer. For hotels, the goal is to educate the prospect, build their awareness of your hotel and its products and services, and build trust, making it more likely that the client will choose you when it’s time to book a hotel room. Lead nurturing targets prospects and helps focus your efforts on those who have really shown interest in your hotel, thus reducing guest acquisition costs. An interesting idea worth exploring is to forward prospects who show a real interest in booking with your hotel to automated systems like call centers.

• Use the destination as a reference. Automating processes on specific dates (that are time-sensitive) can be decisive. It’s important to offer special promotions during key moments of the year, especially for products and services that will give you the most visibility at the right time. This is essential for specific locations as it will generate the right demand.

• Reward guest loyalty. Guest loyalty and automated reward programs are great ways your hotel can ensure guest retention and encourage active purchases. One of the top deciding factors that influence guests when booking a hotel is a hotel loyalty program. These programs help you take care of your guests. Remember, when guests are satisfied they are more likely to become brand ambassadors.

• Collect guest reviews after the trip. Sending follow-up emails to guests is a great way to collect valuable feedback on your hotel. By doing this, you promote your guests to write hotel reviews on Tripadvisor or on online travel agencies like Booking.com.

• Update travelers with email reminders. Improve your hotel’s value proposition by anticipating your guests’ needs and reducing wait time. Provide content they will find interesting or offer special products or services based on your guests’ needs. Sending automated communications to your guests is an inexpensive and easy way to keep your guests satisfied and boost your hotel’s profits.

• Have a content marketing strategy. The ideal situation would be to plan a content automation strategy and publish according to a campaign calendar. Your strategy’s effectiveness will be determined by the content you choose and the frequency and timing to post new content. At the same time, by automating publishing on social media you can drive more traffic.

Use these ideas to determine how your product or team could fit within this planning strategy. If you have the right resources, automate your marketing strategy. By doing so, you’ll save time, drastically reduce human errors, and be able to focus on other important tasks, like improving your hotel’s overall profitability.