June 19, 2003
The Kessler Collection Locks in Repeat
Business with Enterprise CRM suite; Grand Bohemian
Rewards ‘Grand Performers’ based
on Feedback from 1,300 Guest Emails in Two Years
What do you do if your property is the reigning
number one Westin hotel out of 77 in North America
and winner of the prestigious Best in Brand Award
for 2002, and you want to repeat the achievement
in 2003, a feat that has never been accomplished
before in Westin’s history? You provide “positively
outrageous service.” At least that’s
what Stuart Newmark, General Manager of the upscale
Westin Grand Bohemian in downtown Orlando, Florida,
believes. The Grand Bohemian is one of eight luxury
properties in the Southeast owned and operated
by the well-known Kessler Collection of Grand Theme
Hotels.
 “We
take a proactive approach to our customers; we
establish a tone,” says Newmark, who credits
the hotel’s top employees, the ‘Grand
Performers,’ with the property’s winning
ranking, plus a new email CRM product that touches
the guest with personalized pre- and post-stay
messages. “By the time they come to this
hotel, they feel special; that’s a basic
human need. They want to share that emotional bond.
Before we introduced our online emails, we could
send a letter or a postcard, but it was cumbersome.
Now we have an Westin Grand Bohemian 325 S. Orange
Ave. Orlando, Florida automated way to make that
emotionalconnection and it’s a real ‘Wow!’”
Newmark is referring to a sophisticated customer
relationship management tool that uses graphical
Web page-like HTML emails to affordably establish
one-on-one personalized relationships with guests.
Visitors automatically receive a series of four
emails, tastefully customized: a confirmation right
after the reservation is made; a greeting ten days
before their stay inviting them to sample a property’s
amenities; a ‘thank you note’ within
24 hours after checkout wherein they may comment
on their stay and commend hotel staff; and a fourth
post-stay email ninety days after their visit offering
special packages, but not undercutting their current
rate if they are booked elsewhere in the system.
The Kessler Collection of properties includes The
Westin Grand Bohemian, Celebration Hotel, Casa
Monica, Sheraton Studio City, Doubletree Castle,
Hampton Inn Savannah, Red Horse Inn, William Kehoe
House, and The Mansion on Forsyth Park.
“Anytime a Grand Performer’s name is
mentioned in an email, I send them a personalized
Star Card, and their name goes into the monthly
lotto of earning gifts - movie passes or brunch
at the hotel,” explains Newmark. Both the
Grand Performers reward program, and the commitment
to use a CRM suite based on the Data2Gold e-Relationship
ManagerSM product from Digital Alchemy came from
corporate. Doug Smith, Director of Revenue Management,
E-Commerce and CRM at The Kessler Collection, says
that creating customer loyalty through personalized
communication and having an enterprise solution
are the chief benefits of the online system.
“We knew we needed an enterprise system,
like the tentacles of an octopus that bring data
back to the head,” says Smith, who immediately
integrated the company’s E-commerce and CRM
functions after his move from the property level
to corporate in the fall of 2002.
Email Touchpoints Drive Repeat Business
at Fraction of Cost of Courting New Customers
“One of the most important things any luxury hotel can do is maintain a
relationship with its previous guests and capitalize on the positive experience
they have had. The expense of attracting each new guest can be five to seven
times greater than persuading a previous guest to stay again.” Smith says,
and notes that, previously, hotels had to capture emails on their own or through
their property management systems, if possible.
 The
CRM software, which resides on a server at Digital
Alchemy’s corporate headquarters, periodically
scans each hotel’s Property Management System
(PMS) for guest information such as name, email
address, and details of previous and upcoming stays,
including a history of guest preferences and revenue-generating
activities. This information is extracted and used
in automatically creating and sending customized
emails to guests, and in collecting data for management
reporting.
In fact, another key benefit of the CRM software
is its ability to interface to, and centralize
data from, any of the various PMS systems used
in the Grand Theme Hotels. “Our email-based
CRM system has enabled us to create an integrated
cross-platform solution at the corporate level,” Smith
says. “We are now able to automatically consolidate
important guest information across our organization
from the different PMS systems -- including those
used by Starwood, Hilton, and Preferred Hotels
-- that cannot talk directly with one another,
and consolidate it for use in management reporting
and in marketing initiatives such as cross-selling.”
In addition to the core Data2Gold e-Relationship
Manager product, Smith also uses two other modules – Full
HouseSM and QuickSilver Data WizardSM to market
to previous guests. “The QuickSilver Wizard
allows us to understand our guests in such a way
that we can market back to them correctly,” says
Smith. “We use the Full House component to
drive revenue via guests who have already experienced
a property. Right now we are working with Digital
Alchemy to refresh exciting offerings to guests
once a quarter.”
The Full House module helps hotels build occupancy
by sending targeted email marketing messages to
previous guests at the times they are most likely
to be interested in receiving them. Digital Alchemy’s
software uses guest information from a hotel’s
Property Management System (PMS), such as how far
in advance guests booked their previous visits,
how much they paid, days of the week they traveled
and stayed, etc. This information helps determine
the best offer to send and when to send it. Unlike
email “spam,” Full House sends emails
infrequently and only when guests are likely to
be most receptive. All communication with guests
is first approved by hotel personnel, and consistent
with existing marketing efforts. A key benefit
of Full House is an increase in occupancy during
non-peak seasons.
The QuickSilver Data Wizard extracts valuable guest
information from a PMS, generates reports and delivers
them immediately by email to a hotel’s management
team. Specialized reports include: guest demographics,
guest email addresses, accurate ADR, VIP and frequent-stay
demographics, arriving/departing VIP, travel agent
performance, plus other standard and customized
reports.
The Westin Grand Bohemian’s GM, Newmark concludes, “We
get a significant number of email responses to
our invitation to comment on our property’s
guest service -- 1,300 in the last two years --
and many of them are quite remarkable. In my 24-year
career as a hotel general manager, I have never
seen such emotional, heartfelt comments about how
outstanding our hotel and especially our employees
are. It’s a great tool for us to be able
to ascertain immediately the level of satisfaction
of our customers. The old days of getting a piece
of paper mailed to you are gone.”
For further information contact:
Mary Kenny
The Kessler Collection
7380 Sand Lake Road, Suite 120
Orlando, FL 32819
Phone: (407) 996-9942
Mobile: (321) 230-1707
Email: mkenny@grandthemehotels.com
http://www.grandthemehotels.com/
or
Kathryn McGrath
Phone: 817.249.0757
E-Mail: kmcgrath@data2gold.com |
