How You Can Use The Email Facility In Your Hotel Management Software.
Most, if not all, hotel management software packages contain an email module allowing your business to do some very sophisticated email marketing. However, in many hotels, motels, and BnBs simply ignore that powerful feature.
How do I know this? My personal experience! When staying at a hotel or motel, I always give my email address.
Only a single time in the last 20 years has a hotel contacted me!
At that hotel, I got an email from the General Manager welcoming me and offering to help with anything I needed. I have stayed in that city several times since and not stayed in that hotel again. Why not? It is in the downtown area of a major city and I simply wanted to be in a more convenient location for my travels.
However, that hotel has never made me an offer inviting me to stay there again in my travels. Not even an invitation, let alone an attractive discount or bonus.
Failure to effectively use email in your hotel, motel, or Bed-and-Breakfast business is a serious marketing mistake.
Email is not only effective, but it is also a relatively inexpensive marketing tool, especially when compared to radio, TV, and other forms of local advertising.
Of course, it must be properly designed and set up. However, once this is done, much of the process can be automated. This can best be done on your own website but, if you own a franchise, you must check your franchise agreement to see what the permissions and restrictions that agreement places on your own website.
The franchise may provide an optional branded website for your use that can likely be used very effectively within the franchise agreement.
Of course, the customer’s email address must be entered properly. However, if the reservation has been made online, that email address is likely already entered by the customer him or herself. If the reservation has been made by phone, your receptionist can ask for it and enter it at the time of the call. If the email address is not already in the system, it can and should be requested and added at the customer’s arrival as part of the registration process.
As the email address is entered, various delivery packages will allow you to “tag” the customer name and address various ways essential to proper use of the information.
For example, you can tag the entry with the event the customer is attending, such as a particular wedding, company meeting, holiday, etc. This information will be used for follow-up contacts and offers.
We will have more about this in Part 2.
Here is to your facility being the dominant, most successful, hotel business in your marketplace!
May you have a wonderfully profitable business!
Your Hotel Marketing Dominator Team
Robbie Meek and Paul Elliott
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