PMS, CRS, RMS, CM, BI… these are all familiar acronyms that often take precedence over the implementation of a CRM tool—Customer Relationship Management— which is more complex to set up and much more demanding to feed and leverage to maximize its benefits.
Most hotel operators, more or less consciously, hide behind the loyalty programs of major hotel chains, convinced that these programs provide an appropriate solution to the need for recognition, personalization, and identification of guests. The volume of loyalty card holders in major networks is often linked to a form of close loyalty with the brands and establishments of a given group.
The reality is more mixed, even though significant marketing efforts are made to make programs like ALL, BonVoy, Hilton Honors, IHG Rewards, and World of Hyatt effective tools, offering original or even exceptional proposals to “burn” accumulated points.
While loyalty programs are naturally associated with CRMs, they are only an extension of them and, by nature, reserved for companies with large networks and numerous establishments. When questioned at the EquipHotel 2024 trade show about their intentions regarding technological equipment, hoteliers overwhelmingly highlighted RMS, which is supposed to generate better revenue immediately, far ahead of CRM, which manages daily and long-term guest relationships.
The concepts of regularity and the long term are essential for the use of a CRM tool:
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A CRM that is fed from the PMS or directly from the CRS through the customer data it can extract.
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A CRM that expresses itself through transactional or marketing emails sent with the right message to the right customers, or via SMS when the relationship has already become more intimate, as well as on social media through relevant posts for the identified segments.
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A CRM that strengthens its effectiveness through customer satisfaction surveys.
Thus, a well-fed and well-exploited…
