A CRM for hotel is not something unique, you can find the same kind of software in any other industry. Generally, CRM stands for Customer Relationship Management, and this title speaks for itself. The main purpose of these applications is to administer provider-client interactions at every stage of the customer's lifecycle. This means that quality software should cover every aspect of these relationships. You should be able to initiate and
continue communication with leads and customers without any obstacles, gather and store users' data, manage sales opportunities and marketing campaigns, deal with clients' issues and complaints. However, the hospitality industry requires a delicate approach to client management. Therefore, you might want to pay attention to some specific functional requirements before making your choice.
Must-have Characteristics of a Hotel CRM
Existing standards demand that a contemporary hotel CRM should be:
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Cross-platform with the ability to integrate and synchronize with other applications and services. Globalization and technological progress made it possible to work without being attached to a certain place or device. So, why not use it as an advantage? Manage your clients remotely, access everything you need from Gmail, Evernote, Dropbox, Trello, etc.
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With multiple communication channels. Contemporary world offers a variety of means to contact somebody. Of course, conventional texts, e-mails, and calls are good, but sometimes using messengers or social media could be more efficient.
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Automated. Modern technologies offer unprecedented opportunities when it comes to process automation. You can afford to no longer spend time and effort on manually setting up or launching such things as notifications and reminders, marketing campaigns, and repeated tasks.
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Easy to use. Surely, a multifunctional CRM is good, but it also should be easy to navigate, so you can access everything within a click without turning to instructions, manuals, and FAQs every 15 minutes.
Essential Features of a Hotel CRM
Of course, an efficient hotel CRM should be designed to coordinate the actions of different departments and present stakeholders with all the necessary information at the same time. Hence, it should become your toolkit with ready-to-use solutions for every occasion:
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A comprehensive client database. Impress guests with the knowledge of their room preferences, build trust by keeping in mind their habits and taking care of their complaints, keep in touch with travelers between stays to make them feel welcome.
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Marketing. Use customers' info to make messaging warmer and more personal, analyze behavioral patterns, gather feedback, initiate automated campaigns, especially if you have a seasonal business.
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Sales. Identify lead sources, study sales reports, dashboards, and sales funnel, track unpaid invoices, issue quotes, and do many other things to ensure that your business is blooming.
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Task management, reporting, and HR instruments. Managing relationships with customers also implies administering your employees, starting with managers and ending with maids. Assign tasks, delegate resources, evaluate performance with checklists, activity reports, Gantt charts, and Kanban boards, calculate work hours, use every available tool to identify weak spots and boost your productivity.
Exploring B2C CRMs for Hotels
When we talk about Business to Customer (B2C) hotel CRM, we imply that it should focus on communication with private guests that come to stay at your facility. This means that more attention should be paid to give B2C interactions a more personal touch. That's why having detailed customer profiles and a complete history of interactions, alongside a wide range of marketing features, should be a priority when it comes to this kind of CRM.
If you're searching for a B2C CRM solution for your hotel, these are some of your best options:
Bitrix24
This CRM is designed to accommodate every need of your business. You can have unlimited customer records and unlimited users 100% free. Enjoy the benefits of marketing automation, customizable e-mail templates, phone call recording, helpdesk, instant messaging, and mail integration for individual e-mails.
ZDirect
This guest management solution takes personalization to the next level. It creates user profiles, analyzes their preferences, and edits the messages accordingly. In addition, it issues recommendations on deals, upgrades, and offers that a particular guest might find interesting.
For-sight
This system is incredibly scrupulous. It thoroughly studies the clients' data and then uses it to add an individual touch to each message. You can also adjust the application's settings, so it can ask guests to send feedback. All the received information will be stored and used to improve provider-customer relationships.
Guestfolio
This software prefers a smart approach to combining acquired travelers' info with marketing automation. It allows you to gain control of all the aspects of B2C interactions by providing you with a comprehensive analysis of the guests' profiles. With Guestfolio's set of tools, your marketing campaigns will always be perfectly tailored.
Revinate
This application was created solely for hotels. Therefore, its developers kept their specific needs in mind. Eliminate the guessing element from your marketing strategy. With this ultimate toolkit for analyzing guests' preferences, you will constantly have helpful insights into your clients' behavioral patterns.
Choosing a B2B CRM for a Hotel
A Business to Business (B2B) CRM allows your hotel to manage relationships with corporate clients. Companies aren't interested only in finding accommodation, they often look for catering, conference halls, and many other additional services. Plus, as the number of people involved grows, business interactions also start to call for a functional upgrade. Of course, you still need to store information on your customers and use it for marketing purposes, but you should also have event planning, task management, and reporting tools.
If you want to obtain a B2B CRM, start with reviewing these solutions:
Bitrix24
Indeed, Bitrix24 is a complex CRM software with more than 35 tools at your disposal to keep your customers happy and satisfied. Work with leads efficiently, access all the data and documents within a click, issue quotes and invoices, use the extensive capabilities of an event planner, shared schedules and calendars, task and project management instruments, sales and marketing automation, and a wide range of internal/external communication channels to maintain long-term and trusting relationships with your clients.
Salesforce
This application is widely recognized for its integration capabilities and an impressive selection of features and services. This makes it so well-suited for B2B interactions. Use marketing automation, more human and personalized customer support, and advanced lead management to keep your corporate customers satisfied and increase profits.
Amadeus
This software is specifically designed to accommodate large events. As soon as it obtains all the data on the upcoming gathering, it distributes the details to the departments involved, so everyone from catering and event planners to sales and maintenance could join their forces to make this go as smooth and joyful as possible.
Sales Suite
This solution is swift, mobile, and simple. Isn't it great to receive regular updates and notifications with customers' data, even if you are on the go or work remotely? Moreover, it handles every request for proposal (RFP) immediately, so you wouldn't miss a promising new business opportunity.
Tripleseat
This is a new, yet promising player on the hotel CRM's market. It specializes mostly in event management, but you can also use it as an organizing, planning, and reporting tool. Its main advantage is that it covers every activity of your hotel. It can deal with restaurant bookings and lodging requests, or generate proposals for your new marketing campaign.
