How independent hotels can win direct bookings. With the explosion of the “digital way of life,” the traveler’s customer journey has become increasingly complex, which…
From the article…..
While I like this article I would love to see more travel companies focus on brand building and product.
Here are some marketing initiatives in this category:
- CRM marketing initiatives with pre-, in- and post-stay messaging aiming to engage the customer, remind of booked services, inform of hotel location, local tours and activities during stay, recommend and upsell services, and make sure guest experience is at its best.
Segmenting customers by traits can yield some ‘not so obvious’ answers about why people buy. Putting people first can yield better product-market fit and less reliance on media. Traits tell us what will delight them.
- Upselling and engagement marketing initiatives.
Same answer segmentation by traits drives better up-selling of the right product to the right person.
- Marketing automation with drip and event-triggered marketing initiatives.
Something that is needed. But watch the over-reliance on media and what marketing should be doing. Shall I say, product again?
- Guest recognition programs.
- Loyalty marketing initiatives.
Loyalty and the old satisfaction profit chain model, just updated with A modern approach to CRM can make this quite valuable.
Travel is an exciting vertical. It’s overdue for a rebuild as it’s been 20 years of the same basic methodologies. Companies that do not invest in customer delight and product will find it much harder to mask these problems.