Let's Make It Personal

There is no shortage of articles in hotel industry websites and blog telling you that "personalisation" is the way towards recovery or success.

Yes, they're probably right.  Personalisation IS important when you're trying to sell to people.  We all like being treated as individuals.  We all like it when it appears as though we really matter to someone else.  In the absence of eye contact, you can use a name and you can use what you know about behaviour.

(Before you post a comment that you can use eye contact online if you use Zoom/Teams/etc - yes you can but you need to be really, really careful - I promise you I'll address this in another blog post, let's just restrict ourselves to personalisation by name and behaviour today)

I like getting emails from people who use my first name and spell it correctly.  It's an important first step for me.  When an organisation has taken the time to associate my name with their message and has...

An interesting article appeared online recently (you can read it here) about how a Marriott executive views what is needed if hotels are to recover from the effects of the COVID pandemic.

In the article the chap from Marriott talks about a few things which should really matter to you if you're serious about rebuilding your hotel business.  Let's face it, who isn't?

Go Local - Be a "Drive-To" Destination

The importance of domestic tourism is highlighted.  With "drive-to" destinations being a critical marketing consideration.  "Identify local trends and adapt" seems to matter to Marriott in this sense.

We can forgive his use of the term, "hyperlocal strategies" (no, I don't know what this means either...) because he goes on to talk about the same things we like to talk about at hotelDPO.

He says his hotels are going to be, "Mitigating uncertaintainties by relying on data."

Knowing The Value Of Data

Now don't forget, this is the same Marriott which allowed an ongoing...

Consent

Do you intend to contact prospective customers by email, by text message or by telephone?

Then you will usually need their consent before you do it.  The management of consent, together with understanding when you need it and when you don’t, is of critical importance for direct marketers.  For hoteliers, direct marketing is your alternative to abdicating your marketing to an online travel agent and paying them more in commission for selling your rooms than you’ll earn from operating them.  Direct marketing means attracting customers you can call your own.

Who Owns What?

If you’re going to attract them using electronic methods, it is likely you will need their consent to use their email address or phone number.  These things are considered personal data and it is your prospective customer who decides how they will be used.  Not you.  All you can do is ask for permission to borrow their personal data for a while.

Look around a...