In the hospitality industry, managing relationships is crucial for business success. Memorable experiences translate into positive reviews, driving more guests to your hotel. A CRM system is indispensable for facilitating good customer service and offering support in reservation management and marketing efforts, among other tasks.
In this article, we explain hotel CRM and explore its core functionalities and the benefits it brings. We will also review five hotel CRM systems and guide you through the implementation process.
What is hotel CRM?
A hotel customer relationship management (CRM) system is a specialized software that helps hotels manage interactions with guests and potential customers. While sharing some features with a standard CRM, like customer data management and lead tracking, a hotel CRM includes additional tools tailored specifically for the unique needs of the hospitality industry. Let's explore this functionality in more detail.
Key features and functionality
A hotel CRM includes features aimed at improving guest satisfaction and streamlining various aspects of hotel operations.
Main modules of a hotel CRM
Guest profile management. CRMs centralize guest data from various touchpoints, like a hotel website, front desk, or online travel agencies (OTAs), to create profiles that include contact details, stay history, and room and amenity preferences. Throughout the guest's stay, the CRM system updates guest profiles with data from each interaction.
When guest data is scattered across multiple systems or stored in various formats, it is challenging for hotel staff to access and utilize it effectively. Comprehensive guest profiles within the CRM prevent valuable information from being overlooked or lost.
Guest segmentation. Hotel CRM systems categorize guests into different groups based on various criteria such as demographics, booking history, preferences, and spending patterns. This segmentation allows hotels to tailor marketing campaigns, promotions, packages, and services to meet the unique needs and preferences of each segment.
Reservation management. Hotel staff can view, make, modify, or cancel bookings directly within the CRM interface while being sure that all changes are synchronized across all systems.
Guest communication. CRMs streamline hotel communication with guests throughout their entire lifecycle, including the following stages: consideration, booking, pre-arrival, check-in, stay experience, checkout, and post-stay.
Hotel guest lifecycle
Hotels keep guests informed and engaged using different channels—emails, SMS, messengers, social media, etc. For example, pre-arrival emails can include check-in instructions and personalized recommendations based on the guest's profile.
Marketing automation. Hotel CRM systems can automate marketing initiatives across various channels, such as email campaigns and messages triggered by certain guest actions or events, for example, a satisfaction survey after check-out or a special offer on the guest's birthday. Hotels can also send targeted promotions to nurture leads and encourage them to make a booking.
Reputation management. Using CRMs, hotels can monitor, analyze, and respond to guest reviews and comments across various online platforms and communication channels. Hotel staff can craft personalized responses, addressing any concerns or issues. By acknowledging all kinds of feedback and demonstrating a commitment to integrity, hotels enhance their reputation and foster positive guest relationships.
Read more about hotel reputation maangement best practices and technologies in a separate post.
Reporting and analytics. Consolidating data, such as guest profiles, booking history, and customer feedback, CRMs generate reports that offer a holistic view of guest experiences. With organized data, hotels can monitor trends, assess the effectiveness of marketing campaigns, and make informed decisions to adapt business strategies.
For example, analyzing feedback from corporate travelers allows hotels to identify areas for improvement, such as upgrading meeting rooms or investing in more stable Wi-Fi.
Integration with other systems. A hotel CRM integrates with a variety of other platforms to enhance its functionality. For example, in the case of connection with property management systems (PMS), any updates or changes made in either system are immediately reflected in the other. Booking data, guest profiles, and room details are synchronized in real time, eliminating the need for manual data entry and reducing the risk of discrepancies.
Other common integrations include email marketing platforms, point-of-sale (POS) systems, front desk software, and event management systems.
Now that we've explored the functionalities of hotel CRMs, let's discuss the tangible advantages hotels can gain from implementing a robust CRM system.
The advantages of a hotel CRM
Harnessing the capabilities of a hotel CRM platform translates into powerful benefits that ultimately contribute to the hotel's success.
Improved guest satisfaction. By leveraging guest profiles and preferences stored in the CRM, hotels can offer specialized services and anticipate guest needs. Personalized experience and post-stay follow-ups lead to customer loyalty and positive reviews.
Revenue growth. Building meaningful relationships with guests results in positive word-of-mouth referrals and repeat bookings in the future. Regular communication via emails or text messages also increases the likelihood of direct bookings rather than through third-party platforms.
Another way CRMs drive revenue growth is by diminishing marketing costs—repeat customers often require less convincing because they're already familiar with your brand and have a positive impression of your services.
Enhanced operational efficiency. As mentioned in the previous section, CRM systems simplify and streamline reservation management, communication workflows, and reporting processes. This saves time and resources, reduces manual errors, and improves staff productivity.
By embracing CRM technologies, hotels can not only meet but exceed guest expectations while driving growth and staying competitive in the market.
Best CRM software for hotels
When choosing a CRM platform for your hotel, it's important to consider your objectives first. Look for a solution that fits your operational requirements, budget, and property type and has seamless integration with the systems you already use. Consider the quality of customer service delivered by the CRM provider, as hotels depend on prompt and reliable support for technical assistance, troubleshooting, and system customization.
Multi-language support is another critical factor, especially for hotels catering to tourists from different countries. Finally, consider ease of use—you can check out online reviews and request a demo to evaluate the platform's usability.
A general overview of hotel CRM systems
In this section, we'll review five hotel CRM platforms, highlighting their standout features, pricing, and reviews from Hotel Tech Report and G2. We've selected the most popular CRM tools specializing in hospitality, omitting general-purpose options like HubSpot, Zoho, Salesforce, etc.
Revinate: AI chatbot understanding sentiments and multiplatform feedback management
Revinate offers solutions for hotel groups and large independent hotels, serving over 12,000 businesses globally. The platform focuses on reputation and feedback management.
Standout features. Revinate gathers guest reviews across multiple channels like Booking.com and TripAdvisor, allowing the hotel to respond to feedback from one dashboard. The platform includes an AI-powered chatbot called Ivy that automatically answers frequently asked questions. It supports two-way communication and leverages sentiment analysis to generate human-like responses.
AltexSoft has developed a sentiment analysis tool specifically for hotel amenities. To explore this in detail, you can view the case study here.
Revinate also helps hotels create targeted upsell offers for rooms and amenities. The platform supports multiple languages, including Arabic, German, English, French, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Dutch, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Thai, Turkish, and Chinese (Simplified).
Based on reviews, Revinate has great customer service response times but faces issues with delayed feature updates and is considered pricey for small businesses.
Pricing. A custom quote is available on request, with the platform positioned at an above-average price point within the industry.
Sojern: AI-powered segmentation to define most promising guests
Sojern, an AI-powered marketing and guest experience platform, helps hotels and resorts of all sizes maximize ancillary revenue and optimize advertising investments by targeting the right customer segments.
Standout features. Sojern allows properties to up-sell or cross-sell ancillary products with ready-to-use promotional marketing templates. The platform also offers a feature called AI-Powered Audiences, which analyzes guest data to define the most promising customer segments, helping hotels focus marketing efforts on those most likely to book. It also maintains personalized interactions after booking, identifies previous guests for re-engagement, and learns from their booking behaviors to refine its predictive models over time.
Sojern's AI Smart Concierge provides 24/7 concierge services, handling tasks like room service scheduling and restaurant upselling with over 1000 automated responses. Another prominent feature is Reputation Manager, which allows you to gather guest feedback and respond to reviews, automatically directing real-time issues to the appropriate staff members for quick resolution. It provides access to over 100 OTA sites, enabling hotels to monitor reviews across multiple platforms.
The tool supports English, French, Italian, German, and Spanish languages. According to client feedback, Sojern excels in customer support, with representatives praised for their patience and fast responses. The platform is user-friendly but has limitations in editing templates.
Pricing. A custom quote is available on request, with the platform positioned at an average price point within the industry.
Experience Hotel: Unified view of information for hotel groups
Experience Hotel is a CRM system that enhances reputation management and cultivates customer loyalty for hotel groups and restaurants.
Standout features. Experience Hotel centralizes customer information with the UCR (Unique Customer Repository) and encourages hotels to communicate with guests throughout their journey, monitoring satisfaction levels. The platform offers personalized templates for automated email campaigns based on guest segmentation. It also analyzes the hotel's reputation and identifies trends by monitoring ratings, reviews, and online positions across multiple platforms.
Ideal for hotel groups, the system allows you to centralize information from various business software into a single database, offering a centralized view of all hotels within a group. You can distribute access to hotel managers based on their respective establishments.
Based on testimonials, Experience Hotel offers quick implementation and has a highly responsive support team. However, some clients noticed a minor technicality—at times, guests don't receive pre-stay messages automatically.
Pricing. In comparison to competitors, Experience Hotel has a lower price, making it an affordable solution for small establishments. The Guest Relation pack (€130/$142 per month + €1 per room) includes tools for guest communication. The Marketing pack (€105/$115 per month + €1 per room) is for email campaigns. The All-in-one CRM pack (€210/$230 per month + €1 per room) combines the features from both plans.
Cendyn CRM: Guest lifetime value calculator and personalized itinerary building
Cendyn's customer management platform offers a detailed analysis of guest data for hotel chains, large and medium-sized independent hotels, boutique hotels, and hotel casinos.
Standout features. Cendyn CRM helps hoteliers calculate guest lifetime value (the total value a guest brings to a hotel throughout their relationship).
Audience Builder allows hotels to customize audience segments, personalize messaging, and ensure timely interactions using geolocation targeting. With access to over 200 filters and customizable events, hotels can create personalized customer journeys using the Journey Builder feature.
Cendyn CRM enables hotels to communicate with guests via email, SMS, WhatsApp, and social media. The platform also provides tools like KPI Manager, Custom Dashboards, and Cross-portfolio Reporting to gain real-time insights into guest activities across marketing efforts. This includes monitoring bookings, revenue, guest histories, and commissions saved.
According to feedback, Cendyn CRM stands out for its user-friendly interface, especially in email marketing design tools, featuring an intuitive drag-and-drop editor. The continuous addition of new functionalities is also prominent. On the other hand, clients noted longer support turnaround times for larger projects.
Pricing. A custom quote is available on request, with the platform positioned at an above-average price point within the industry.
Amadeus GMS: Rich library of customizable templates and comprehensive reporting
Amadeus' Guest Management Solutions (GMS) is a tool focused on guest communication and marketing. The platform primarily caters to large conglomerates rather than smaller businesses.
Standout features. Amadeus GMS includes an email marketing platform with a library of downloadable templates for various email communications like transactions, marketing, loyalty, and promotions. It also supports messaging across various channels, such as Facebook, WeChat, and SMS. The platform leverages customizable templates for confirmations, cancellations, modifications, and pre-stay/post-stay messages to align with your hotel's branding and guest communication preferences.
Amadeus GMS allows hotels to create and send guest satisfaction surveys and has TripAdvisor and Google integrations to manage feedback and reputation more effectively. Additionally, Amadeus GMS provides comprehensive reports on various aspects of marketing performance from different channels and campaigns, including revenue reporting.
As per user reviews, Amadeus GMS offers smooth integrations with third-party platforms and efficient customer support services. The issues arise with unintuitive reporting tools and restrictions on template editing.
Pricing. The price is available on request for a custom quote.
How to implement a hotel CRM
Previously, we highlighted the key factors to bear in mind when choosing a hotel CRM. However, implementing a new solution involves not only a few additional but also crucial aspects to ensure seamless integration and optimal utilization in the hotel's operations.
Data migration. Whether you’re adopting a new CRM system or switching from an old one, data migration is a critical step in the implementation process. It involves transferring guest information, reservation history, and other relevant data from your current systems or manual records to the new CRM platform. This task typically falls on a hotel’s IT department or external specialists, with the hotel’s management overseeing the process.
Testing the software. Before fully deploying a new CRM system in the hotel's operations, you should conduct thorough testing to identify possible bugs or glitches. Detecting issues early in the process reduces the risk of disruptions or errors once the CRM system is in use. Test various scenarios and workflows to make sure the software functions as intended and meets the hotel's requirements.
Staff training. Ensure that hotel staff is proficient in using all functionalities of the CRM system to maximize its benefits and avoid errors. Provide comprehensive training to help your staff members understand how to navigate the system, access relevant information, and perform necessary tasks.
Keep in mind that successful implementation is an ongoing journey, and continuous adaptability and improvement are crucial for several reasons: updates in CRM systems, staff turnover, evolving business needs, and changes in the hospitality market.