This blog is well worth reading as hotels make plans and promises to themselves about changes they will make in  2017.
GuestCentrix integrates with a wide variety of marketing and CRM platforms and has its own fully integrated e-marketing solution for automated SMS and email communications to guests.
There was an obvious and substantial emphasis on ‘book direct’ marketing strategies in 2016, with hoteliers looking to drive more direct business via loyalty member-only rates, special incentives, unique packages found only on the hotel website and more.
NB: This is a viewpoint by Max Starkov, president & CEO, and Mariana Safer, senior vice president of marketing, at HeBS Digital.
In 2017, lowering distribution costs (the only cost driver hotels have control over), will be the only way to improve top line revenue and the bottom line. In most of the major markets, increasing ADRs, improving occupancy and RevPAR will not be easy.
But with the right focus and appropriate investments in digital technology and marketing initiatives, hoteliers can generate more direct bookings and decrease their dependency on the OTAs.
Here’s the first five digital, technology and marketing resolutions all hotels should consider this year.
1 “Knowing that 2017 will be the year of smart data marketing, I will balance the use of CRM data with intent data (in-market) to engage, retain and acquire both past and future guests.”

  • Situation

Every hotelier has access to more data than they realise, and they can use this data to build a digital marketing plan that reaches the right people, at the right time, on the right device, to win the booking.
This data is either in the form of CRM data – data about past guests – or intent data – data that tells us what people are planning a trip to a specific destination, and when.
On any given night, with an average of 15-25% of guests at a typical independent hotel being repeat guests, using CRM data is only part of the equation. Focusing on reaching guests who have not stayed at your property before but are actively planning a trip to your property’s destination will result­ in a much higher percentage of direct bookings.
Balancing the use of both sets of data – CRM data and intent data – in your digital marketing initiatives to engage past and future guests is called ‘smart data marketing.’
Please click on over to HeBS digital’s website for the full article.