Digital Alchemy CRM Helps Grand Heritage Hotel Group Effectively Manage Multi-Property Messaging

Comprehensive cloud-based CRM module makes it easy for hotel groups to coordinate consistent communication, even with varied property management systems.

Six properties within the Grand Heritage Hotel Group portfolio are using customer relationship management products from Digital Alchemy to standardize guest communication efforts and to streamline customer satisfaction evaluation and reporting.

Grand Heritage properties use Digital Alchemy's eRelationship module to coordinate pre-arrival messaging, including confirmation emails and amenity up-selling, as well as the platform's post-stay satisfaction feedback features, including the Trip Advocate feature that helps hotels organically boost their rankings on TripAdvisor.

Digital Alchemy integrates with nearly every major property management system in the hospitality industry, making it an ideal choice for a group like Grand Heritage, which has multiple property management systems deployed across its portfolio. "Before Digital Alchemy, we had no good way to share customer data between properties that were running different PMSs," says Dan Swanson, director of ecommerce for Grand Heritage. "Digital Alchemy came in and created a customized CRM system that delivers the specific guest information that we deem valuable to each hotel. It's an out-of-the-box solution that we couldn't have found with any other company. Now, Digital Alchemy is one of the only standard tools across our portfolio, giving our properties what they need to understand and connect with their guests in an efficient way."

The eRelationship module is built to help hotels craft profitable, long-term relationships with guests and includes opportunities to build incremental revenue through its CRM email platform. Reservation confirmations, cancellation notices, pre-stay marketing messages and post-stay greetings can be automated and customized to up-sell amenities and reaffirm customer loyalty. The eRelationship platform includes guest feedback functionality to gather valuable customer intelligence. Messaging can even be modified seasonally, by rate codes or by other factors.

In addition to eRelationship, Grand Heritage also uses Digital Alchemy's eSurvey, TripAdvocate and eBlast modules.

The company's eSurvey online comment card system helps hotels identify operational strengths and weaknesses, with the system identifying key comments and issues with automated color-coded text. Feedback is tied to specific reservations, making it easy to personally address guest issues.

Within eSurvey is a new feature called TripAdvocate, which organically boosts a hotel's online review scores by sending satisfied guests--as identified by their eSurvey responses—to third-party review sites like TripAdvisor. The TripAdvocate system automatically invites these guests to post their positive reviews. Every property using TripAdvocate has seen a noticeable improvement in its TripAdvisor ratings and rankings since the technology debuted, and most have ascended to the top 10% of their respective markets.

Meanwhile, the use of eBlast has resulted in a flood of new bookings, helping address the hotels' challenges with off-peak occupancy rates and ADR. Digital Alchemy's eBlast feature lets hotels promote specific events and specials via compelling email marketing campaigns. Digital Alchemy is proactive, always looking for new ways to soften lower occupancy periods. The company offers expertise with creative design and targeted marketing, plus overall guidance in crafting an effective campaign, including incorporating dedicated landing pages.

While Digital Alchemy's CRM technology is among the most comprehensive in the hotel industry, Swanson says it is the company's customer service, which goes well beyond what is expected of a hospitality technology vendor, that really makes it stand out. "Their customer service is exactly what we're looking for—when we need to make changes or ask questions, we can usually get a call back immediately and certainly within 24 hours. They treat this as a partner relationship, rather than a vendor-client relationship, and it makes all the difference," Swanson says. "On top of that, Digital Alchemy's pricing model makes sense for our hotels, and integration with other technology systems is as easy as it comes. I can't recommend Digital Alchemy highly enough."

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