E-reputation, quality control, CRM, brand community, Web 2.0 and 3.0... All these themes and tools has led debates at the Global Lodging Forum, in the third panel on Monday, March 17 entitled "How to maintain and consolidate the direct relationship with clients?".
Eric DE NEEF, Senior VP Marketing & CRM-Global Branding, Carlson Rezidor/Rezidor Hotel Group :
Clearly hoteliers have not focused on customer relations in recent years and have come to a dead end. Since our customers stay with us we should know all we can about them. The problem is that the data collected about them is unmanageable when it comes to centralizing it at the brand or group. What has become important is to bring back management of customer loyalty at the boutique and invert the pyramid. The hotel industry has always been very traditional in the way it does business and it has become necessary to revise the economic model.
Georges SAMPEUR, Chairman of the Board, B&B Hôtels :
I don't agree with the suggestion that hoteliers have missed the Internet bandwagon. Our business is first and foremost to develop hotel brands through which we then build a strong relationship with customers, and it is our responsibility to maintain this relationship. Customer freedom does not preclude brand loyalty and it is this loyalty that will lead to what I call "Come-back management". Today's consumer needs to see signs of recognition from hotel brands. Moreover today's emergence of social networks and the importance their growing importance for consumers forces us to be very reactive to the customer needs and commentaries. Customer relations are the foundation of our trade, the customer should be surprised, but pleasantly so.
Jean LAVERGNE, Chairman of the Board, SEH :
Customer relations are very important for quality and loyalty. I believe that in order to be efficient, a customer loyalty program must first and foremost be simple and easy to understand and use. This is what we recently implemented in our network, and the system works: we offer gifts to incite customers to discover our products in a transparent manner and with no time limitations. I also think that the head of the brand must do everything to make the hotelier's work easier. Soon we will launch an all new multibrand Internet program that will take into account customer relations, loyalty and quality. Quality is another point we are currently working on.
Jean-Pierre NADIR, Founder, EasyVoyage :
As far as we're concerned, we do not have customers, so we have no knowledge of what our web surfers are doing and no way to develop their loyalty in a traditional manner. We created a program based more on the sharing of experiences through which we will credit points to our users' accounts for each of their interventions. This is one way to thank them for their loyalty and for the dynamism of our community. As far as the hotel industry is concerned, I believe that customer relations means first and foremost customer service, which cannot be found on Facebook or TripAdvisor but directly in hotels. If the combat were only technological Google would come out the winner, but this is not the case and the best weapon is to have a good product.
Martine GRANIER, Director of the Travel Division, Vente-privée.com :
Today, it is important for hoteliers to choose their investments well, because it would cost them much too much to do everything by themselves. Professionals on the sector must therefore keep common sense by placing customer relations at the heart of Marketing. I believe that the more consumer relations are digitalized, the more personalized they must be. Before working at Vente-privée.com, I was in the travel sector and felt a real need for communications. That is what we offer, because web surfers connect to Vente-privée.com to discover brands. The website relies on several essentials: the brand, the name of the host, reductions and yield management.
Nicolas FERRARY, Country Manager France, Airbnb :
At Airbnb, we practice what we call Offline Community Management. In other words, we meet consumers during informal evening events we organize. I believe it is essential to know our customers and be aware of what they are looking for because the primary job of a purveyor of experiences is the experience itself. As far as concerns our strategy on social networks, Facebook is our primary venue for making consumers dream. There is a great deal of talk about the 1% or 2% of accommodations that we sell that create dreams and that we advertise, but these are not necessarily what our customers will book We see Facebook like a showcase for the products we commercialize.
Krystel BLONDEAU, Managing Director, Fédération internationale des Logis :
TripAdvisor and community websites are now a reality for the hotel industry. There is much talk about consumer confidence with respect to peers, it is not a simple mode but a structural trend. On the Internet, everyone is equal. At the Fédération internationale des Logis, we decided to include traveler feedback on our website with a goal to creating a community of clients. Today we use this as a true lever of quality. Moreover, we launched our new loyalty card a year ago and now we have 70,000 members. This proves that our brand makes sense and has a real value. In customer relations, we are looking first and foremost for sincerity.
Clearly hoteliers have not focused on customer relations in recent years and have come to a dead end. Since our customers stay with us we should know all we can about them. The problem is that the data collected about them is unmanageable when it comes to centralizing it at the brand or group. What has become important is to bring back management of customer loyalty at the boutique and invert the pyramid. The hotel industry has always been very traditional in the way it does business and it has become necessary to revise the economic model.
Georges SAMPEUR, Chairman of the Board, B&B Hôtels :
I don't agree with the suggestion that hoteliers have missed the Internet bandwagon. Our business is first and foremost to develop hotel brands through which we then build a strong relationship with customers, and it is our responsibility to maintain this relationship. Customer freedom does not preclude brand loyalty and it is this loyalty that will lead to what I call "Come-back management". Today's consumer needs to see signs of recognition from hotel brands. Moreover today's emergence of social networks and the importance their growing importance for consumers forces us to be very reactive to the customer needs and commentaries. Customer relations are the foundation of our trade, the customer should be surprised, but pleasantly so.
Jean LAVERGNE, Chairman of the Board, SEH :
Customer relations are very important for quality and loyalty. I believe that in order to be efficient, a customer loyalty program must first and foremost be simple and easy to understand and use. This is what we recently implemented in our network, and the system works: we offer gifts to incite customers to discover our products in a transparent manner and with no time limitations. I also think that the head of the brand must do everything to make the hotelier's work easier. Soon we will launch an all new multibrand Internet program that will take into account customer relations, loyalty and quality. Quality is another point we are currently working on.
Jean-Pierre NADIR, Founder, EasyVoyage :
As far as we're concerned, we do not have customers, so we have no knowledge of what our web surfers are doing and no way to develop their loyalty in a traditional manner. We created a program based more on the sharing of experiences through which we will credit points to our users' accounts for each of their interventions. This is one way to thank them for their loyalty and for the dynamism of our community. As far as the hotel industry is concerned, I believe that customer relations means first and foremost customer service, which cannot be found on Facebook or TripAdvisor but directly in hotels. If the combat were only technological Google would come out the winner, but this is not the case and the best weapon is to have a good product.
Martine GRANIER, Director of the Travel Division, Vente-privée.com :
Today, it is important for hoteliers to choose their investments well, because it would cost them much too much to do everything by themselves. Professionals on the sector must therefore keep common sense by placing customer relations at the heart of Marketing. I believe that the more consumer relations are digitalized, the more personalized they must be. Before working at Vente-privée.com, I was in the travel sector and felt a real need for communications. That is what we offer, because web surfers connect to Vente-privée.com to discover brands. The website relies on several essentials: the brand, the name of the host, reductions and yield management.
Nicolas FERRARY, Country Manager France, Airbnb :
At Airbnb, we practice what we call Offline Community Management. In other words, we meet consumers during informal evening events we organize. I believe it is essential to know our customers and be aware of what they are looking for because the primary job of a purveyor of experiences is the experience itself. As far as concerns our strategy on social networks, Facebook is our primary venue for making consumers dream. There is a great deal of talk about the 1% or 2% of accommodations that we sell that create dreams and that we advertise, but these are not necessarily what our customers will book We see Facebook like a showcase for the products we commercialize.
Krystel BLONDEAU, Managing Director, Fédération internationale des Logis :
TripAdvisor and community websites are now a reality for the hotel industry. There is much talk about consumer confidence with respect to peers, it is not a simple mode but a structural trend. On the Internet, everyone is equal. At the Fédération internationale des Logis, we decided to include traveler feedback on our website with a goal to creating a community of clients. Today we use this as a true lever of quality. Moreover, we launched our new loyalty card a year ago and now we have 70,000 members. This proves that our brand makes sense and has a real value. In customer relations, we are looking first and foremost for sincerity.
