For many hospitality venues, the festive season is the biggest opportunity of the year to increase revenue and profits. But many times, the surge in revenue and traffic disappears in January and beyond. The challenge for many restaurants, bars and hotels is their inability to truly capitalize on the season, increase revenue and build loyalty after the December peak.
Many operations and marketing teams don’t make the most of existing customer data. There is a great opportunity to leverage this information to reach guests before and during the festival, but many operators do not have effective customer acquisition and outreach strategies in place to keep guests coming back throughout the festival and beyond. Another common problem is that data is stored in the wrong location and is often inconsistent with POS data. Ultimately, teams aren’t focusing on the best, most effective revenue-generating strategies, nor are they using the right tools to support them.
Patrick Clover, Chief Executive Officer, stampedebelieves the surge during the holiday season provides restaurants with a critical opportunity for long-term success. He shares insights into key areas for improvement and explains how unified guest engagement enables possible success.
Expanding operational gaps during the holidays
The festive season is a critical time for the hospitality industry. Many restaurants, bars and hotels are at their peak this time of year. The venue was packed, the line was tight, and everyone was running at full speed. Every guest touchpoint needs to be counted: from initial table reservation to final payment. Every step of the guest journey needs to have maximum impact, especially for operators who rely on festival revenue to sustain them into the early part of next year. Unfortunately, this time of year can also expose and amplify operational gaps.
Staff shortages often occur, and teams experience burnout and feel stretched while handling manual processes during the busiest times of the year. In addition to employee fatigue, operators face other common challenges. While many are aware of the need to invest in technology to support their business and automate processes, a recurring issue is that many of the systems they use are outdated and disjointed. Table reservation systems, guest Wi-Fi logins, loyalty programs and payment technologies are often siled, making personalized marketing impossible and impacting the guest experience.
Another issue faced by large multi-site operators is that headquarters teams often have limited site visibility and access to meaningful data that cannot interpret what is actually happening at the field level in real time. Without accurate information, management teams cannot accurately attribute operational and marketing efforts, which in turn means they cannot amplify and replicate what works. With customer data trapped in disconnected data silos, tools and spreadsheets, a lack of insight can lead to missed marketing opportunities.
Develop loyal brand advocates
The retail industry sets the standard for personalization. Consumers now expect brands to understand and anticipate their needs, and the hospitality industry is no exception. Treating every guest the same not only wastes valuable data but also destroys the chance of building lasting loyalty. That’s why it’s important for restaurants, bars and hotels to unify their customer records. Are they ensuring their table reservations, Wi-Fi logins, payments and review data all flow into a unified CRM? Can all team members (top to bottom) have access to this profile information? Will it equip them with the knowledge of preferences, history and loyalties they need to achieve the magic of hospitality?
Ensure this level of data-based intelligence is possible, enabling marketing and operations teams to personalize marketing large scale. Holiday offers can be sent based on guest preferences, purchases and visit history. Loyalty can be rewarded automatically, without relying on employees to remember names or ask guests if they “have a loyalty card.” A consistent hotel brand experience can be delivered across all locations, even those operating under different sub-brands. Essentially, integrating data into a CRM can provide familiar personalized marketing rather than just an anonymous service. It drives repeat visits and converts first-time diners into long-term, loyal brand advocates.
It’s also critical for marketing and operations leaders to be able to demonstrate which campaigns are effective and drive growth. Have operators made the connection between their marketing campaigns, ringing checkouts, and guests driving revenue? Can they understand which events attracted guests, how much they spent, and whether they had a good experience? When these key channels are unified, these questions can be answered. Combining everything into one CRM enables operators to track ROI for each location and brand, identify high-value guests and what attracts them, and optimize future promotions based on real transaction and visit data.
Reimagining guest engagement
A unified guest engagement platform can drive success at Christmas and beyond. Consider the following scenario: A customer makes a reservation for Christmas dinner through an immersive table booking flow on your website. During the meal, they log into the guest Wi-Fi and the data flows into your CRM system, increasing the information captured from the table reservation.
There is no data duplication and no data loss. They finished their meal, had fun, got their bill and paid. What they ordered and how much they spent is automatically saved in the CRM and employees can immediately see it on the payment screen. second time The customer's payment card has been used at this location this month. This is a great opportunity to recognize and thank your guests for their loyalty. At the same time, this triggers a marketing offer, and staff are able to immediately automatically offer guests a 20% off coupon for their next visit, their third coupon.
Automated communications from your marketing team send personalized “thank you” messages and review requests as soon as guests leave your venue. This is often the best time to seek review. Negative reviews can be dealt with quickly (before being posted online), and positive reviews can earn you additional loyalty points or rewards. All the data collected about purchases drives people to re-engage with further personalized marketing campaigns. Since menu preferences are now known, future marketing campaigns targeting this person can be refined in January and throughout the following year.
Now imagine the level of personalized guest experience at scale across every hotel brand and venue. The potential is huge.
in conclusion
The festival boom brings more than just increased foot traffic. It brings data, insights and huge growth opportunities. This data and everything it has to offer is richer than ever. New booking. Group activities. Walk-in. Returning regulars. They all have huge potential to build loyalty, long-term revenue and profitable growth. But only by unifying disparate data silos into a single CRM will you be able to succeed in the coming months and new year.
