Social CRM as a tool to enhance consumer experience is a must for luxury hotels. In this presentation we picked up Taj hotels as an example from India and looked at the possibilities. Subrat bisht is a Digital strategist and a pitch doctor. He provides digital consulting services and has over ten years of experience working with FMCG, BFSI and Hospitality clients. He holds expertise in digital CRM, analytic's, social CRM and digital consumer behavior. His experience spans across multiple geographies in Europe, Asean and India.

1. www.subratbisht.com

2. Taj Hotels & Resorts
Approach to Social CRM

3. Luxury, heritage and exotic experiences are being searched online

4. The “New Affluent” consumer
Puts in lot of online research to find if a product/service will intrinsically
improve the quality of life. 78% of affluent consumers are active on social
networking sites.
The best value for money is the time spent with the loved Ones. They look
for a memorable experience and want to share those with others.
Luxury is no longer defined by a brands status but what role It plays in an
Affluent consumers life. “How does this brand deliver on things which are
important to me ?”
It matters what others talk about the brand on social media and the brand
needs to acknowledge and be transparent.
59% luxury travellers review local information while in transit or while at the
Hotel. Guests spend 18 minutes in a day researching online the destination
they are in, while at the hotel room.
#study published by four seasons hotel group

5. The journey online

6. Affluent consumers are constantly connected to social and seek opportunities to create
and share Experiences. It’s imperative that luxury brands connect with them
through the social platforms and engage to create one on one personalised relationships.

7. 1-1 personalised relationships
by Social CRM

8. 1
2
3
Real time
Personalised
Delightful
CONSUMER ACTIONS
CONSUMER INTERESTS
CUSTOMERSERVICE
SOCIAL CRM - Key drivers

9. Before arrival arrival
Bedroom &
bathroom
F&B activities
departure
Booking
Location
Access to Hotel
Access to parking
Check in
Lobby
Quality of service
Hotel comfort
Hotel security
Hotel cleanliness
Access
Comfort
equipment
cleanliness
quality
Bar - Salon
breakfast
restaurants
Entertainment
Kids club
Swimming pool
Spa
Comfort
security
Check out
Price and payments
Satisfaction
Internet
CONSUMER JOURNEY
Each landmark in the JOURNEY creates an
opportunity to Listen, analyze and act for the
CRM team.

10. SCRM is an integrated approach
Collective consumer
intelligence
Social sites, blogs, reviews, forums
consumer
CRM Team
WHO
WHERE
HOW
LISTEN
On ground staff/marketing/Business /operations team
ANALYZE
ACT

11. Single view dashboards
Gives invaluable insights to the CRM team
About hotel guests, common hotel issues.
Places in the Hotel which consumers like the
most.
Negative reviews and WOM from consumers.
It goes beyond consumer sentiments and tells
Who is talking what and why ?
Get to view competitive data and how
competitors are responding on social channels
Available at all times, anywhere through the
cloud solution

12. Consumer social profile
interests
Influence
reach
Activity rate
Fan/follower
Hotel guest database
Unique consumer personas
SCRMENGINE

13. Why Unique Consumer personas ?

14. Personalising experiences
Favourite movie channels lined
up in my room TV , yeah !!!
I just tweeted and somebody
dropped a box of white
chocolates in the room!!!
Surprised they remember how
much I love cornbread..just
checked in few minutes back .
The blue robe for the swimming pool
deck is precious, they had kept in the
room for me.

15. Could we have personalised the experience by Placing a “Do not Disturb”
sign outside her room ..
Social CRM works to change experience to consumer delight !!
It goes beyond birthdays and anniversaries to reach out when it
matters the most .

16. Searched online and
placed a booking with
Taj hotels and resorts
2 weeks before
arrival SCRM tool
prompts CSR to pull
consumer likes
,interests from
social media site.
A distinct consumer
persona is created in
the hotel database
with social
intelligence
Consumer profile is sent
over to Hotel ground staff ,
which prepares the room
and other services as per
consumers likings.
Guest checks in and mentions on twitter/Facebook.
CRM team acknowledges and provides the link to an
online map for the property. Guest is encouraged to
use the free hotel wi –fi at all the places. [keeps him
always connected to social]
During stay, special events , menu etc
are broadcasted to guests as per
preference. For e.g. a Football fan is
notified of the upcoming match on TV.
scrapbook of Facebook and twitter
messages, photos taken by previous
guest of the property are kept as hard
copy in the rooms.
loyalty points for consumers sharing
reviews and mentions on social and
other forums during stay and post
departure.
SCRM engine

17. How do we start?
Integrate all consumer response systems into a
single robust cloud based setup
Train CRM and the hotel team on social customer
delight and social media policies.
We start listening and responding
3 Month Pilot and
Review KPI’s
-TAT for consumer response
- FTR % across the CRM team
- % Customer delight
4 SCRM experts
Working in rotating shifts
Providing 24x7 coverage

18. Key objectives of the pilot
Put the fully integrated cloud SCRM solution into trial for Listening
and responding
Capture weekly learning's and share with hotel management
and staff.
Iron out any logistical issues in coordination between CRM team
and on ground staff.
Prepare a case study for documenting consumer responsiveness
by deploying SCRM
Deploy CSAT polls through select consumers and seek feedback on
SCRM experience.

19. What is the ROI ?
An excellent user experience is correlated with millionaire economic
impacts thanks to the loyalty that it produces. The brands that pay most
attention to customer satisfaction tend to generate a greater number of
repeated transactions over time, fewer defections to competitors, and more
recommendations by those who already use the product or service.
Forrester also calculates that these effects are translated
into incremental sales of 788 million dollars for wireless
connection suppliers, 825 million dollars in customers who
stayed in hotels, and 65 million dollars in tickets sold
through word of mouth by airlines. #HBR June 2012

20. Are we listening and
responding well
Could have called
this customer !!

21. Questions ?