CRM in Travel USA 2008 SpecialIf CRM has promised the integrated management of all marketing channels, management of customer segments, and management of offer, then Aramark Harrison Lodging's (AHL) National Director of Marketing Brian Murphy says his company has seen the promise land and it is changing their business.

Published: 05 Feb 2008

CRM in Travel USA 2008 Special
If CRM has promised the integrated management of all marketing channels, management of customer segments, and management of offer, then Aramark Harrison Lodging's (AHL) National Director of Marketing Brian Murphy says his company has seen the promise land and it is changing their business.

"Not only do we purchase and analyse demographics and psychographics, but we have a comprehensive CRM system provided by Intrasight that integrates explores booking patterns, customer survey data, and customer value. We have so much insight, we have yet to fully capitalise on what we can do," Murphy told EyeforTravel.com's Ritesh Gupta.

"At AHL CRM means putting the customer at the center of the decision-making process, but that can't be done without knowing the customer first. We have to know who are customer is before making decisions on their behalf to improve their experience. We start with what we know. Our past customers, especially repeaters, are the best insight we can gain into who we need to target to grow our customer base and what we need to do to affect meaningful change in our operations and marketing to increase loyalty and grow our customer base. Almost as important are the prospects, who showed interest but never converted into revenue generating customers. What are their needs and wants and what messages will trigger them to convert. Finally we analyze customers who do not return and why," said Murphy, one of the speakers during EyeforTravel's CRM in Travel USA 2008 conference in New Orleans.

" We have made significant investments in the latest technology and data experts to understand the demographics, psychographics and, when available, direct feedback from those constituents to drive effective products and marketing messages."

On what is critical in optimising a CRM strategy in hotels and the major challenges, he said CRM is too often just contact management for prospects and past guests.

"The voice of the customer is rarely reflected. To truly optimize a B2C CRM platform, we have to know our customers interests, travel patterns, income, age, and geography. We measure their likelihood to return or defect, or their likelihood to book and cancel. With all of this combined with the different segments described above, we can craft customized marketing that is relevant to them and results in the highest conversion attainable, which remains our goal as we optimise or processes," he said.