For most people, a text message is a very personal form of communication.
NB: This is an article from Fuel
This personal nature means that if you get a text, you will absolutely read it and engage with it. This means that smart SMS marketing for hotels can lead to amazing opportunities to communicate with your guests. But along with that opportunity comes great responsibility. If you’re one of the many smart hoteliers who use a system like AI-powered hotel CRM software, you are already almost there.
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Hotels should use SMS/text messaging responsibly to engage guests before, during, and after a stay. In this article, we are going to show you why creating a hotel SMS marketing strategy makes sense, how to implement it, and examples of it working effectively.
4 REASONS YOUR HOTEL NEEDS A HOTEL SMS/TEXT MESSAGING MARKETING STRATEGY
GUEST ENGAGEMENT
When someone visits your property, for vacation or business, they are going to be 100% engaged in the stay. A simple welcome message can go a long way to creating goodwill and a strong relationship. Though, engaging your guests with a hotel text messaging campaign is not without risk. You will want to carefully monitor performance so you are not becoming a bother to your guests. We will cover how you can effectively engage your guest further down in this article.
INCREASED REVENUE
A direct line to your guest is an amazing tool that has the potential to drive direct revenue on property. Depending on your specific needs, a pre-arrival upgrade message, app download promotion, or late check-out alert can all be excellent ways to drive incremental revenue while engaging with your guest in a one-to-one relationship.
PROVEN PERFORMANCE
Just as in the example here, a well-thought-out hotel SMS marketing campaign can significantly improve property operations. For instance, Fuel created and launched a post-stay survey alert upon check out that asked guests to review their stay. The results were definitive. Prior to the implementation of a text campaign, through email alone, this property would receive an average of 2.6 guest surveys per day. After launching an SMS message with a trackable link, the property was able to double its response rate to 5 surveys per day.
AFFORDABILITY
Text messaging systems, such as Twilio, integrate into your email platform and can be triggered much like a traditional email message. Pricing starts at less than 1 cent ($0.0075 to be exact). This is far less than what an SMS marketing campaign for hotels would have cost years ago and makes it an affordable solution for engaging your guests.
