CRM-driven reservation management…

Joel Montaniel (bio), CEO/Co-Founder of SevenRooms (helping hospitality operators make better service easier with a customizable, CRM-integrated reservation book that intimately ties reservations to existing guest profiles and helps hospitality businesses to build new ones) joins Pavan Bahl, Peter Crysdale and Tamara Wood.

Empowering hospitality, a 360-view of each guest, and keeping consistency

Montaniel talks about what brought him from a career in finance to a switch into the tech world, making guests feel at home at hotels, nightclubs, restaurants, and more, about an essential data aggregator that’s helping hospitality groups make informed decisions, and how info on guests was built far more manually in the past. The difference in the sense of experience when different personnel are present. Moving from transaction-based business to understanding the guests at a multi-tier level. The power of integration with POS systems, the ability to access and aggregate data cross multiple brands for a hotel group, giving a 360-degree view of each guest across multiple properties. Making sure a customer is comfortable with info sharing, creating a channel to provide more info, offering up ways for guests to feel more comfortable and what can be done that is amazing for a guest. How proper hospitality feels like a luxury service and great hospitality is free with employees standing there anyway; how to empower them to know more about guests to provide better experience. Hospitality doesn’t just translate to luxury operations. And when SevenRooms started with the nightclub industry, then moved to restaurants, and how nightlife data was previously managed via pieces of paper.

The growth of food and beverage, owning the customer, and follower employees

How SevenRooms moved into restaurants and hotels, the emergence of food and beverage for hotels, how Vegas non-gaming revenue surpassed gaming revenue and then proprietors needed to understand how to manage revenue growth. Unlocking the full value of guests while previously only able to track food and beverage if charging to room, now being able to track wider than that, and the ability to market to people who aren’t. Looking at patterns of data in profile and link what they care about and find experiences and places to make recommendations in line with likely interests, predictable free will. Avoiding assumptions based on profile, given unpredictable variables uses coaching of staff from the hospitality group. How SevenRooms helps make more informed decisions, instead of flying blind. Segmenting for certain actionable patterns, the distinction from OTA’s, and the pain point for hospitality groups of being reliant on platforms to bring business. The ability to own customer again and give them a reason to come to them exclusively, upsell, and capture them into the marketing database. How the tech can be embedded in the provider’s website as a technology vehicle to capture information, with no third party in equation, and the ability to review all captured data. How it helps reduce marketing costs. Being able to customize every part of the experience, and be tech enabled and people driven. “Follower” employees of a hospitality group who follow customers or groups of customers, and being able to act even if not on site.

Travel warmth, milt, and relationships

Personal questions from a segment of Off the Beaten Path cover how being outside one’s comfort zone associated travel with a sense of warmth, the mystery of milt, and relationships that last.

References:

• Zach Chodorow (China Grill Management, Black Seed Bagels, Red Farm)
• Liveperson

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