Establish Interactive Relationships with Your Customers

Email marketing is a crucial component of the hotel's overall Internet marketing and online distribution strategy. The shift towards online purchasing suggests that the website is becoming a key point of entry to establish interactive relationships with your customers, and to capture client email profiles is increasingly important.

• Email marketing spending will triple from $2.1 billion (2003) to $6.1 billion in 2008, according to Jupiter Research forecast.

HeBS has extensive experience in delivering email marketing strategies in the hospitality vertical, from large brand hotels to small boutique properties.

Please read more in our article: Developing an Email Marketing Strategy in Hospitality.

Email marketing can be used successfully as a direct response vehicle (short-term, results-oriented) or as a branding tool (long-term and strategic goals). Here are some goals to consider with Email Marketing:

Email as a Direct-Response Vehicle

• Room reservations
• Specials and Packages promoted
• Seasonal promotions
• Local event based promotions (e.g. Coming for the fair? Stay with us.)

Email as Branding Tool

• Brand awareness
• Reinforces existing email subscriber base
• Grows existing email database
• Visit the website
• Call the 800#

Why Email Marketing in Hospitality makes sense:

• Serves as personalized direct response tool
• Creates interactive relations with customers
• Entices and targets specific audiences
• Plants seed in minds of travel planners
• Moves distressed inventory
• Functions as sales force
• Recruits and retains customers
• Branding tool while protecting brand
• Exercises the customer life cycle
• Least expensive form of active marketing

Did you know?

• In 2005 the average Open Rate (emails that people actually open and supposedly read) of email marketing in the travel industry was 33.7% (eMarketer)

Name of HeBS Service Package:

Email Marketing Strategy for the Property

Consulting Service Type:

Audit existing email marketing initiatives, conceptualize, budget and launch email marketing campaigns and email sponsorship campaigns + ongoing reporting and consultation

This HeBS service is ideal for:

Franchised and independent hotels, luxury and boutique hotels, condos and residential resorts, luxury and boutique hotels, beach and mountain resorts, spa and golf resorts, casinos, inns and other lodging establishments

Features of the Service Package:

Email Marketing to Property's Own Opt-In List

• Customer Email Capture Strategy
  • Online
  • Offline
  • CAN SPAM Law Compliance
  • Identifying the Email Capture Sources
  • Customer Segmentation: create email lists for each market segment
  • Appending Services
  • Permanent Email Capture on the property website
  • Sweepstakes and Promotions
  • Online Comment Cards
  • Using Search Engines for Email Capture
  • Offline-to-Online crossover promotions