Impeccable Integration, Learning Lessons From Luxury Hotels
In luxury hospitality every detail is beautifully looked after, from the person who opens the door of your taxi, the person who greets you when entering the hotel, the receptionist who checks you in with a genuine smile and who already knew your name, the person who has prepared your room just the way you like it, stocking the mini bar with your favourite brand of water (or Champagne…), and has placed those macaroons you love on a little plate on the table, next to the fresh flowers, to the barman who starts preparing your Bellini cocktail as soon as you walk into the bar… And that is only the beginning.
Everything is possible in the best luxury hotels, from having a grassed area installed on the terrace of your suite for your canine friend, getting a bowl of only green M&Ms, a room full of peonies for your loved one, your favourite brand of cereal flown in especially for you, or covering the yellow walls of the room with pink silk is no problem, and every other imaginable extravagant request is usually answered with a Yes.
It works because of the extreme coordination and effective sharing of information between every single department in the hotel. A luxury hotel is like a small independent city on its own; in some large luxury hotels there can be more than 150 different crafts… painters who daily repaint the damaged walls in the hotel, florists, chefs, electricians, beauticians, personal trainers, receptionists, barmen, butlers, laundry operators, runners, events managers, doormen, IT teams, carpenters, hostesses, housekeepers, waiters, switchboard operators, sommeliers, reservations agents, luggage carriers, accountants, marketing teams assuring perfectly up-to-date websites and promotional material, and of course, assistants, managers and directors of all sorts…
All these departments speak daily in something called the “morning meetings”, to make sure that information is shared about the hotel in general, guest arrivals and departures and that not one snippet of customer preferences and information is lost.
This vital information circulates in an uninterrupted flow, and is delivered in a perfectly synchronised way as if it was all a well-rehearsed ballet. The aim is to ultimately offer customers a perfect, seamlessly integrated experience from start to end. The message and information is consistent no matter what department a customer interacts with.
It would be impossible without the physical department meetings, held religiously to share daily updates, and the centralised database with all customer profiles. All the relevant departments have access to this database, even hotels within the same group usually have access to one shared database. It avoids duplication, which saves time, and it allows for effective personalised treatment of each single customer, no matter where.
How synchronised is your ballet? Do all your teams and departments talk together, do you know what their priorities are for the day, the week, or even the month?
Within a marketing ecosystem, the flow of information is just as crucial as for a luxury hotel. We all know that sometimes keeping the flow of information open within the same team or department is difficult… Let alone talking to the entire organisation on a regular basis… And that goes without mentioning all of your external agencies!
At Flock we believe that a good marketing ecosystem starts with knowing how your organisation communicates, what the preferences of all parties are, and taking into account how everyone thinks it could be improved, before we can begin fixing and fine-tuning it.
Using a collaboration platform, which has gained everyone’s engagement and is managed correctly, can also increase the flow of communication, make everyone feel part of larger projects and therefore improve effectiveness and efficiency.
It does not matter if luxury is not what you sell… Both your teams and customers should experience a seamless integrated journey through your organisation and brand regardless of what you sell.
By optimising the effectiveness and efficiency of your internal marketing processes, and integrating other relevant departments in the conversations, you will free up precious resources to concentrate on what really matters… Making your teams feel part of the bigger picture, and making your customers feel incredible.
If you need help with the housekeeping, let us know; we will be delighted to send in our team to clean up the mess.
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