Hospitality's pioneer of Hotel Marketing Automation says giving guests a blank

slate to provide feedback about their stay experience will uncover preferences and resolve potential problems; Drip marketing will help build a better guest profile, drive loyalty and boost satisfaction

[Hallandale Beach, FL— May 22, 2014]— For decades, hotel marketers have been

working to discover what guests want, when they want it, and how often in order to build a better profile, drive loyalty and increase customer satisfaction. Knowing "how" to ask for this critical information is equally important. ZDirect, the pioneer of Hotel Marketing Automation and the hospitality industry's foremost email service provider, has spent many years advising hotel marketers on how to ask for feedback that will generate detailed responses.

"One of the best ways to collect data about your guests' stays is to give them the

opportunity to recall and retell their experiences in their own words," said Shayne Paddock, ZDirect Chief Information Officer. "Don't box them in by predefined questions that might not always be appropriate. Survey software equipped with sentiment analysis technology can easily assist with this process. Sentiment analysis helps hoteliers to sift through mounds of data much faster than having someone reading each and every word at the property, and it will classify comments as either positive or negative so you can address the biggest problems first. Give guests a blank slate and they will tell you things you wouldn't have thought to ask."

ZDirect has recently enhanced its Semantic Analysis Engine to enable marketers to see

exactly what customers like or don't like about the hotel, its services, amenities and staff on social media channels including Facebook and Twitter. Integrated into ZDirect's Guest Dashboard (which brings trending issues in a hotel to the surface so managers and marketers can take immediate action), the Semantic Analysis Engine with Social Media Feeds – which will debut at the Hospitality Industry Technology Exposition & Conference (HITEC) June 24 to 26 at the Los Angeles Convention Center in Booth #735 – gives hoteliers a quick snapshot of online guest reviews and sentiments, as well as includes chatter from social media sites. Armed with this detailed intelligence, hoteliers will know how to ask the right questions and then make radical improvements to service and stop potentially harmful reviews from damaging their reputation and their revenues.

Drip Surveys

Hotel Marketing Automation will assist managers and marketers with quickly building

attractive guest-facing surveys to capture all guest preference information and post stay comments. This data will enable hoteliers to better prepare for the guest before arrival, maximize the guest experience while on property, and learn from the guest after he or she leaves. All of this intelligence gets added to the guest profile for quick access by front desk staff and can be used for future marketing campaigns. This process truly helps hoteliers gauge the satisfaction of their guests.

Using "Drip Marketing," a process that automates emails based upon events such as

check in/check out, actions taken or actions not taken in a previous email, drip surveys can be sent out automatically. These drip surveys – with a few targeted questions – can yield more responses than sending one large survey after the guest departs.

Below are some examples in which Hotel Marketing Automation and Drip Marketing can

help build a complete guest profile:
  • Step 1: Two days after check out, a guest satisfaction survey is automatically sent from the hotel.
  • Step 2: If after seven days the guest hasn't completed and returned the survey, a reminder is automatically sent.
  • Step 3: The guest fills out the survey with a score of 9.8 based on a 10-point scale. A triggered message is sent to the guest asking them to post their review on TripAdvisor or Google+.

Using the same workflow principles in the example above, hoteliers can sometimes

generate multiple outcomes. For example:

Outcome 1

  • Step 1: The guest receives a pre-arrival email with a call to action to fill out a pre-stay survey.
  • Step 2: The guest completes the survey and responds that they prefer red wine upon arrival.
  • Step 3: That choice is automatically sent to the PMS as a reservation preference for the operations staff to fulfill.
  • Step 4: The guest arrives at the hotel and is pleasantly surprised that his or her welcome drink selection was already in the room. The guest then Tweets a picture of the wine glass to all their followers.

Outcome 2

  • Step 1: The guest receives a pre-arrival email with a call to action to fill out a pre-stay survey.
  • Step 2: After a couple of days the guest did not complete the survey so a reminder is sent.
  • Step 3: The guest fills out the survey and indicates that they are celebrating their anniversary.
  • Step 4: That data is automatically sent to the PMS as a reservation comment for the operations staff to fulfill.
  • Step 5: The guest arrives at the hotel after a long delayed flight and is delighted to find a bottle of champagne and a box of chocolates was in the room waiting for them.

Outcome 3

  • Step 1: The guest receives a pre-arrival email with a call to action to fill out a pre-stay survey.
  • Step 2: After a couple of days, the guest did not complete the survey so a reminder is sent.
  • Step 3: After a few days more, the guest still did not complete the survey so a default choice is sent to the PMS as a reservation preference based on their gold loyalty status.
  • Step 4: The guest arrives at the hotel after a long meeting and is so surprised by the FREE drink vouchers in the room waiting for him, that he shares it with all his friends on Facebook.

"Using our Hotel Marketing Automation tools, ZDirect will assist hoteliers in determining

how to engage with guests and develop actionable steps that make it easy for guests to provide hotels with the information needed," Paddock said. "Instead of just sending out one email and hoping it will be opened, read, and acted upon, ZDirect has redesigned its technology to send out a series of emails in 'drips' to keep travelers interested and always communicating with the hotel. Knowing how to ask for guest feedback, using the principles of Hotel Marketing Automation and Sentiment Analysis will result in refined data that will gain actionable results."

For more information on how ZDirect can help grow your hotel's databases and

subsequently increase revenues and improve the guest experience, visit www.ZDirect.com or call (888) 962- 4548.

About ZDirect

Based in Hallandale Beach, Florida, ZDirect, an Enterprise Email Service Provider (ESP) for the Hospitality Industry, is a leading provider of electronic customer relationship management solutions for the hospitality industry. The maintenance of a single guest profile is essential for an effective eCRM strategy. With the Dynamic Content Engine and PMS integration, ZMail® automatically sends intelligent and personalized confirmations, pre-arrival emails and post-departure emails with guest satisfaction surveys via email, mobile communication, SMS, social networks and more. Learn about the real people behind every reservation. Let ZDirect help you convert your prospects to customers and your customers to loyal customers. Real People. Real Profiles. Real Results. www.zdirect.com

Shallana Edwards
(480) 347-9173