Across Europe business is getting harder, and the hospitality industry has been hit harder than most with the long periods of lockdown making guests rarer than penguins in the desert.
The restrictions on travel may have come to an end, but we’re now facing an increasingly tough economic climate, with customers under pressure as they face rocketing inflation and rising bills across the board.
At the same time, customer expectations of the level of service they receive from all businesses, including hotels and restaurants, are higher than ever.
Widespread digital transformation has put the power in the hands of the consumer as they can quickly compare the best deals on the market before they take their pick.
In this new digital era, every customer touchpoint counts. Hotel guests demand quick and simple access to customer service. You know that. That’s why you have voice at the centre of your customer operations.
But that’s no longer enough. Now, you need to raise the bar yet again to deliver a new level of personalisation. VIP service for the masses.
To stay ahead in the race for guests, you need to match the best in the business. With every exchange, you need to immediately provide guests with the reassurance that you’re on the case. You understand their needs and you can deliver what they want faster than they ever thought possible. No pressure.
One easy way to achieve this is by establishing seamless integration between NFON business communication platform and your CRM system with NFON’s CRM Connect. We’ll sharpen your game and here’s how:
1. More efficient service means more guests returning
Scary stat alert! At just 55%, hospitality, travel and restaurants has the lowest customer retention rate of any global industry.
That’s the bad news; the good news is, we have the technology to help you turn this problem around. Meet NFON CRM Connect with easy integration between up to 60 different CRM platforms and the Cloudya desktop App.
Maybe you haven’t heard of Cloudya yet? This is NFON’s smart cloud communications platform. Providing simplified voice calling, easy video conferencing and seamless integrations for CRM and collaboration tools.
So, put Cloudya together with your CRM platform and what have you got? All the facts at your fingertips, for starters.
Imagine seeing each guest’s most recent correspondence and details of their previous stays, there on your screen from the get-go.
Work’s a breeze when all previous guest interactions from your CRM are visible with every call. So all guest issues can be resolved faster and more efficiently. No wonder they’ll want to come back for more.
Encouraging stat alert! 85% of customer churn due to poor service is preventable. 67% is preventable if the customer issue is resolved at the first engagement. We can do this!
2. Your team can spend less time apologising and more time making a difference.
With NFON CRM Connect, your call operators will no longer need to switch between apps and systems to support a single call.
Your team, empowered by CRM Connect, can give their full attention to the customer as they answer their questions and meet their expectations with an efficient service.
Less “can I put your hold while I look for your details?” and more “just putting you through now”.
With less faffing around and less fawning apologies, your team can serve more guests in a day and, at the same time, reduce the time guests have to waste, hanging around waiting for attention. Everyone wins.
3. Happy employees can help you beat the skills shortage
84% of travellers get frustrated when an agent doesn't have the information they need. And guess what happens next?
That rant and rave at the customer service operator who might be doing their best, but it’s nowhere near good enough.
And you know what happens after that? Yes, the customer does go and stay somewhere else, but that’s not the point we’re trying to make right now. You see, it’s not just the guest (we should probably call them the former guest) that’s unhappy.
Your customer service operator quickly comes to the conclusion that life’s too short to put up with angry abuse from people they’ve never even met before. So, they hand in their notice and head off in search of a job where their efforts will be more appreciated.
The hospitality business, in question, is now trying to do the same job that they weren’t able to do properly before with one team member less.
NFON CRM Connect can change all that simply by making all the relevant information available in an instant. Driving customer satisfaction and reducing the prospect of employee churn.
To find out how NFON CRM Connect integration with Cloudya could help your hospitality business, get in touch today.
[1] https://www.statista.com/statistics/1041645/customer-retention-rates-by-industry-worldwide
[2] https://www.huffpost.com/entry/50-important-customer-exp_b_8295772
[3] https://www.huffpost.com/entry/50-important-customer-exp_b_8295772
