Why you should pick a Hotel CRM before switching PMS

Guest data is your livelihood. You spend a great deal of time and energy to protect it, organize it and use it. That makes choosing where your data is housed incredibly important. Many hoteliers fear that they must move to a new PMS before choosing a Hotel CRM solution. The truth may be the opposite. Taking a PMS first approach whereby you move to a new PMS before selecting a Guest Data Platform or CRM may cause data problems down the line. There is value in all of your data, whether you need it immediately or have potential uses for it in the future. In fact, we all know any data loss could mean a bad user experience for a returning guest that goes unrecognized or a potential guest that received a generic and forgettable message instead of personalized communication. Beyond that, there’s a real value in understanding your guests as well as you can to improve your hotel’s operations. 

The problem of historic data

It’s not uncommon for hotels who switch PMSs to either lose their past guest data completely or pay through the nose to get it transferred to the new PMS. The bigger your organization, the bigger an issue this will be. If you’re database houses 300,000 profiles, getting those transferred over is a herculean task. 

In the end, you don’t want to lose any of that guest data. If you know someone books weekends vs weekdays, know they travel with children, know their preferences, how many times they have stayed with you, you are in a much better position to market to them. And a much better position to delight them when they are on-property. 

Imagine someone who has stayed with you five times arriving onsite after your PMS switch, and you don’t warmly welcome them back as a repeat guest. What message would that send? 

The benefit of having a hotel CRM, like Revinate, first is that you’re able to keep years of historic data for use with segmenting campaigns, driving bookings and loyalty when you switch. Utilizing our extensive PMS integrations both with your current and future PMS saves you time and money, and ensures you understand your guests, no matter which PMS vendor you are currently with.

Revinate has a better way

By storing your data in Revinate’s Guest Data Platform, you don’t have to worry about what happens after you switch PMSs. Revinate will ingest the data from your current PMS, and synthesize the existing profiles using machine learning to dedupe and organize the profiles for later use. 

For groups that have multiple PMSs, the value becomes even more apparent. Being able to have a central system that identifies loyal guests across PMS’ within your brand is incredibly valuable.

Putting your data into a CRM frees you from worrying about many of the issues that plague PMS migrations. Regardless of your current PMS, you’ll be able to market to your guests even during the transition. And even after you’re up and running on your new PMS, you’ll be able to create campaigns and segments based on your historic data. It’s a more contiguous experience for both hotelier and guest. 

Reach out to Revinate’s experts to learn more.