Mews, Salesforce Integration Offers Hoteliers Customer Relationship Holy Grail

Just over a month ago, Mews announced that it had launched a “Mews for Salesforce” on Salesforce AppExchange. This integration was created to empower hoteliers to connect their PMS and CRM in real-time, allowing them to fast-track guest personalization and enable data-driven guest experiences that would increase loyalty and lifetime value. To learn more about this integration and what it could mean for the industry as a whole, HT spoke with Richard Valtr, Founder of Mews.

What makes this integration so unique?

The connection of property management system (PMS) and customer relationship management (CRM) has been the holy grail for hoteliers for years. The ability to create personalized stays easily and seamlessly through the combination of these two data rich, but currently siloed, technologies is a huge opportunity for the hospitality industry.

For too long, the moment the guest walks across the threshold of a hotel not much can inform the front of house team on anyone walking towards their desk. Perhaps the most primitive example is knowing whether or not a guest has stayed in the hotel before, too often (and almost exclusively) the first question asked is ‘Have you stayed with us before?’ - with Mews and Salesforce this question should be eradicated completed.  

Provide a real-world example of how a hotel can use this integration to their advantage.

Through the combination of PMS and CRM data the possibilities could be endless.

Marketing and sales will be able to segment guests based on preferences and behavior. For example,

• Create a segment of guests that spent >$10,000 in a 3-5 day stay and invite them back with exclusive offers. 
• Send a personalized email combining different stays in different properties, I.e., 30 days until we welcome you back in Orlando! We can’t wait! We know how much you loved our Spa in New York, so why not pamper yourself in Orlando too.

Or, a couple of how you might be able to create remarkable moments for guests during your stay:

• Send in-stay notifications (however the guest prefers) - Why not have breakfast with us tomorrow? Reply ‘Yes’ now and save 20%
• Skip Housekeeping for the next two days and we’ll plant 10 trees in your name
• Quite the view from room 304, isn’t it? We can bring happy hour to that balcony of yours, click here to make it happen
  • Or for when that loyal guest returns, we’ve put you in 304 again, we know you love it! Would you like to book a bike and a spa for the weekend, like last time?

When discussing this technology integration at HITEC, how did hoteliers react?

Throughout HITEC there was real intrigue about what this could mean and how this connection of PMS and CRM can realise truly personalized experiences for guests throughout their interaction with a hotel. Hospitality should lead the charge when it comes to delivering personalized experiences for consumers, and this will enable the industry to grab back control of that mantle.

Across all segments of hospitality from the large chains to the small independents, hoteliers seemed to be inspired by the numerous use cases that could now be possible with these two systems talking to each other.