Sofitel Legend The Grand Amsterdam Begins Digital Upselling Journey
Luxury hotel Sofitel Legend The Grand Amsterdam, a 5-star property steeped in history, has adopted Oaky as their digital upselling platform. Located in the heart of Amsterdam in a monumental canal-side building, the hotel’s unparalleled reputation attracts visitors from all corners of the globe.
“As part of the hotel tech ensemble that we use at The Grand, Oaky fits in well. The platform is very hotel-oriented, and operates on a foundation of hotelier feedback and in-house hotel experience. Oaky enables us to capture the opportunities available to us via our property and brand, while giving us valuable insights trackable from the backend. A tool that is evolving in tandem with the increasingly digital needs of hoteliers.” Kees Hogetoorn, Director of Sales and Marketing at Sofitel Legend The Grand Amsterdam
Oaky’s Highlights for The Grand
The Grand uses Oaky alongside a pre-existing voucher system, allowing guests ample opportunity to discover their amenities. While satisfied with the performance of their vouchers, the hotel identified some inherent benefits to the Oaky approach. Beyond expanding the scope of experiences and revenue opportunities available at The Grand, the hotel appreciated the fact that Oaky’s pre-arrival emails offered an additional digital opportunity to communicate with guests at an ideal time. The timing of pre-arrival emails allows the hotel to make contact during the all-important planning period that kicks in a few weeks before the guest makes their trip. Hogetoorn elaborates:
“Before guests go ahead and book three museums and three restaurants to visit in the duration of their stay, they receive a friendly email reminder about the many wonderful things they can treat themselves to at our hotel, including the beautiful indoor/outdoor settings of our restaurants and our spa.”
In this unprecedented period of low travel, The Grand’s start with digital upselling has yielded a modest yet reliable monthly sum, an encouraging feat that holds promise for busier times. The knowledge that a small amount of revenue has already begun trickling in pre-check-in has alleviated the pressure on the front desk, giving them more flexibility to focus on the myriad other things this department is responsible for. Hogetoorn describes this as having an extension to the front desk team:
“Using Oaky to upsell to guests before arrival feels like having an additional team member on the front desk, one that starts their shift much earlier and passes the fruits of their labor to the rest.”
The Grand’s future with Oaky
Having adopted their use of Oaky during the pandemic, The Grand plans to use this period of low demand to establish their baseline upsell offering and further explore the capabilities of Oaky when guests begin returning in larger numbers.
The hotel’s staff are heading into 2021 with a goal to maximize upsell opportunities. This will include room upgrades, but also a focus on assessing which different aspects of the hotel’s offering can be used in an upsell.
“We are very proud to welcome the iconic Sofitel Legend The Grand to the Oaky family. It is amazing to work with hotel teams who are doing everything to provide an amazing stay for their guests. We are looking forward to growing together throughout market recovery,” says Loïc Gabriël, Sales Manager at Oaky.