Dear hoteliers,
I recently spoke with Anja Poser, Sales Manager at Apart’hôtel Ajoupa, Aparthotel Vieux Nice, Hôtel du Centre and Hôtel de France Nice, all very beautiful hotels in the center of Nice filled with conviviality, simplicity and generosity.
AMMI’s establishments were recently listed in the Top 8 Hotels in Nice on Tripadvisor, and are leaders in customer satisfaction on most websites. As you can imagine, we had a long conversation about that!
But what led me to contact Anja was the fact that she recently decided to try using Experience Hotel‘s services to improve her customers’ experience. We suggested that she take advantage of our free trial offer, and see what her initial results showed.
Here’s a snapshot of her experience:
Who you are:
– Can you briefly introduce yourself?
I am in charge of sales for a small group of 4 boutique hotels and aparthotels in Nice. I started in 2011 as a receptionist in one of the hotels, and worked my way up within the AMMI Hotels & Co group. I am 37 years old, and the mother of 2 boys.
– Can you tell us a little about your company?
Our AMMI boutique hotels/aparthotels are mid-range, and conveniently located in the center of Nice. Our highest priority is satisfying our customers, and making them feel as welcome as if they were visiting friends! In fact, we are among the highest-rated hotels for customer satisfaction across all websites.
You will find our AMMI hotels, all recently renovated, at the corner of Place Masséna in Vieux Nice, in the retail area of Avenue J Médecin with a view of Notre Dame, and just behind the Negresco, only 150 m from the sea. They all offer nearby parking and easy access to public transportation, and are just a few minutes’ walk from the city’s main attractions, perfect for business or pleasure.
We are proud to have been awarded the 2021 Eco-Responsible Entrepreneur Trophy by the City of Nice, rewarding our green, sustainable policies that help protect the environment.
– What is your job within the company?
I am in charge of the company’s development, working in close collaboration with the managers of each hotel and the owner.
My work is centered on revenue management, marketing, training new team members on the tools and sales techniques as well as welcoming customers, group reservations, and updating our direct websites and the OTAs.
You and Experience Hotel CRM:
– Can you tell us a little more about the different CRM options you already use?
I only use the email marketing part for the moment. We plan to start using the overall package in March 2022.
– What impact has our CRM had on your day-to-day operations, and what issue(s) has it helped you improve?
The email marketing module is simple and fast. I don’t have to manually extract the customers I don’t want to send my campaigns to, or delete the duplicates!
– What impact has it had on your guests?
Our guests are happy, because they can switch the language of the email via a simple button at the top of the page (which opens a web page showing the email in their language). That’s a real bonus.
Overall, the Free Trial has been a real success for the group. The emailings sent via the CRM have generated a significant growth in our direct sales: we are talking about a 4-digit growth for all 4 hotels!
We also noted the return of some guests who had not visited our hotels for 2 years, since the beginning of the pandemic. This is what justified the adoption of the tool at the beginning of the year for the four establishments.
– In the medium to long term, what kind of financial impact would you say a tool like this would have on your hotel(s)?
Definitely a positive impact. The tool would help us build customer loyalty and generate more direct bookings, without having to pay commissions to an OTA.
In closing:
– Were you using other solutions before trying our Experience Hotel email marketing tool?
Yes, I was using Sendinblue and Mailjet.
– What do you like most about the solution you’ve just tried?
The fact that I can use my own template (once it’s configured) to create multiple emails. Then I just have to modify the text in the desired language, or the email address of the sender. This is a very attractive feature for us, since we have several establishments.
The statistics and analysis tool is also great, because it allows us to see whether a customer has opened the email and/or clicked it, and if they went on to make a reservation. That information is sent directly to our PMS, Thais.
– What would you say to your fellow hoteliers to convince them to try Experience Hotel?
It’s an easy-to-use, intuitive tool that provides complete, detailed statistics.
Many thanks, Anja!
