A MARKETING OPTIMISATION MODEL FOR CRM ACTIVITIES

Purpose. Evaluate the importance of CRM for the hotel business and show the influence of an ongoing guest communication on the buying behavior (booking activities). Design/methodology/approach. Descriptive analysis of the marketing campaign data of four 4-star hotels in Germany over a period of 4.5 years. Research Limitations. I had no influence on the communication strategy respectively on other factors which influence loyalty like pricing, product or services. Findings &Practical Implications. The analysis proves the assumption that communication plays a significant role within CRM to keep customers loyal. Further on the quality of the media channels e-mail and post mail could be proven. The result is that the replacement of post mailings through e-mail communication is at least questionable. Originality/Value. The study is most likely the first analysis for the hotel business which shows the effect of guest marketing in a CRM context. The reason is that hotel companies so far had not the necessary campaign data available or the data was not linked to a central guest profile. This circumstance made it impossible to analyze the effect of communication on customer relationships. Paper type: Research Paper.