Launching a new hotel app for your property brings a new set of challenges and items for consideration. We spoke with Megan Kelly, the Director of Sales & Marketing at dusit D2 constance pasadena, one of INTELITY’s newest hotel clients. She offered information on how the hotel plans to successfully leverage their new mobile app.
Do you have staff training at all levels to educate about the hotel’s app?
We’re a pretty small team, and most associates went through a staff training with INTELITY’s Client Services. One of the hotel’s key selling features is how tech-savvy we are, and the INTELITY mobile app is a big part of that. For future new hires, INTELITY training will be part of employee orientation. All hotel staff is invited to download the app to become more familiar with the functionality.
Which social media channels is the hotel active on and how do you plan to incorporate these into increasing guest engagement?
We’re on Facebook and Instagram and are considering Pinterest. We will promote the app through these channels.
What are some ways you plan to gauge guest response?
We have a comment card in the app so guests can provide feedback regarding their stay. We also plan to use INTELITY Staff metrics to gauge usage of the app.
Are you planning any targeted or direct marketing through the app?
We may use the app in the future to promote our Happy Hour or special events in the restaurant. The geo-targeting feature is helpful to ensure we are reaching current guests and not guests who’ve already traveled. We found this to be one of the more interesting features during our training with INTELITY.
What are some of your overall short- or long-term goals following the launch of the app?
Our short-term goal is to make sure the app functions correctly and is user-friendly. We have some features that we deactivated, for example, a store that was set up through a local third-party. We want to be certain all content is correct and easy to read, for example, making the map feature more targeted and reducing the number of places featured. We had no idea until training with INTELITY’s Client Services that it was better to have just a few places listed.
A long-term goal is to use the app to create great customer engagement. We want people to feel connected to us whether they’re a future guest, an in-house guest, or someone who’s already come and gone. I think an app is a great tool, even if people don’t use it often. Just having the icon on their phone is a reminder.
