The brand

StayWell Holdings, one of the largest hotel management groups in Asia Pacific, together with its strategic partners and parent company Seibu Prince Hotels Worldwide Inc., operate a diverse portfolio of hotels worldwide. Combined brand offerings include The Prince Akatoki, The Prince, Grand Prince Hotel, Park Regis by Prince, Park Regis, Policy, Park Proxi, Prince Hotel, Prince Smart Inn, and Leisure Inn.

Together with Prince Hotels & Resorts, StayWell has set a strategic goal to deliver 250 hotels in the medium to long term, with expansion planned across multiple regions including Asia Pacific, South East Asia, China, Japan, the Middle East, Europe, and the United States.

The challenge

A strategic marketer, Trent Pigram knows that guest data is the key to successful marketing campaigns. But in 2021, with a limited email marketing solution in place, he didn’t have the data he needed to support developing his marketing strategies. Without guest data to understand multiple audiences, he was unable to segment his audience for personalized marketing. And, without good reporting data, he was unable to see strategic campaign performance, support hotels in elevating their email marketing communication, or know whether new approaches were helping to drive better results.

The solution

In 2021, StayWell Holdings made the decision to use Revinate Marketing across its portfolio of 18 hotels, giving Trent the access to data that he needs to be successful in driving business for the hotels. Now, with Revinate powered by AWS, he can apply segmentation and automation to increase engagement and direct revenue.

Automated upsell campaigns in Revinate Marketing have been especially successful at bringing in direct revenue for the group’s city hotels. After booking but before check-in, Revinate automatically reaches out to guests to offer early check-in, late check-out, room upgrades, and more. These upsell offers, in addition to “we miss you” campaigns sent 90 days after check-out, have proven to be great revenue generators for the hotels.

Revinate also provides Trent with the reporting he needs to understand what’s working for the hotels and where there’s room for improvement. He can use the metrics provided by Revinate Marketing, such as open rates, click-through rates, and revenue attributions based on various segmentation tactics, but he can also analyze the data for more complex analysis.

He says, “Because Revinate and the PMS are integrated, I finally have the revenue attribution I need to understand our guests’ purchase behavior. I can see how long it takes for a guest to book after receiving an EDM, and the pivotal role email marketing plays in the booking journey.”

Automation and reporting help Trent optimize his campaigns to improve performance. He knows that his open rates are greatest when he sends campaigns to engaged guests, so that’s a segment he focuses on for revenue generation. He has also found success by testing follow-up emails and utilizing a retargeting strategy for guests that didn’t book after the first email.

With an additional focus on database growth and health, StayWell leverages qualification campaigns to capture email addresses while also supporting their lead-gen strategy. These campaigns are triggered once a lead submits a form on their website. This always-on campaign has driven 445 room nights in 12 months, or A$136,000+ in revenue.

The results

With Revinate Marketing, StayWell Holdings has driven more than A$10M in revenue, making email a leading direct booking channel for the properties. In addition to revenue, Revinate Marketing is also credited with helping the hotels become more data-centric. Trent notes, “On-property staff love reviewing Revinate’s Arrival Report to see who is checking in. Being able to drill down into the profiles helps them ensure a great stay. And, it also helps them see when we are missing data, like email addresses, that are so important for our marketing strategy. Database growth is a goal for 2024, and Revinate will help us measure our results.”