As its name might suggest, the Crowne Plaza Tel Aviv Center is one of the shiniest jewels in all of Israel’s capital city when it comes to hotels. With an on-site spa, fitness club to rival most large gyms, a full-service restaurant and a state-of-the-art business center, it’s the perfect spot to stay for business travelers. But the amenities are just half of the story. The staff at the Crowne Plaza recognizes that most of their guests are traveling and staying alone, but that does not mean they need to feel like strangers in a strange land.
“We have the campaign slogan ‘Here to connect,’ which means we will provide a personalized service and will try to think a step ahead of our guests and what their needs might be,” says Guest Relations Manager Yosef Cohen. “We want to help them out before they even ask for anything by being proactive, and not passive.”
Crowne Plaza Tel Aviv Center
The Challenge
Despite their vigorous service to know their guests well, the staff of the Crowne Plaza cannot be omniscient, and their ability to meet special requests ahead of time is lessened by the slow recovery from the COVID-19 lockdowns, as more guests are staying in their rooms and doing less in-person interactions with hotel staff.
So how does a hotel that thrives on personalized service show guests that they know what they want and what they need? Furthermore, how can hotels leverage that knowledge for potential upsell possibilities? Cohen says it’s all about knowing a guest’s details and seeing how that translates into providing them a better, more satisfying experience.
“From our side, take room upgrades for example,” Cohen says. “Sometimes we have people who arrive for a week or two that would love to upgrade their room for that stay, but are not thinking about it at the moment. If we are aware that we have the supply to deliver that upgrade for them, even if we discount the room 20-30%, we are still making a lot of extra revenue. But how to broach the subject with them so it does not come across as pushy and allows them to decide in their own time what makes the most sense?”
"It’s a great tool to get more revenue. It’s enough that you’ll have two guests a day and you’ll get your ROI out of this platform.”
The Solution
With in-person interactions on the downswing and trying to avoid annoying phone calls that disturb customers in their rooms, the solution is clear: a messaging system that guests are comfortable with, can take their own time to respond to, and allows them to make frequent contact on their own schedule. By harnessing the power of WhatsApp and other messenger services onto the EasyWay platform, the Crowne Plaza gives its guests an open canvas on which to seek information, make queries, order room service, and access a fully-functioning concierge service. Even better, the guest can expect nearly instantaneous feedback from the hotel staff in its own native language.
“‘Make Travel business work’” is our slogan,” Cohen says. “We are here to support business guests and make them feel as comfortable as they can.”
That interaction also allows the Crowne Plaza to offer suggestions to guests about possible upgrades and customized experiences without appearing too “salesy” or obtrusive.
“The platform allows you easily to bring more guests to breakfast/dinners,” Cohen says. “We can see when the demand is relatively low and suggest a free glass of wine or a free dessert when you’re ordering a main dish. It’s a great tool to get more revenue. It’s enough that you’ll have two guests a day and you’ll get your ROI out of this platform.”
"We used to get hundreds of phone calls from guests. Now that we have this platform with the automatic reply to the repetitive questions, it reduced it tremendously. It saves a lot of time and the guests prefer it that way. Win-win"
Why EasyWay?
The Crowne Plaza staff is also trying to think outside the box to impress its guests and further its brand image. Going that extra mile is a huge differentiator in the hospitality business because if you are not creative and expanding, you’re going to see a decline.
“I think EasyWay is one of the best examples of our creative thinking,” Cohen says. “The information about our needs and brainstorming with EasyWay’s team constantly improves the system and has led us to the current product.”
The Crowne Plaza staff ticks off its three biggest takeaways from implementing EasyWay as: Better service, more revenue, and time efficiency. They especially love that by giving the guests the opportunity to text questions and concerns, they are able to deal with issues during the guest’s stay before they take the matters to social media and get the brand undue negative attention.
“We used to get hundreds of phone calls from guests. Now that we have this platform with the automatic reply to the repetitive questions, it reduced it tremendously. It saves a lot of time", Cohen says. “The guests prefer it that way. Win-win.”
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