While most people think of sales forces and contact centers when they think of customer relationship management (CRM), the truth is that many different organizations across multiple industries have found a place for CRM solutions in their business models.

The global hospitality industry is a great example. With competition on the rise and travelers being closer with a dollar than ever, hotels have had to craft careful business strategies in order to survive. CRM plays an important part of these strategies.

Travelers often take their hotels seriously. They have favorites, they make recommendations and they expect top-notch care if they are to continue their relationship. This makes CRM an idea tool to engage travelers, retain them and entice them to return.

“It is mandatory that at any given time, an all-round view of customers is maintained. Hotel industries worldwide are therefore constantly on the look-out for the most rewarding ways not only to meet but exceed customer expectations with every consequent experience,” writes CRM Next blogger Shilpa Chatterjee. “Cost effective, tenable, and of course customer centric plans and strategies are an absolute must to stay afloat in this industry’s competitive environment.”

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By enabling a central repository of customer information and a 360-degree customer view, CRM can help hotel companies get the most out of their existing customer relationships and catch the eye of potential new customers. Hotels can track and scrutinize their most valuable customer relationships and determine why they are so successful, so they can replicate the circumstances.

“Gaining a competitive advantage by providing appealing offers, discounts and packages at all times is important,” writes Chatterjee. “Hotels must be capable of distinguishing themselves from competition by building a unique identity and generating higher brand loyalty. Reference to 'customers’ experiences' is instrumental in achieving the same. CRM software/social CRM helps collate customer reviews and feedback, which in turn can be used to achieve these objectives.”

Another important tie-in for hotels is to the realm of social media. Travelers, particularly business travelers, tend to be regular users of social media and are unafraid to broadcast their opinions, ratings, reviews and grips to their social media contacts. CRM solutions providers such as Fremont, California-based Soffront enable users of its CRM solution to expand their presence through social media vehicles such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube (News - Alert).

Via CRM tie-ins to social media, companies can keep track of what their customers are saying about them and even offer customer service directly through social media portals. This real-time information can yield on-the-spot, actionable intelligence that can help nurture existing customer relationships and build new ones.

Since hotels are often chains with multiple facilities across the nation or across the world, cloud-based CRM solutions are ideal to help manage a virtual, geographically diverse customer database. If a traveler stays at multiple hotel properties, she expects that knowledge of her interactions will follow her regardless of which hotel she stays at. The cloud can ensure that her details are available to whichever property she chooses, as well as her preferences.

There are few industries that must dedicate themselves to pleasing customers as much as the hotel industry. By maintaining a 360-degree view through a robust CRM solution, hotels can stay one step ahead of the competition and ensure they keep their customers happy.