Kim Gazlay, national hospitality/gaming sales manager, Infor CRM Epiphany notes that according to a 2009 Aberdeen (News - Alert) report, "Cutting Edge Customer Loyalty," the two main challenges facing hospitality organizations in their efforts to keep customers in a down economy are "increased competition and customers seeking the best price."

But a more recent Aberdeen report cited by Gazlay, titled "Building Lifetime Customer Value and Brand Advocacy in the Hospitality Industry," says the best-in-class hospitality enterprises are using loyalty programs to build customer value and "seeing higher customer retention, less attrition, and improved lifetime value" as a result.

Gazlay does everyone a service, reminding us that "customer preferences constantly evolve, especially in a tight economic environment," something it's easy to forget. So often in CRM we get the customer preferences nailed and there they sit, as far as we're concerned, never to be changed.

Gazlay offers some highly practical advice on how to keep your customer service fresh, relevant and effective:

Review all lapsed customers over the past 12 months and develop promotions geared toward getting them to your property. Identify customers that are most profitable to you and develop personalized promotions for them.

Use customer analytics with a CRM system and database marketing application to personalize your offers, and use a segmentation process based on customer tiers, spending patterns, preferences, and demographics. Do monthly updates of these segments to reflect changing customer needs.

Monitor and measure loyalty program sign-ups, redemption, and satisfaction rates with regular reporting of these numbers, and implement incentive plans for your top-performing locations.

Adapt your messaging, promotions, and brand image using mobile and online channels to keep customers -- and be consistent in your offers across all channels.

And find a good technological tool suited to your needs. "An example of the success from taking these actions is a global vacation exchange service provider," she says, adding that using Infor CRM Epiphany for hospitality, "the company can now deliver 150+ offers from its website, whereas previously it could only deliver 12 offers on two spots."