A team driven by customer success: Expert SaaS support for hoteliers

Customer service is a critical aspect of any business, but for hoteliers, this is often what sets them apart. Across the world of hospitality, there are conventions in service that hoteliers appreciate and expect. It’s fair to say that when it comes to customer service, they set the benchmark. It is, after all, their craft. 

So, when hoteliers recognised the top 10 most customer-centric hotel tech companies in the 2022 Hotel Tech Report Awards, the standards are nothing short of exceptional. 

This year OTA Insight ranked 3rd out of more than 100 of the top hotel tech companies globally in the Hotelier’s Choice competition, chosen using the total verified customer reviews, the geographic reach of the verified reviews, and the overall review sentiment and ratings. In another challenging pandemic year for the hotel sector, when innovation, accuracy and reliability were needed in equal doses, OTA Insight provided 24/7 support, 365 days a year to over 55,000 customers in 185 countries.

24/7 support for hoteliers

At OTA Insight, the Customer Success Team is always “on” and available to answer any customer queries, and technical challenges whenever they may arise. With offices and support in Denver, Dallas, London, Singapore and Sydney, there is round-the-clock assistance when and where it is needed the most. Service is continual and consistent - if something is not resolved in the European timezone, the American team is able to pick it up. Even with the complexity of the products, the quality of the people spread across the timezones means that resolutions are found quickly. 

OTA Insight’s Co-founder Gino Engels, who leads the Customer Success Teams, says, “By trying to understand what the customer wants and how they use the products, we want our service to dovetail very clearly into the revenue management process so that there are no barriers limiting commercial teams from carrying out their work effectively”.

Listen, understand and act

Central to that is being able to trust the tools, and the accuracy and relevance of the data they produce. If a hotelier has a question about the data or the reporting from the OTA Insight platform, the customer success team is able to answer those questions as they arise. “We strive, as a company, to provide very quick answers, that say we have heard you, and we have understood you, and we will provide the quickest resolution available, without interfering with those daily revenue processes”, continues Gino.

Reliable service results in happy hoteliers

Recent Net Promoter Scores (NPS) of 74, and a Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) score of 98% are a reflection of the dependable and honest relationships that OTA Insight has built with its customers. The scores indicate that at every point along the customer journey, customers are being provided with a best-in-class experience. The whole company is service focused, and understand that the client may be at any stage in their OTA Insight journey. As such, senior people who are new users of the platforms receive exactly the same service and care as all existing clients. 

Head of Revenue at Soho House, Lucas Peter, who has been using Rate insight to make smarter shopping decisions across a 25 property portfolio feels the response time is outstanding, and the solutions show a unique level of understanding for the hotel industry’s needs. “We signed up when the company was still young, so I was able to do a lot of beta testing and research calls. Whatever was highlighted was taken into consideration and it was great to see how fast and agile the industry feedback was handled and implemented. There is always a team on it and everything is quickly resolved. From account management to tech support, there is a proactive approach”.

Response through the pandemic

For an industry reeling from the effects of Covid-19 affected travel, hotels have needed a proactive approach to respond to a mercurial market and rethink their pricing strategies. In any low demand period, pricing is critical and during the pandemic, this became especially true. Prolonged periods of low demand meant revenue managers had to find the best possible price position within their market. 

“OTA Insight’s development team is always eager to update their solutions to address hoteliers’ new and changing requirements", notes Takafumi Kondo, Cluster Director of Revenue Management at Pacifica Capital K.K, "Their team is very quick to respond to my questions and the few issues I’ve had, have always been solved quickly. This has been an issue repeatedly with other tech providers, but OTA Insight stands out to me in this regard".

“During the rough time we all had in 2020, their entire team rose to the occasion, provided valuable reassurance and was phenomenal all around. In short, we have a much closer relationship with them than I ever thought possible with a tech provider," says Vickie Callahan, Senior Vice President Revenue Generation at Peachtree Hotel Group.

“OTA Insight’s team has been very helpful from the first point of contact. They respond to questions quickly, provide valuable input and always appreciate our feedback”, says Bharath Satyavolu, Head of the Revenue Management Division at Centara Hotels and Resorts, “Especially during the worst months of the pandemic, their support showed how invested they are in a long-term relationship with us. Their commitment to our success proves that we’ve chosen the right partner”.

Summary

As more and more revenue teams used OTA Insight tools to navigate a path through the pandemic, and the Customer Success team provided them with necessary education and effective answers, their response time never dropped, and the team kept a strong pace with the work that needed to be done. By listening to customers, and hearing their concerns, the quality of the Customer Support responses improved and CSAT and NPS statistics remained consistent all the way through the height of the pandemic.

“If you give good service, you will always win”, says Gino, “Hoteliers who are using our products have delivered exceptional service to their customers. I don't believe we should be offering a service that's any different to that for any one of these hoteliers. They are used to giving good service, they should expect to receive good service from the tech company that they're paying for. It really is as simple as that”.