How can serviced apartments use guest data to personalise the guest experience?

With the increasing number of remote workers and digital nomads seeking flexible living spaces, serviced apartments have earned an essential place in the hospitality industry. However, due to their distinct essence, managing them can differ significantly from running a traditional hotel.

Hiisi Homes & Hotels, a Finnish serviced apartment provider, implemented Bookboost to accurately handle guest data and deliver a more personalised guest experience. This helped the team better understand guests and improve the overall guest experience and operational efficiency.

Discover more about their story below.

Hiisi: A home away from home

Founded by the passion for entrepreneurship, Hiisi Homes & Hotels is a family-run business that was born on the shores of Lake Hiidenvesi in Finland. 

Starting with a single apartment, Hiisi Homes & Hotels expanded rapidly to over 300 apartments in just seven years. They are now the second largest operator of short-term rental apartments in Finland. 

Their aim is simple: to create a feeling of home for both their guests and employees. They offer local, personalised experiences with outstanding self-service.

As a technology-driven brand, they have developed fully contactless guest journeys that require no staff on site. This enables them to build a highly adaptable business model that can easily scale and cater to guests in any location, particularly those where traditional hotels struggle to profit.

Situation: Lack of an accurate source of guest data to provide personalised experiences

The team was looking for a system to manage its guest data so they could understand guest preferences and provide better service. “We didn’t have a good source of guest data that would merge the data and make sure it is clean and updated. And it could be easily available.”, said Markus Veikkolainen, CTO & CMO of Hiisi Homes & Hotels.

Given their fully contactless guest journey, they wanted to use automation as much as possible to operate without staff on-site effectively. By doing so, they strive to deliver a seamless and efficient digital guest experience.

In addition, they needed a platform that integrated with their property management system, Apaleo.

Three ways service apartment brands can use Bookboost to drive higher efficiency

Hiise Homes & Hotels used Bookboost not only to drive higher efficiency but also to create a better guest experience by using guest data. Here is how they did it. 

1.  Unified Inbox to have a more precise overview of guest messaging and save time

Through Bookboost’s Unified Inbox, the brand was able to centralise all guest messaging in one place so they could have better control over their incoming communication.

Guests often contact them through various channels, making it challenging to track and manage multiple conversations while having limited staff. Every day, they spend considerable time following conversations across platforms and switching between devices to answer.

Now, staff can access all messages in one place and respond instantly without logging into different platforms. This has significantly simplified their communication and ensured that guests always receive the correct information on time, not to mention helping to save time on their operations.

“It saves us time. We don’t need to go around other messaging systems. It gives us more visibility and control of all the messages we receive”, Markus explained.

2. CDP to effectively manage guest data and gain deeper insights into guests

The Bookboost platform has a CDP at its core, which unifies and manages guest data and nurtures all products, helping hoteliers gain insights into their guests. The Hiisi Homes & Hotels teams knew the importance of having accurate guest data. 

One problem the team faced before was scattered data across different platforms. It was difficult to organise a large amount of data manually, and they missed opportunities to understand their guests better.

Now, Hiisi Homes & Hotels can easily access clean and updated guest data that is ready to be used. This data is automatically updated in Apaleo as well, which makes the workflow smoother.

“With Bookboost, we can recognise loyal guests more easily, what has happened in the past and the future, everything available in one place. It helps us to provide a better guest experience by having the data available. We can know our guests and cater to their needs better.”, explained Markus.

In addition, having the right data has also helped to streamline the pre-arrival process. For them, it is crucial to send accurate arrival information to the correct contact details. 

If guests don't receive the message due to incorrect contact information, they will have to contact the hotel by themselves later, which will add extra inconvenience. Therefore, ensuring data is correct from the beginning saves time and effort. 

3. Multi-Channel CRM for a guest journey that creates better pre-arrival experiences

The brand knew that having an evolving communication strategy that takes into account the preferences of guests was key for a positive guest experience. 

Bookboost’s multi-channel CRM allows them to create multi-channel guest journeys, enabling them to reach guests through their preferred channels. This means they no longer contact guests only through email but using other channels like WhatsApp and SMS.

“It helps us to reach guests on the app they prefer. WhatsApp has become popular in the last years, and being able to send messages via WhatsApp to our guests helps with the success rates of our messaging”, added Markus.

Now, they can create personalised campaigns that, in addition to reaching guests through different channels, implement the insights obtained from their guest data, ensuring that each guest receives content relevant to their profile and needs. 

An implementation that fits the business needs

For the team at Hiisi Homes & Hotels, having clean data that is easily available is key for their operations. Not only helps them to understand their guests better but to make processes smoother. 

“The reason why we chose Bookboost is that we needed software that manages guest data in the right way. Bookboost excelled in this area compared to other solutions in the market. Additionally, by using Bookboost, we were able to replace 2 to 3 other apps, which is more cost-effective and fits our business model,” said Markus Veikkolainen, CTO & CMO of Hiisi Homes & Hotels.

What can you learn from the Hiisi Homes & Hotels case? 

Be willing to try different technologies.

Hiisi Homes & Hotels has been a technology-driven brand from the start. Using the right technology and being open to innovation is what has enabled them to find the right combination for their operations.

‍Acknowledge the power of guest data.    

Your guest data is your biggest asset. Having a clear understanding and overview can help you elevate your guest experience and make guests happier than ever.

‍Create a homie feeling also for your staff.

Want to make your guests feel at home? Just like Hiisi, make it a goal to ensure your staff feels the same way. How your staff feels will impact the quality of service and the overall atmosphere.

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