Luxury resort management company Classic Resorts (now operated by Destination Residences Hawaii) features six properties across the islands of Maui and the Big Island, Hawaii. Their philosophy, to deliver the ultimate vacation experience combining the comforts of a private vacation home with the amenities and services of a resort hotel in a prime location, requires thoughtful and savvy attention to the guest experience from long before the guest arrives to long after the stay.
Over the past decade, the strategy has evolved to meet the resort’s specific needs at every turn. By consistently using all facets of the CRM—leading management, sales training and strategy, and marketing automation—Classic Resorts has seen unprecedented growth in conversions and revenue.
PROBLEM:
When Classic Resorts engaged with NAVIS in 2008, the company faced many unique challenges, not the least of which was talent. From reservations to revenue management and marketing, attracting and retaining talent in a small market proved difficult. Further, the company’s culture was intimate, and many agents were long-term employees, which made adding new talent particularly sensitive. While the company’s staff was a huge asset, their lead management technology was outdated, and the Classic Resorts team found that essential guest-experience touchpoints were being missed along the booking journey.
“When we engaged with NAVIS a decade ago, we were underperforming in reservations and marketing. Using a combination of CRM technology, client advocate support, and additional NAVIS staffing in reservations and revenue management, we have watched our revenues go through the roof. Across that time, the NAVIS CRM, including RezForce, has generated an average of close to $16,000,000 each year.”
Lynn Higashiguchi, Director of Sales & Marketing Destination Residences Hawaii
SOLUTION:
Classic Resorts knew they needed assistance in training and staffing, but the team also knew that those initiatives could only be as successful as the technology supporting them. What they needed, in order to create long-term success, was a powerhouse technology platform and team that would help them streamline data, align each of the three revenue-generating teams, and ensure every aspect of the guest pathway was tracked. The NAVIS CRM did just that: The platform generated demand and aligned their teams, helping Classic Resorts to not only harness limited human resources with reservations sales support, guest on-demand reservation services at all hours through Rezforce overflow and after hours call center support.
“A complete CRM is the foundation upon which successful reservations, marketing, and revenue management are built.”
Kyle Buehner, CEO, NAVIS
OUTCOME:
In partnering with NAVIS, Classic Resorts has experienced massive revenue and conversion growth through the use of the complete CRM platform. Not just from a product and services standpoint, but also as a source of training, support, and innovation. Further, by utilizing the full suite of CRM products and services, Classic Resorts was able to better analyze marketing campaigns and understand demand and attribution. Finally, the team gained full transparency into how their programs (online and offline–through their voice channel) were performing and increased their reservations conversions each year by utilizing the full suite of CRM products and services. This enabled their team to make better revenue management decisions and helped the company to grow. The charts below show year-over-year conversion by team for the last 3 years utilizing the NAVIS system and the integration of reservation sales services for the onsite agent team and the % of overflow calls to NAVIS RezForce Team between 2016 –2018.
REVENUE STRATEGY SUCCESSES:
Classic Resorts worked with the NAVIS team to optimize their revenue management strategies and ultimately increase ROI. This allowed their team to focus more on strategic planning without compromising their day-to-day responsibilities.
Over the course of two years, the company’s revenue management practices increased the average revenue per booking from $4,611 in 2016 to $6,135 in 2018.
MARKETING SUCCESSES:
In January 2017, Classic Resorts implemented the NAVIS Marketing Suite to create targeted email campaigns. The platform’s ad hoc ‘Engage’ campaigns generated $5,904,602 in the first year and $6,809,229 in the second year. Combined, the Marketing campaigns generated 2,889 in new bookings. Automated LifeCycle campaigns earned $480,500 in 2017 and generated over $280,160 in the first six months of 2018. In addition, Classic Resorts has grown its CRM database at a rate of over 2,000 emails per month to date.
