Mark Johnson from Loyalty360.com writes:

The James is redefining luxury boutique hotels in New York, Chicago and soon in West Hollywood for its loyal guests. The hotel focuses on providing beautiful designs and outstanding customer service.

Lisa Zandee, Senior Vice President of Brand Management, told Loyalty360 that The James is a leader in creating design and guest centric services. “Both are extremely important,” she explained. “It’s about form and function. It has to work and look good.”

An interesting interview with the Senior Vice President of Brand for the boutique chain. Many of the points Zandee brings up are very true to run a successful hospitality operation, especially in the high-end boutique industry. Customer service and differentiated experiences are the key for these types of properties to thrive. Being a small hotel allows for personalized service which is the definition of a boutique experience.

Where I think problems will start to occur is the lack of respect for data in driving decisions. Zandee dismisses data as something that clouds the teams judgement when developing initiatives. I think this will come back to haunt this team. Again, there is an art and science to marketing in the digital age and The James is disregarding the science portion. Creating a loyal database is key to surviving in the hospitality industry and solely relying on social media and your loyalty rewards program is leaving profit on the table.

Most CRM programs make the most money from customers who aren't giving you the loyalty you are looking for, so to minimize this group can lead to reservations coming through less profitable and less loyal channels. Increasing the base of the business coming from known customers increases profits while enabling control of the customer experience. Delivering great customer experiences in the digital age relies on data as an important component.