Sandals Increases Guest Satisfaction and Quality of Service with Loop Mobile Guest Engagement
Sandals Resorts International is the leader in Caribbean vacation experiences and one of the world’s best-known hospitality companies. Sandals wins travel industry awards year after year because it understands the importance of satisfying guests and earning their loyalty. The company is committed to exceeding guest expectations at each of its luxury resorts.
The Challenges
Sandals wanted to strengthen this commitment by empowering employees to increase guest satisfaction, recover at-risk guests, and foster positive online reviews. But the company lacked the tools to address these challenges in an effcient and consistent way. Sandals needed technology that would allow it to:
• Capture and act on input shared by guests during their visits to resort properties;
• Track and learn from guest interactions during their stay; and
• Maintain a consistently high quality of service across all properties.
The Solution
Sandals addressed these needs by placing the Loop Experience Platform at the center of its daily operations. Loop enables resort staff and guests to engage in real-time dialogue using the mobile web. Guests can use Loop to share concerns, make requests and suggestions, and offer compliments. Loop instantly assigns all guest requests to appropriate staff members and empowers them to respond with timely answers and action.
Sandals used Loop to add the following capabilities:
Personal concierge: With Loop, team members proactively offer VIP treatment and address issues during a guest’s stay. Loop makes it simpler for resort staff to address guests’ day-to-day concerns. Guests can ask questions, offer input, or request assistance at any time and from any location. They can also use Loop to praise staff members for providing superior service.
Additionally, Loop is equipped with analytics and reporting capabilities that give management and staff a real-time view of customer dialogue, data, and insights, in turn helping them improve operations, motivate staff, and increase guest satisfaction.
Guest recovery: Loop enables resort staff to win back at-risk guests. With its easy-to-use interface, guests can share insights into operational issues or disappointing experiences. Team members use these insights to address problems in real time, ensure that guests are satisfied, and solicit positive online reviews. They can also use Loop’s tracking and reporting capabilities to prevent future problems.
TripAdvisor reviews: Loop draws out positive reviews by making it easier for Sandals to reach mobile-social guests. These guests are part of a new culture that values connectedness, brand co-ownership, and immediacy. They feel strong bonds with their preferred brands, and want the ability to voice their concerns and needs digitally and have these concerns addressed on the spot.
When a guest’s needs have been satisfied, staff can use Loop to digitally prompt the guest via their mobile device to post a review on TripAdvisor. With these tools and processes in place, each problem solved improves the guest experience and provides a new opportunity to solicit a TripAdvisor review.
These new capabilities provide quick and effective new ways to respond to the needs of every guest. Negative input allows staff members to pinpoint at-risk guests and address problems before they escalate.
Positive input allows managers to identify, reward, and retain high-performing team members. Requests present opportunities to offer answers or improvements that enhance the guest experience. In many cases, given the size of Sandals’ resorts, Loop provided added convenience to guests by allowing them to make requests and reservations at restaurants when they were not in their room.
The solution’s components included:
A mobile dialogue interface that allows staff to engage guests in one-on-one conversations. Support for MMS lets guests use photos to illustrate operational issues.
A manager interface that allows management and staff to track, sort, time-stamp, and analyze dialogue between resort staff and guests.
A CRM and PMS integration that equips resort staff with information about guest preferences, past stays, and loyalty program status. Staff members can use this information to tailor offers and actions to individual guests.
Enterprise-grade reporting enables managers and executives to identify operational trends, strengths, and weaknesses. Employees at all levels can use the interface to learn about trends and patterns, monitor guest interactions, and improve their understanding of guest behavior.
“On our 500-acre resort, our team can’t be everywhere at once, so when this came along, we realized that wherever a guest is – on the golf course, down the end of our mile-long stretch of beach – they have the opportunity to immediately get in contact with us. It was something we immediately embraced.”
– Jeremy Mutton, General Manager, Sandals Emerald Bay Great Exuma
The Benefits
By deploying Loop, Sandals has enhanced its ability to deliver memorable guest experiences. First, the company was able to increase guest satisfaction. Instant alerts help staff members address guests’ concerns quickly and effectively. A dialogue- and insight-driven approach to guest engagement allows Sandals to deliver a better and more consistent quality of service across
all properties.
Next, Sandals improved guest recovery rates. Real-time dialogue and escalation allows staff to identify and recover at-risk guests before they leave the property. Each recovered guest increases profitability and reduces the need to offer compensation for grievances.
The company was also able to encourage more positive online reviews. Mobile engagement allows staff members to make timely requests for online reviews. By prompting for reviews when guests are delighted, Sandals is improving its ranking on key travel websites.
