The more I meet with clients, the more I realize how important it is for them to keep track of the Single Guest Profile and know the repeat guest when he books the next time, and the next time -- regardless of where the reservation is coming from.

Existing technologies, be it PMS or CRS systems, have a hard time identifying that repeat guest, and this results in having to deal with multiple duplicate profiles created in the PMS/CRS applications, making any loyalty analytics or frequent guest tracking very difficult.

So this is where CRM application comes into play and this is what Libra OnDemand CRM has been designed to do, serving as the central point for matching and identifying repeat guests, maintaining a single guest profile and merging any duplicate profiles whenever possible. By connecting to multiple hotel properties, repeat guests can be identified across the entire chain, providing a "global" view of the customer.

Consider the following scenario: a guest books a room directly with the hotel, the next time he books the room through the hotel's web site, and the third time he makes a reservation on Expedia.com. He does not have a frequent guest account - so as far as the hotel is concerned, he is a new guest every time he books, right?

Well, Libra OnDemand will look at every reservation coming in and match it with any existing reservations or guest profiles that already exist in the system. Multiple parameters can be used for the match, be it guest name, phone number or email address. If there is a match, we action on it and let the hotel know that this is a repeat customer. We also let them know if there were any issues during the previous stay that need to be paid attention to, or if the guest had any particular requests that perhaps we should inquire about on this visit.

A major challenge in matching new reservations with existing profiles is the fact that not all reservation sources will give you enough information about the guests to recognize him or her on a repeat visit. GDS, for example, rarely give out more than the guest's name and credit card data, which for privacy reasons cannot be stored to identify the customer. The only way to identify a repeat guest in this case is by gathering addition details such as email addresses or phone numbers at the front desk when guests arrive, and using that data to merge with existing profiles in the system.

Hotel loyalty programs go a long way in helping hotels keep accurate data about frequent customers. By issuing loyalty cards and encouraging guests to provide frequent guest account numbers when making a reservation, hotels can accurately identify their frequent customers. However not every repeat guest will have a loyalty card, and loyalty cards may not always be used when making reservations, especially through third party sources.

Our goal is to continue refining the matching and de-duping process within Libra OnDemand CRM whether or not a frequent guest card is used, making sure that hotels have the most complete and accurate data about their repeat customers.