Yossy Mendolovich CEO of IMGuest, the world’s only hotel management social network, has launched a service that flips the script on how marketing people interact with guests at prominent chains.
IMGuest is a premium marketing tool launched three days ago that enables marketing and guest relations staff to use the social graph to interact with hotel guests at check-in. From that moment on, staff can push out discounts and other offers to them instantaneously based on their interests.
It works like a browser-based Foursquare or Gowalla, but instead of being about a consumer’s mobile device-centric experience, the data from that consumer’s social graph is pushed into the hotel’s system.
The data reflect the interests, histories and demographics that marketing staff can leverage to make the physical experience at the hotel more gratifying. Instead of having guests search out their own next actions, the actions are delivered to them as cues in emails.
Mendolovich says the Tel Aviv-based company started by running a pilot with eight international hotels that he could not mention because of confidentiality agreements. The hotels are global.
We got a sneak peek into how this social graph for hotel managers works.
Essentially, hotel staff log into IMGuest through the portal and then monitor guests who check-in to the social graph. The interface shows all their profiles, and then you can dig down deeper to get metadata about those individuals.
Staff can post to the guests marketing offers for things like a jazz night, a flash sale on free drinks, or a spa discount, throughout the chain or specifically to guests at the particular hotel, and it will go directly to the people who are logged in as guests at that moment. Staff can filter through demographic data like age, gender, origin, or interests.
This premium account is available only to hotels and the price is about $50 per hotel, per month. There is a free version available to anyone.
