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ccenture has collaborated with Meliá Hotels International to implement a new digital transformation strategy, which helped increase direct sales by 27 percent, achieve more than 336M Euros in 2015 in direct sales revenue, and add more than one million registrations to its re-launched Meliá Rewards program.
Accenture Interactive combined its digital marketing and commerce expertise with deep hospitality industry experience from Accenture Travel to build and implement a new digital transformation strategy at Meliá Hotels International, the largest hotel company in Spain and one of the largest in Europe. This initiative was called Be More Digital. Together the companies implemented a range of digital solutions and services for the hospitality industry that helped improve the effectiveness of direct sales channels, spanning web, mobile and call centers.
This strategy has set customer personalization as a top priority for all digital sales channels and touches every stage of a customer’s experience – from booking to staying with the hotel group and beyond. This is underpinned by digital direct sales channels, such as Melia.com, Meliá app and a dedicated call center. In addition, customer data is now analyzed and used to target new and existing customers. The re-launch of the Meliá Rewards program has even increased member participation, which now accounts for 80 percent of total direct sales.
José María Dalmau, vice president of Global Sales and Marketing at Meliá Hotels International, said: “This digital transformation is strategically important to the growth of our robust hotel, resort and vacation club property portfolio. We’ve not only already achieved impressive results but are forecasted to deliver even stronger numbers. With Accenture’s help, direct sales increased 27 percent in the first year of implementation and are expected to grow on a 30 percent basis over the next three years. We serve every customer with content personalized just for them to build stronger one-on-one relationships, nurture loyalty and drive an increase in direct sales at every digital touchpoint.”
This growth is primarily driven by a new customer segmentation strategy that supports more than 200 million communications every year, more than 500 new landing pages custom designed to each customer’s individual preferences and marketing activities that are run in-house. This approach to marketing achieved a 25 percent increase in programmatic marketing return on investment.
The results of the digital transformation has increased direct sales to more than 40 percent in the first quarter of 2016. Further, the 27 percent increase in 2015 direct sales has translated to a 17 percent growth in share of overall Meliá Hotels International’s sales.
Mercedes Oblanca, managing director, Accenture Travel, said: “We are pleased to have helped Meliá Hotels International advance its digital agenda in the hospitality industry. A recent Accenture survey revealed that 66 percent of guests consider several hotel companies and visit several websites before booking, so optimizing the performance of a hotel’s digital channels is critical for reaching the right guest with the right message at the right time and place.”
To address the future digital requirements of the hospitality industry, Meliá Hotels International and Accenture have teamed to develop a new digital marketing strategy that Accenture Interactive will support. It consists of digital content production, marketing campaign management services and advanced customer analytics.
