WHAT MORE CAN A HOTEL chain do for guests beyond providing them with fabled castles and secluded lodges in 44 locations?
Ask Fairmont Hotels & Resorts. It offers a higher level of personalized service through its Fairmont President’s Club.
The 6-year-old club now has roughly 400,000 members who contribute an ever-increasing share of wallet to the chain.
And its marketing is more effective. Five years ago, when it didn’t have as much guest information as it does today, Fairmont drew a response rate of .5% for its direct mail programs. That percentage is now 2%.
There are three levels of club participation, determined by the number of nights a participant stays at a Fairmont hotel in one year, according to executive director of marketing services Sean Taggart.
The first is the President’s Club membership, open to all guests. It has most of the members.
One tier above that is the Premier level, with 44,000 members. The requirement is that the member stay at least five nights a year. Then there’s the Platinum level. Its 12,000 members book at least 10 night stays.
Information is collected in a variety of ways. Some preferences are determined from a standard questionnaire during the enrollment process. Others are gleaned during stays at the properties.
In addition, all President’s Club members have access to their profile through the chain’s Web site, and can make changes and requests when they want.
Fairmont hired Accenture Consulting in 2001 to help it revamp the program. Accenture created a
