Revolutionize Your Hospitality Business with the Best CRM Software
Hotels and other businesses in the hospitality industry can greatly benefit from implementing customer relationship management (CRM) software to help manage guest data and operations from one hub. These sales solutions can manage bookings, organize communication, and enhance guest satisfaction and loyalty. In an industry with a distinct focus on customer service, the right CRM tool can make all the difference when it comes to repeat customers and good recommendations.
While there is specialty software dedicated to back-office operations and hospitality functions, I found that the best CRM options for hotels or hospitality organizations are actually general CRM providers. Providers like Pipedrive, Zoho CRM, and Freshsales all offer unique features that are meant for hospitality businesses, alongside their standard CRM operations.
Top Hotel CRM Software Comparison
Beyond just managing customer information, the best CRM software for stand-alone BnBs, hotel chains, and hospitality organizations also deploy marketing campaigns and ongoing communication to guarantee customer satisfaction. It’s also important to consider scalability, integrations, communications, and, of course, CRM pricing. The providers listed below can all streamline operations, diversify online marketing campaigns, and guarantee data safety.
| Star rating | Starting price | Marketing automation | Lead/Guest management | AI-powered tools | Data security | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pipedrive | 4.4/5 | $14 per user, per month* | Medium | Yes | Medium | Yes |
| Freshsales | 4.4/5 | Free starting price | Advanced | Yes | Advanced | Yes |
| Oracle Netsuite CRM | 3.6/5 | Contact for quote | Low | Yes | Low | Yes |
| Zoho CRM | 4.3/5 | Free starting price | Advanced | Yes | Advanced | Yes |
| Capsule | 4/5 | Free starting price | Medium | Yes | Medium | Yes |
*Price when billed annually.
Pipedrive: Best overall CRM for hospitality
Out of all the CRM software I considered, Pipedrive can best be adapted into a hotel and hospitality CRM solution. Users can create custom pipelines that reflect their booking process while also recording data such as dietary and accessibility requirements for guests. Booking processes and confirmations can be automated with SMS check-in reminders and stay information templates. After you send those, staff members can monitor email marketing campaigns, including opens and clicks.
Why I chose Pipedrive
Pipedrive continues to find its way onto my guides for niche industries because of its customization features and adaptability. With its simple onboarding process and highly visual pipeline management tools, users of any technical expertise can set it up to be a well-functioning sales solution. From landing page builders to website chatbots and lead segmentation, Pipedrive is a tool to help manage end-to-end sales.
One downside to Pipedrive is that it does not offer a free-for-life version of the CRM. If being able to try a free tool before committing to a premium subscription is more important to you than specific features, I recommend considering Freshsales or Zoho CRM first.
Pricing
- Essential: $14 per user per month, billed annually
- Advanced: $29 per user per month, billed annually
- Professional: $49 per user per month, billed annually
- Power: $64 per user per month, billed annually
- Enterprise: $99 per user per month, billed annually
Features
- Scheduler: Create dedicated calendars for specific functions for clients to book directly with you.
- Client history: View all communication history and staffing notes for each guest.
- Custom pipeline: Build a pipeline that fits your booking process and streamlines hotel management.
How do I choose the best hotel CRM software for my business?
I recommend following general CRM best practices to learn how to adapt a hospitality or hotel CRM software and see real solutions for your business. Starting with the providers on my list above, consider signing up for free trials or product demos to map out their onboarding process.
Here are some questions I suggest asking before choosing hotel CRM software:
- Does this CRM tool integrate with all of my existing tech tools?
- Does this CRM tool offer the guest management tools that my business needs?
- Are the core sales features offered by this software equipped enough to streamline my sales process?
- Does this CRM fit my budget, or would a free CRM be better to start with?
- How quick is the onboarding process to get started using this tool?
- Can the CRM software scale up to adapt to my growing business?
- Does this CRM tool have any in-market specialization for hospitality?
Methodology
To evaluate each provider and their hospitality management tools, I used my in-house rubric reflecting CRM industry standards. After running each solution through this rubric, an algorithm calculates an overall rating. I use those individual scores and major feature callouts to assign each software an ideal use case that represents the software’s best offering.
Here’s the breakdown of my predefined criteria:
- Cost: Weighted 25% of the total score.
- Core features: Weighted 25% of the total score.
- Customizations: Weighted 15% of the total score.
- Integrations: Weighted 15% of the total score.
- Ease of use: Weighted 10% of the total score.
- Customer support: Weighted 10% of the total score.