Great Minds in Travel: Marc Heyneker, CEO of Revinate

At Koddi, we’ve collaborated with some of the most respected industry leaders to provide them a vehicle to share their personal and business perspectives on the COVID-19 pandemic. We’re calling the series Great Minds in Travel as it represents the insightful and compelling views of leaders within our field. The series will consist of executive Q&A’s allowing our participants to open up and express how they are coping with our current environment.

Kicking-off the series is a Q&A with Marc Heyneker, the CEO of the guest data platform, Revinate. We asked him a few questions that are on every travel marketer’s mind.

What are your thoughts on the current travel industry environment?

What we’re experiencing now is completely unprecedented. Hopefully once-in-a-lifetime as I told my team this morning. The world of travel has screeched to a halt like never before, with closures, staff cuts, and empty rooms becoming the norm across the globe. However, despite this impact, all of the shelter in place actions and precautions are absolutely necessary – per the data – to now curb a much bigger and prolonged outbreak.

What is Revinate doing to help their customers?

We’re listening and we’re educating. We’re not selling. For example, where relevant, we’ve added specific campaigns and templates within our CRM/Marketing solution to help our customers communicate easily and clearly with guests. Example: a pre-arrival email that details what you’re doing to ensure your guests are safe. We’ve also kicked off a new on-demand video series featuring our in-house strategists, such as 5 Tips (in 5 Minutes) for Hotels Facing a Lockdown. No one has time or energy for hourlong sales pitches right now; our customers need daily ‘snackable’ help and insights.

How are you working with your partners to plan for the future?

My team’s number one priority through this crisis is to remain incredibly empathic and responsive to constant change. We’ve even dedicated an entire team of researchers to launch and run the first coronavirus resource center for hoteliers. The best thing hoteliers can do right now? Prepare for the moment when consumers can travel again. For example, you can create a segment for those who’ve canceled due to the pandemic, and later market to them (“the wait is over, we’d love to have you back!”). Travel will come back stronger than ever!


Thank you to Marc Heyneker for your insights! Check back next week for a new interview with one of the travel industry’s top thought leaders.

Categories
Travel