The Customer Breakup: Love, Loss and Hotel Marketing

A video entitled “The Break Up” (The Break Up) is circulating online. It was produced by Microsoft Digital Advertising Solutions. The video refers to the divorce between customer and advertiser, and gives us pause for thought because of the reasons the customer gives for ending the relationship:

It’s just that you don’t listen to me...

I’ve changed, and you haven’t...

When you say, “buy my products...” that’s not exactly a dialogue...

I’m leaving...

On the other hand, the advertiser’s arguments for continuing the relationship are quite a contrast:

I know everything about you...

What you need are discount coupons...

and especially once it has realised that the relationship is over:

That’s it, I’m going to give you a chance to win a holiday in the Bahamas.

It is true that customers have changed: they require new messages and want to feel that they remain in control of the relationship. Remembering the relationship, the customer and their needs only at the point of separation is not an isolated occurrence; it happens very frequently in the hotel industry, perhaps as a result of a lack of foresight or pre-defined strategies for dealing with such situations, or simply due to a lack of genuine marketing plans. It is worth considering the solutions we tend to offer from a hotel when faced with customer break-up issues: Complimentary nights? Discounts? Upgraded rooms?... without doubt, the problem is the same one reflected in the video. Very instructive.