8.27.2019
Founded in 1984 by the Dahya family, DKN Hotels currently operates a portfolio-owned and third-party-managed Hilton, Marriott, IHG, and independent properties throughout the greater Southern California area. With over 35 years of experience in the hospitality industry, DKN Hotels is dedicated to a three-legged stool approach to business, which uniquely champions an equal focus on stakeholder return on investment, team member engagement, and guest satisfaction. This has made DKN Hotels a preferred partner for hotel brands, vendors, investors, and team members alike.
By deploying HelloShift, an integrated platform for hotels that combines service delivery optimization and guest messaging, DKN Hotels successfully implemented texting with guests across a portfolio of premier branded and independent hotels. As a result, DKN Hotels improved their TripAdvisor rankings, a Holy Grail in Southern California’s competitive market. At a time when hotel software is clunky and complicated, HelloShift’s award-winning integrated messaging and service delivery optimization platform is simple to implement, moves the needle, and generates rave reviews by hotel teams and guests.
“When it comes to excellence in hospitality, DKN Hotels delivers. DKN’s outstanding commitment to their teams builds a winning, service-oriented culture,” said HelloShift founder and CEO Sudheer Thakur. “We are honored to be DKN’s hotel messaging infrastructure and are inspired by these results as we continually improve our platform.”
DKN’s Secret Sauce for a Successful Launch
DKN Hotels enjoyed a swift transition to Guest Messaging in HelloShift. The successful launch started with a clear strategy of using texting with guests to improve TripAdvisor rankings. Leadership at DKN Hotels embraced texting with guests at the executive and hotel level. During the rolling launch, each hotel became proficient within a week with no down-time. Teams quickly customized HelloShift for their unique needs, from getting guest data into the system to individualizing automated messages. DKN lets HelloShift do the heavy lifting for routine texting functions, from automatically importing guest data to sending routine pre-stay, in-stay, and post-stay messages during the guest lifecycle.
Over 25 percent of DKN guests respond to routine guest lifecycle messages during their stay. Tools like HelloShift’s intent detection AI (artificial intelligence) help DKN teams be responsive, and HelloShift’s integrated service delivery platform makes it easy for teams to close the loop on guest requests. Escalation of issues and routine reports help DKN managers stay on top of messaging. DKN leadership also provides continual reinforcement for using messaging across the organization.
DKN Wins Big with Texting in HelloShift
DKN Hotels saw huge TripAdvisor gains after adding texting with guests in HelloShift’s integrated service delivery and guest messaging platform. After DKN Hotels added texting, the portfolio on average generated 56% more reviews, gained 3/4 of a star, and saw a boost in rank in Southern California’s highly competitive and hotly contested market. Research from the Cornell University School of Hotel Administration shows how increases in review quality and quantity improve RevPAR.
Hotel teams and guests give rave reviews for HelloShift. Reviews on HotelTechReport show how texting with guests fits naturally into DKN workflow using HelloShift’s integrated service delivery optimization and guest messaging platform. And TripAdvisor reviews show how much guests appreciate receiving routine texts at key points in their stay with HelloShift’s guest lifecycle. The overwhelmingly positive response by hotel teams and guests to HelloShift’s integrated hotel messaging platform makes sense at a time when people increasingly prefer texting over other communication methods.
HelloShift connects hotel teams across buildings, floors, shifts and departments with notes, tasks, and checklists. HelloShift also connects hotel teams with guests through texting and with future guests through website chat. Hoteliers use HelloShift to deliver phenomenal service in one simple messaging app teams learn quickly and love to use. HelloShift was rated #1 by hoteliers in the 2018 and 2019 HotelTechAwards.
“These findings show how HelloShift brings out the best in our teams while providing a priceless link to guests,” says DKN’s VP of Operations, Ana Almada. “Modern messaging is essential, and HelloShift does it all in one app across our diverse portfolio.”
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