By Dustin Pence
Great customer experience begins and ends with a personalized, human touch. As a tech company with roots in the hospitality industry, we’ve added a people-first approach to our support in a way that goes beyond answering questions and solving tech issues, as many other technology companies do.
At Cloudbeds, we’ve been working hard to put to rest the idea that lodging industry technology is complicated, disconnected, and burdensome by providing one simple platform to empower hoteliers and hosts to reach their potential. Our customers’ success is rooted in great technology and we wanted to match our customer support with our unparalleled user experience.
In the past year, we’ve reimagined how we define customer success – from the size of our team to the process we follow. We’ve taken the best parts of our existing support and onboarding process and amplified our efforts to give each customer a next-level, personalized experience that isn’t just about providing customer support – but elevating our customers to success.
Approaching Customer Support with a Touch of Hospitality
The foundation of hospitality is its people. Redefining and reimagining Cloudbeds’ customer support started with our employees. In the past year, we’ve doubled the size of our team by hiring incredible people with extensive hospitality experience. From family-owned businesses off the coast of Australia to the world’s largest properties like The Mirage, MGM Grand, and the Bellagio, we’ve welcomed some of the most dedicated talent with a wide range of experience.
In the past year, we’ve made significant investments in our team by hiring incredible people with extensive hospitality experience.
They bring, along with our existing team, valuable skill sets from different regions, which is important because Cloudbeds powers thousands of diverse properties in over 155 countries. Our team knows the local taxes and the nuances that make each region different. We also employ experts in certain types of properties or who have experience with specific accounting configurations to help serve our customers’ unique needs.
Our robust team is organized into two branches: Customer Service and Customer Success. Our Customer Service team is focused on keeping our support at the high-quality level it’s been at since our beginning. We’re incredibly proud of our 96% average Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT), including through the tough year that’s been 2020. Our response rates are one of the highest, and we provide support for hoteliers around the world with a massive library of Knowledge Base articles and videos.
Customer Success at Cloudbeds means empowering hoteliers and hosts with the knowledge and tools needed to build a forward-thinking business. Our Customer Success team aims to help customers feel confident about their experience from day one. How do we do this? It starts with our personalized and friendly onboarding process.
Welcome to Cloudbeds’ Onboarding
We noticed something interesting during product demos: the number one asked question is, “How quickly can we implement Cloudbeds?” Switching technology providers or choosing a new software to run your business can be daunting. It involves transferring data, learning a new system, and retraining staff – all while keeping day-to-day operations in motion.
Since our workforce is made up of hospitality experts, several of whom are property owners and operators themselves, we understood this feeling to the core. So we decided to take a more proactive and interactive approach to onboarding.
We see onboarding as an opportunity for us to not just set up a piece of software, but to truly make sure our customers feel confident and know how to use the features that will benefit their business the most.
The entire setup and ‘go-live’ process is now done side-by-side with a dedicated onboarding coach to support a customer’s success each step of the way. Also, we believe that onboarding doesn’t end after all of your channels are connected and your property is live. That’s why we’ve added a new 90-day education-focused adoption phase.
Here’s what onboarding at Cloudbeds looks like today:
Your Success is Our Success
When it comes to our customers, your success is our success and that’s why we’re focused on setting up your business to not only function but excel from the very start.
To measure customer satisfaction for our new onboarding process, we send out a survey after properties ‘go live’ and are honored to say that our Net Promoter Score (NPS) is 54 (hint: anything above 50 is considered excellent!).
We’ve also been talking to customers one-on-one to get feedback about their experience with their Onboarding Coach. Here’s what Terri Hofan, owner of Nevis Estate in Perth, Canada, had to say about her onboarding experience with her coach Alistar:
Ongoing Support for Next-Level Success
As businesses grow, needs evolve. Aside from providing reliable customer service and personalized customer success, we also wanted to add additional options for support.
Cloudbeds is here to help your business reach that next level with a suite of professional services. Whether you need to import reservations or you’d like to provide advanced training for your staff, our Professional Services team is available to develop a tailor-made plan for your individual business needs.
If you want to gain a deeper understanding of your guest behavior based on Cloudbeds’ data reports, we have you covered. Our Professional Services team is here to help with training workshops on day-to-day operational scenarios that are relative to your business. Let us help you optimize your account in order to prepare your team for growth opportunities, become stronger than your competitors, and get the most ROI.
Our goal is to get hoteliers, hosts, and property managers away from their computers and back to their guests. My colleague Dustin Pence says it best, “most hoteliers didn’t get into hospitality for the technology. Hospitality is their first love. We want hoteliers to get back to that passion and love.”
With powerful software backed by a customer support and success team you can trust, property owners, managers, and staff can focus on generating more reservations and happier guests.
For the next few weeks, we’re highlighting both sides of the onboarding process – including stories from the Cloudbeds team and our incredible customers.
Join us and follow along on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram. We want to hear your stories too, tag us with the hashtag #SuccessAtCloudbeds #CloudbedsStories #Cloudbeds
Interested in becoming a Cloudbeds Customer? Let’s chat!
About Dustin Pence
Dustin Pence is VP of Customer Success at Cloudbeds. He has a background in project management, process improvement, consultation, and training. Dustin\’s passion is bringing different groups together and finding solutions to problems. His claim to fame: “I know how to find success in people.” Dustin lives in Madison, Wisconsin.
