Challenge
For years, this was Circle Hotel Fairfield's workflow: Export guest data from Stayntouch -> Upload lists into email marketing -> Design templates in Canva -> Send -> Repeat.
They faced three major challenges:
- A ton of workaround on figuring out what was performing - They couldn't directly see which campaigns generated bookings, so there were a ton of workarounds to gather the data, such as pulling rate codes to find the value.
- Outdated mailing lists with no context. - Ton of outdated guest information, with people who stayed years ago and never returned. It was hard to tell who was relevant, who just stayed, or who booked through an OTA.
- Constantly uploading the audience list - To run a “We Miss You” or first anniversary email, they had to rebuild lists over and over again to include more past guests.
Solution
Every part of their email marketing workflow, design, scheduling, revenue tracking, segmentation, and recurring sends all happened in one platform.
Clear attribution to make business decisions.
The team could now see revenue for every campaign. This immediately changed how they marketed:
- Double down on high-performing campaigns
- Cut ideas that didn’t convert
- Broad sends were prioritised over niche ones
- Stopped over-targeting OTA-loyal guests
One key insight they discovered: They learned that some OTA guests simply won’t convert, even with big discounts. Testing this early saved them time and prevented wasted promotions. Rick Emery, General Manager at Circle Hotel Fairfield, mentions,
“Akia's marketing suite was inexpensive and paid for itself with our first campaign. Being able to see our results in real time was a game-changer.”
Operating like a CRM.
Circle Fairfield’s previous email platform functioned more like a static mailing list than a CRM, resulting in a large amount of outdated information. Changes:
- Full guest profiles behind every contact - Once audiences are created, they can also view the individual guest's information, including stay history, booking source, and past interactions.
- Capturing real OTA emails - Before Akia, it was hard to market to some guests because more than 60% of bookings came through masked OTA emails. Now they can capture 100% of guests’ emails by requiring them to provide them upon check-in.
Automated audiences from Stayntouch & recurring campaigns that run themselves.
Circle Fairfield no longer rebuilds lists. Guest data flows in from Stayntouch automatically, and the audience list refreshes itself if it meets filters like booking source, stay dates, and more. For example, a guest will be added to a list automatically, even after it was set up.
Campaigns
- Back to school - focuses on schools in the area
- Seasonality
- Repeat guests - guests who stayed multiple times
Recurring campaigns generate steady revenue and run in the background.
- 45-day win-back messages
- 1st anniversary emails
These served as a continuous, automated nurture funnel.
Filling low-season occupancy.
The winter months are typically the slowest, but a single early-November campaign generated $20,000 and noticeably increased occupancy.
Conclusion
Circle Hotel Fairfield didn’t change their whole operation, just their approach to email. Making performance clear and campaigns easier to launch resulted in significant post-stay revenue gains.
