Business

The Best Free CRM Systems for Hotels

Discover the best free CRM systems for hotels to streamline operations.

June 27, 2024

In the competitive hospitality industry, delivering exceptional guest experiences is, of course, your highest priority, and having the right tools to manage those experiences can make all the difference. 

From POS systems to Inventory Management Software, there are plenty of powerful hospitality tools to make your life easier. For hotel managers and owners, a robust Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system is essential for understanding your guests, enhancing their stays, and ultimately driving repeat business. 

We explore the best CRM systems tailored specifically for hotels, helping you streamline operations, boost guest satisfaction, and stay ahead of the curve in this ever-evolving landscape. While finding entirely free CRM systems can be tough, the CRM systems listed below offer free trials, demos, or free versions of the software to give you a taste of how it may benefit you and your hotel. 

Top Free CRM Systems for Hotels 

In 2024, your hotel can only properly function with the right tech stack, and finding a robust CRM system is key to creating an environment that prioritises guests and boosts operational efficiency. 

Acteol

Acteol CRM is a powerful hospitality marketing and CRM platform designed to streamline operations and boost customer retention for your venue. With targeted messaging and automated cross-channel campaigns, Acteol CRM stands out as a perfect option for hotels. 

The CRM system helps you turn marketing campaigns into revenue with personalised and trackable campaigns that allow you to increase customer loyalty and engagement. The feature-rich platform is trusted by thousands of hospitality businesses throughout the UK. 

Acteol supports over 70 integrations to leading hospitality platforms - giving you all the tools to segment, engage and measure success as you look to boost your day-to-day operations and the guest experience. 

The software is specifically focused on the hospitality industry with features to increase customer visits and spending, ultimately leading to a better return on your investment. 

Acteol also gives you access to real-time data and analytics so you can make informed decisions and refine your strategy based on customer interactions and preferences. 

From robust loyalty features and a personalised campaign builder to audience management and feedback features, Acteol is a great option for hotels hoping to improve the overall guest experience. 

Acteol’s best features 

Campaign Builder: A centralised platform for creating and tracking emails, texts, and push notifications with the power to create personalised content and trigger campaigns based on customer behaviour and preferences.

Feedback & Enquiries: A system that collects and routes customer feedback and enquiries to relevant team members while providing a full audit trail of internal comments.

Surveys: Create surveys and landing pages with ease to collect data from customers via various answer formats and automated emails. 

Social Media Module: Manage and monitor several social media channels with real-time tracking, sentiment analysis, and customisable dashboards to help boost your online presence. 

Audience Management: Expand your reach and engage customers via social channels by building custom and lookalike audiences, retargeting website visitors, and managing ad buds. 

Loyalty Programmes: Offer rewards such as points or stamps for customer spending with options to redefine earning methods and rewards based on specific criteria and run loyalty campaigns to segmented customer groups. 

Sales Leads Portal: Collect leads from several sources and manage them via the sales cycle while tracking results end-to-end. 

Weather Trigger: The built-in weather trigger gives you the tools to schedule your campaigns around weather changes. 

Insights & Reports: Get interactive insights and reports in the SCV that can be filtered by site, date, segment, and demographics, and can be exported as chart images or raw data. 

Acteol’s pricing structure 

Acteol’s pricing starts at £147.50 per month. The final price depends on the number of sites and includes initial implementation and annual support. Additional modules can be added for around £35 per month.

Airship 

Airship is a trusted and robust hospitality CRM system designed to help you centralise data, send personalised emails, drive visit frequency and boost customer retention. 

The CRM system is built to do the heavy lifting for you with automated digital guest journeys, powerful segmentation features, and integrated loyalty programs. 

With Airship CRM, you get a centralised customer database, contact management with detailed customer profiles, and interaction tracking for emails, calls and meetings - all helping to streamline your hotel’s daily operations and improve the overall guest experience. 

The marketing integration features make it easy to create and trigger email campaigns, segment specific customer groups, and integrate with social media platforms. Airship CRM even allows you to join weekly training calls so your staff members can easily adapt. 

Airship CRM comes with proof of presence technology that tells you how often, where and when your guests have visited your hotel or hotels. As such, you’ll gain a clear understanding of how your marketing campaigns are impacting footfall in your venues. 

Over 450 brands trust the CRM software; every new feature or upgrade is added with the hospitality industry in mind - making it a great hotel option. 

Airship CRM’s best features 

Proof of Presence: Stay up to date on footfall metrics for all of your venues with real-time data on how your marketing affects your hotel traffic.

Omnichannel: Use SMS and email services to engage with customers across multiple mediums and social channels. 

Loyalty Programs: Create rewards with discounts and vouchers to improve guest retention and satisfaction. 

Email Builder: The email builder includes a simple drag-and-drop tool allowing for customised content with a full image library and HTML compatibility. 

Integrations: Airship CRM supports integrations with 80+ tech providers to improve data collection. 

Automation: Create personalised automated email and SMS campaigns with triggers based on customer behaviour and preferences. 

Airship’s pricing structure 

Airship’s pricing starts at £150 per month per location. The set-up cost starts at a once-off payment of £600 per venue. The final quote depends on how many locations you have. 

Stampede 


The Stampede Hospitality Marketing Platform is designed to elevate the guest experience while enhancing the marketing capabilities of hotels. It seamlessly integrates with your hotel's existing systems, providing a comprehensive suite of tools tailored for the hospitality industry. 

A standout feature is its advanced guest Wi-Fi system, which not only offers reliable and fast internet access for guests but also captures valuable guest data. This data is crucial for building detailed guest profiles, allowing you to personalise your marketing efforts and improve guest retention.

The automation features allow you to send targeted promotions and communications based on guest data collected. Additionally, the CRM system supports multi-channel marketing - giving your hotel the tools to reach guests via SMS, email and social media. 

The AI-powered marketing and CRM platform also offers in-depth analytics and reporting features. These tools help you understand guest behaviours and preferences, track the performance of your marketing campaigns, and make data-driven decisions to enhance your strategies. 

The combination of these features makes Stampede a powerful tool for hotels looking to boost their marketing efforts, enhance guest experiences, and ultimately drive revenue growth.

Stampede’s best features

Email & SMS Marketing: Oversee multi-channel marketing campaigns via email, SMS, and social media.

Automation: Trigger automated marketing campaigns based on the captured guest data.

Upsell: Design and launch promotions in minutes without the cost and wait for printers.

Loyalty: Integrated loyalty programs with vouchers and rewards to help increase guest retention and frequency. 

Guest Wifi: Utilise an advanced guest Wi-Fi system that captures valuable guest data.

Guest Profiles: Access detailed guest profiles for personalised marketing efforts and improved guest retention.

Stampede’s pricing structure 

Prices start from £89 per month, per venue. This allows you to design and send unlimited emails to your customers. The pricing is flexible, and for accurate quotes, you will need to reach out and consult with a team member. 

Experience CRM 

Experience is a hotel and restaurant CRM system with features focused on improving the guest experience in hospitality businesses. 

The CRM platform integrates various customer data points, such as purchase history, preferences, and interactions across different channels, to provide a comprehensive view of each of your hotel’s customers.

The system also includes tools for automating and streamlining workflows, tracking customer engagement, and analysing data to gain insights into customer behaviour and preferences, ultimately aiming to improve customer satisfaction and loyalty.

You can also use Experience to get a thorough understanding of your e-reputation and its evolution based on ratings, reviews and positions on different platforms. 

The hotel CRM system has a single centralised interface for your hotels - giving you a full view of each venue and helping to streamline operations across the board. It doesn’t matter if you need to work on one or fifty different establishments, the CRM software lets you gather all data in a single database. 

Experience CRM’s best features

Customer Database: Get access to all of your important information in a single centralised dashboard that is automatically updated and encourages customers to leave positive feedback. 

Customer Journey: Collect data on your customers, monitor satisfaction, and prevent bad reviews with features covering the full customer journey. 

E-reputation: Take advantage of the semantic analysis of reviews to quickly identify the terms that are regularly used as well as trending topics, while getting a full picture of your existing online reputation. 

Email Campaigns: Increase direct bookings and reduce commissions paid to OTAs via automation of personalised email campaigns based on customer segmentation. 

Centralised Dashboard: Access all features and data for all of your hotel venues from one centralised dashboard. 

Experience CRM’s pricing structure 

Experience CRM’s pricing structure is divided into three tiers:

Guest Relation (£130 per month): All the tools you need to perfect your customer satisfaction. Anticipate their needs, make their life easier and discover all available improvement levers in your hotel. 

All-In-One (£210 per month): Increase your revenue and save time – you can now focus instead on meeting your customers' needs during their stay in your hotel

Marketing (£105 per month): Master the secrets of hotel email campaigns and increase the income from your business. Create your own campaigns, segment your customers and use our automated email scenarios to save time.

Profitroom

Profitroom is a comprehensive hotel marketing and booking platform designed to help your hotel increase direct bookings and optimise revenue.


The marketing offers a range of solutions, including a booking engine, channel manager, and website design services, all tailored to improve your hotel’s online presence. 


By using Profitroom, hotels can manage their online distribution more effectively, ensuring that they are visible on various booking channels while avoiding overbooking issues. 


The platform also provides tools for personalised marketing campaigns, allowing hotels to target potential guests with tailored offers and promotions. 


Additionally, Profitroom includes analytics and reporting features to help hoteliers make data-driven decisions, ultimately leading to increased occupancy rates, higher revenue per available room (RevPAR), and improved guest satisfaction.


The award-winning guest-centric booking platform boosts your reservations and strengthens guest loyalty, making it a powerful and impactful option for hotels. 


Profitroom’s best features


Booking Engine:
A user-friendly interface that maximizes direct bookings and reduces dependency on third-party channels.


Channel Manager:
Seamlessly integrates with various online travel agencies (OTAs) to manage room inventory and rates, preventing overbookings.


Website Design:
Customisable, mobile-responsive websites designed to attract and convert visitors into guests.


Personalised Marketing:
Tools for creating targeted marketing campaigns to engage potential guests with tailored offers and promotions.


Analytics and Reporting:
Comprehensive analytics and reporting features that provide insights into booking trends, guest behaviour, and overall performance.


Revenue Management:
Advanced revenue management tools to optimize pricing strategies and maximize revenue.


Customer Support:
A dedicated support team offering assistance and expertise to ensure optimal use of the platform.


Integration Capabilities:
Ability to integrate with various property management systems (PMS) and other hotel software for streamlined operations.


Profitroom’s pricing structure 

For information on Profitroom’s pricing structure, you’ll need to book a free demo and request a quote. 

GuestTouch

GuestTouch is a comprehensive customer relationship management (CRM) tool specifically designed for the hospitality industry, aimed at improving the overall guest experience.


The feature-rich CRM system integrates various functionalities that allow hotels to streamline their operations and enhance guest interactions. By utilising GuestTouch, hotels can automate and personalise communication with their guests before, during, and after their stay. 


This includes sending pre-arrival messages, managing check-ins, and gathering feedback post-stay. The platform also facilitates efficient handling of guest inquiries and complaints, ensuring prompt responses and resolution for your guests. 


GuestTouch is designed to help you transform your guest journey through impactful connections. The platform also includes features for managing your online reputation, responding to feedback and reviews, and collaborating with team members. 


The CRM tool also provides analytics and reporting capabilities, providing you with insights into guest preferences and your operational performance. By leveraging these insights, you can make data-driven decisions to improve your services and tailor your offerings to meet guest expectations and needs. 


All in all, GuestTouch helps to build stronger relationships with guests while boosting operational efficiency and your online reputation - leading to higher revenue. 


GuestTouch’s best features 

Guest Reviews & Feedback: Directly impact customers’ booking decisions with innovative reputation management features.

Review Responses: Respond to reviews instantly with personalised messages addressing feedback. 

Guest Messaging Platform: Connect with your customers at all stages of the journey via an all-in-one messaging solution.

Guest Journey Emails: Use drag-and-drop tools to create stunning emails in minutes for your guests’ journey.  

Integrations: You can seamlessly integrate with a PMS of your choice to boost your overall operational efficiency. 

GuestTouch’s pricing structure 

GuestTouch’s pricing structure is divided into four tiers: 

Guest Journey Emails (£47.48 per month): Create and send beautiful guest journey emails. 

Reputation Platform (£71.22 per month): Effortlessly gather, manage, analyse, and respond to all reviews and guest feedback seamlessly.

Guest Messaging Platform (£75.18 per month): All-in-one guest messaging platform Easily connect with your guests at all stages of their stay.

Reputation Platform w/ Managed Response (£78.34 per month): All-in-one reputation platform with managed and personalised responses. 

Cendyn 

Cendyn is a next-generation CRM and CDP platform empowering hotel businesses to build stronger relationships with guests while boosting overall profits. With Cendyn CRM, you can take control of your guest database and drive personalised interactions to improve the experience. 

The CRM platform focuses on data-driven insights and integrates guest data from several sources to give you a single centralised dashboard with all relevant information. 

You can also redefine your guest management via two-way communication features with email, SMS, WhatsApp and social media integrations. You can use Cendyn to fully automate your email marketing campaigns with personalised messages and promotions. 

Cendyn CRM also has robust segmentation features that allow you to customise audience segments using diverse criteria and capitalising on real-time insights. 

With a KPI manager, centralised dashboards and cross-portfolio reporting, you can take your hotel operations and guest experiences to new heights. 

Cendyn’s best features

Integrated Data Management: Consolidates guest data from multiple sources for a unified view.

Personalised Marketing Campaigns: Allows for targeted and effective marketing strategies based on guest insights.

Automated CRM: Streamlines guest communications and loyalty programs through automated workflows.

Revenue Management Tools: Optimises pricing strategies based on market trends and demand analysis.

Dashboard & KPIs: Cendyn CRM offers accurate, centralised data, enabling you to monitor bookings, revenue, guest histories, and commissions saved.

Sales CRM: Utilise the sales CRM to oversee your deal opportunities with precision using the cutting-edge sales CRM solution.


Cendyn’s pricing structure 

For information on the Cendyn CRM pricing structure, you’ll need to book a free demo and request a quote. 

Final Word 

In conclusion, selecting the right Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system is crucial for the hospitality industry, as it can significantly enhance guest experiences, streamline operations, and drive revenue growth. 


The best CRM systems for hotels offer tailored features that address the unique needs of the hospitality sector, from personalised guest communication to efficient booking management. 


By leveraging advanced analytics and automation, these CRMs enable hotels to build stronger relationships with guests, increase loyalty, and optimise marketing strategies.


As the hospitality industry continues to evolve, investing in a robust CRM system will be a key differentiator for hotels aiming to stay competitive and deliver exceptional service in a dynamic market.


At Tech on Toast, we help you find the best available tech to take your business to new heights. Head on over to our website or reach out for more information.