Bottle service has been around for decades as a way to attract high-status patrons and earn high, fast-growing revenue. It’s also become such a standard component to the nightlife scene that many venues treat it as a mandatory guideline rather than a premiere service to their most desirable guests. But getting into this rut is more detrimental to your club than you may realize.
People expect to pay top-dollar to receive this premier customized service, and if your staff is acting like it’s just another area of your club, your guests aren’t going to get the experience they expect or deserve. When this happens, they’re likely going to find a place that provides them a better experience and unlikely to return to your venue.
The below 4 tips will help you make sure your VIPs aren’t falling through the cracks and that you’re able to deliver a first-class experience.
1. Understand where and how VIP guests are being booked
It’s common for nightclubs to get inundated with reservation requests from promoters, staff, consumer apps, agents, and guests themselves. Reservations are coming in from different sources, tables are over promised, and what ends up getting marked down isn’t true to what’s actually going to happen that night. The more organized you are with tracking reservations, the better your entire VIP service will be. Have a reservation management system in place so you have a central location where all reservations are documented to make sure nothing gets lost in the process. Give your front-of-house staff access to these VIPs so they are never stopped at the door or have to wait in line.
2. Know your clients and avoid any immediate hiccups
VIP guests don’t want to be treated like a number. They should be greeted at the door, walked to their table, offered their personal top-purchased liquors, and attended to by their favorite server. Having this all be seamless is what allows you to provide personal experiences right from the start and make your guest feel like a true VIP. To be successful at this, you need to be able to identify the guest and personally greet them when they arrive. There are CRM (customer relationship management) systems that are specifically designed for the nightlife industry to help you do exactly this. Plus, they also give you insight on all your guests, so you know who frequents your venue, spends a lot of money, and would be considered loyal. These systems also tie to your point of sale to allow you to gain a deep insight into your customers and their habits.
3. Focus on experience
Experience is the name of the game now. It’s a big trend for millennials, and has always been important to VIPs. We mentioned above the value of a CRM system. The best solution is a system that allows you to manage your venue in one dashboard, including reservations, guest list, general admission and events. When you use separate systems for each area, this data is sitting separately in each system. But when you have one system that handles all areas, you’re able to capture more data about your guests. Have they been in before but not as a reservation guest? Is this their first experience? Is this their 10th experience? These are important things to know, and what will help you cater an experience to the individual guest. That’s what people want and expect, and the only way to see that information is if everything is working together.
4. Optimize your efforts
Now that your in-person operations are more streamlined, what about your digital processes? Your marketing can be boosted by putting more strategy behind your efforts, both before and after a guest comes to your venue. Because your CRM system tracks important customer activity, such as when they come to your club, how much they spend, what they drink, and how many people they bring with them, you’re able to send more targeted, personal and relevant messages to individual guests. This means you’re able to use filters to segment your customers into specific targeted audiences, which in turn means each audience gets messages that are 100% relevant to their habits. Doing this, you can upsell a non-VIP customer who you think would benefit from a VIP experience. You can also reach out to a previous VIP customer and invite them back sending a promotion that aligns with their previous visit. The personal treatment you’re able to offer both offline and online will provide your guest with a better experience, making them more loyal and more likely to refer friends to your venue. And it all starts with just having information at your disposal.
Get started with a better VIP process today. Contact us for more information, or sign up for your free trial.
