Customer Stories How Big Cedar Lodge used Inntopia to Send Custom Transactional, Lifecycle, and Marketing Emails from One System

Big Cedar Lodge spreads across 4,600 acres overlooking Table Rock Lake and features incredible accommodations, award-winning restaurants, full-services, marinas, five golf courses, incredible fishing, a spa, a 50,000 square foot activity center, and more.

As the resort has grown, so has it’s list of accolades including being named #1 Resort in the Midwest by Travel + Leisure. The portfolio has also grown to include three other resorts; Anglers Lodge Springfield, Anglers Lodge Hollister, and Big Cypress Lodge in Memphis, Tennessee.

The Missing Piece
With multiple resorts and a long list of experiences to offer, the only things they might have been missing were technology and tools to match the quality of service they offered their guests. Taylor Harbison, Assistant Communications Manager at Big Cedar, put it this way.

“We were using a CRM tool that didn’t fit our needs and had emails being sent from all sorts of different platforms. The biggest issues came from our confirmation and cancellation emails. It got to the point that I was manually creating email confirmations each day.”

So at the start of 2021, the team at Big Cedar Lodge set out to find something better. Thanks to a recommendation from their Director of Operations, they found Inntopia Marketing Cloud; a platform that checked all their boxes and then some. So they pulled the trigger and went live on the system in March of 2021.

As they look back on their first couple years on the platform, four things stand out.

#1) All Emails Sent from One System
Big Cedar Lodge breaks out their email campaigns into three main buckets. Staycycle emails based on the guest’s booking – confirmations and cancellations – lifecycle emails to help facilitate a smooth trip – pre-arrivals for lodging, golf, etc. – and email marketing blasts to generate demand and booking for the resorts. But no matter the goal, Taylor now has everything in one place.

“All of these emails are now sent from a single system and include tools that make my life a lot easier. In the same platform I view performance reports and build lists I can troubleshoot, resend, and audit custom cancellation and confirmation emails with just a few clicks.”

They’re also able to spin up targeted campaigns based on data across their portfolio of resorts thanks to Inntopia’s data aggregation and querying capabilities.

#2) Dynamic Content
With diverse guests and a diverse collection of brands, Big Cedar Lodge also took full advantage of Inntopia Marketing Cloud’s ability to customize the contents of an message based on known data about the guest and their transaction like room type, rate, and arrival date. For example:

• Dynamic cancellation policies by room type and/or season
• Dynamic rate details by room type and/or season
• Dynamic content by season in pre-arrival communications

#3) Fantastic Support
But even the most powerful tool isn’t much good without someone that can help you take advantage when things are going perfectly or when hiccups inevitably arise. Taylor felt this was key.

“Inntopia Marketing cloud has a great support team. They are consistently monitoring our setup, troubleshooting our integrations, and quickly resolving issues to keep us moving.”

Even more, it’s proactive. Big Cedar Lodge’s account managers have regular meetings with the team to discuss strategy and implement ideas.

#4) Fast Turnaround Time
That last point is an important one. Big Cedar isn’t just another resort so they need the ability to deliver unique email marketing campaigns that are matched to their unique brand and are targeted to their unique segments of guests. Taylor pointed to this as another thing they loved about Inntopia Marketing Cloud.

“Whether it’s a one-off request for help with a campaign or help getting some trait or setting changed, their turnaround time on these support items is always fast.”

As our support team often says, even the best technology isn’t worth much without equally great support to help you use it well.

Results
The last couple of years have been huge for Big Cedar Resort and Inntopia has helped them capitalize on this growth.

“Since our switch to Inntopia in 2021, we have grown in so many ways as a company. That growth is reflected in the quality and growth of our emails. If you are looking for a solid CRM tool that is user-friendly, has the ability to house multiple types of marketing and operational emails, offers friendly and reliable support, and is genuinely interested in the success of your company – Inntopia Marketing Cloud is your platform!”

Learn more about Big Cedar Lodge:
https://bigcedar.com/

Learn more about Inntopia Marketing Cloud:
https://corp.inntopia.com/marketing/