Blog
Hotel sales intelligence,
written by operators.
Operator-voiced. Data-backed. Slightly contrarian. Written by people who've done the work, not by people writing about it from the outside.
- ·9 min read·crm
Hotel sales CRM vs. guest CRM: what hotel sales teams actually need
Two different tools get called a hotel CRM. One manages guest marketing; one runs B2B sales. Here's the difference, and what hotel sales teams actually need.
Read - ·15 min read·operations
Cross-Property Lead Routing for Hotel Management Companies
When a group lead fits three properties, who gets it and who loses visibility? How hotel management companies should route leads across a portfolio.
Read - ·13 min read·operations
Automated Ownership Reporting for Hotel Management Companies
Hotel management companies still build ownership reports manually. See how automated reporting improves portfolio visibility, sales accountability, and consistency.
Read - ·14 min read·operations
Hotel Sales Software for Management Companies
Portfolio-level hotel sales software built for management companies and multi-property operators. Centralized pipeline visibility, ownership reporting, and group sales workflows.
Read - ·3 min read·group-sales
The 12× LTV question most hotels skip
Group business has 12× the lifetime value of transient. So why is it the part of the pipeline running on a spreadsheet?
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·7 min read·revenue-managementThe Hotel Revenue Strategy Checklist for Management Companies
Build a revenue strategy that works across every property in your portfolio. Hotel revenue strategy for management companies isn’t just a scaled-up version of what…
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·6 min read·group-salesWhy Revenue Managers Need Group Sales Pipeline Data
See exactly what’s in your group pipeline, before it hits your forecast. Revenue managers are trained to optimize. They build pricing models, run displacement analyses,…
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·8 min read·group-salesGroup Contribution to RevPAR: What Hotel Revenue Managers Need to Know
Group business contributes to hotel revenue across room revenue, F&B, meeting space, and ancillary spend — but most displacement analysis looks only at room rate. This guide explains how group…
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·10 min read·group-salesHotel Group Pace: The Revenue Management Signal Sales Teams Control
Hotel group pace is one of the few leading indicators in revenue management that gives visibility into future demand far enough in advance to act on it. This guide explains what group pace is, how…
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·8 min read·revenue-managementHotel Revenue Management vs. Sales Management: What’s the Difference?
Hotel revenue management and sales management are distinct disciplines that share the same P&L. This guide breaks down what each function owns, where they overlap, the cost of misalignment, and how…
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·12 min read·group-salesHow Group Sales Drives Hotel Revenue Management
Hotel revenue management depends on group sales data — but most hotels treat the two functions as separate silos. This guide explains how group pipeline visibility, group pace, and displacement…
Read- ·9 min read·metrics
Hotel Sales KPIs for Management Companies
Hotel sales KPIs for management companies go beyond ADR and RevPAR. This guide covers the metrics that matter for portfolio-level accountability: lead response time, RFP and proposal conversion…
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·3 min read·productMatrix Sales Readout: Customize Your Weekly Hotel Sales Report
The Matrix Sales Readout generates your weekly hotel sales report in one click. Now fully customizable. Choose which sections appear before generating, including client meetings, activities, new…
Read- ·5 min read·comparisons
Matrix vs Delphi: Comparing Hotel Sales CRM Options for Management Companies
What Is Amadeus Delphi? Amadeus Delphi is one of the most recognized names in hotel sales and catering software. Originally developed by Newmarket International and later acquired by…
Read - ·6 min read·comparisons
Matrix vs STS Cloud: Which Hotel Sales CRM Is Right for Your Team?
What Is STS Cloud? STS Cloud, developed by SalesandCatering.com, is a cloud-based hotel sales and catering platform that has served the hospitality industry for over 30 years. It…
Read - ·7 min read·operations
Why the 90-Day Hotel Forecast Is Dead (And What to Do Instead)
The hotel 90-day forecast no longer works the way it used to. Shortened booking windows mean the group segment is confirming at 45 days instead of 6 months out. Forty percent of hotel reservations…
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·12 min read·comparisonsBest Hotel CRM Software for Group and B2B Sales (2026) | Compared
If you manage group and B2B sales at a hotel, you already know the problem with most CRM options: they were built for something else.
Read- ·10 min read·comparisons
Matrix vs Event Temple: Which Hotel Sales CRM Is Right for Your Team?
If you’re evaluating hotel sales software and Matrix and Event Temple are both on your shortlist, you’re asking the right question — these are two of the more…
Read - ·8 min read·group-sales
Hotel Group Sales Pipeline Metrics: What to Track and Why
This guide covers five specific group pipeline metrics with formulas and benchmarks. For a broader overview of hotel sales metrics and KPIs across all categories, see our hotel sales metrics…
Read - ·9 min read·rfp
Hotel RFP Tracking Metrics: How to Measure and Improve Your RFP Performance
Why RFP Metrics Matter for Hotel Sales Teams RFP-sourced business represents a significant share of group and corporate revenue at most full-service and select-service hotels. According to Cvent…
Read - ·10 min read·metrics
Hotel Sales KPIs for Multi-Property Teams
Multi-property hotel management companies need a different set of sales KPIs than single-property operators. This guide covers the six hotel sales KPIs built specifically for portfolio-level…
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·5 min read·metricsWhy Lead Response Time Is the Most Important Metric Your Hotel CRM Doesn’t Track
Lead response time is one of the most critical metrics in hotel group sales — yet most hotel CRM platforms don’t track it at all. In this guide, we break…
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·10 min read·comparisonsMatrix vs Cendyn: Hotel CRM Choice for B2B & Guest Marketing
This Matrix vs Cendyn hotel CRM comparison exists to answer a specific question: are these two tools actually competing for the same buyer? The short answer is no — and understanding why saves you…
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·9 min read·revenue-managementHotel Commercial Strategy Implementation Checklist
Your StepbyStep Guide to Aligning Revenue, Sales & Marketing
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·24 min read·revenue-managementWhat is Hotel Commercial Strategy? (2026 Guide for Management Companies)
The hospitality industry has undergone a fundamental transformation. Gone are the days when revenue management, sales, and marketing operated as separate departments with distinct goals. In 2026,…
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·12 min read·leadsHotel Lead Management for Management Companies: The Complete Playbook
If you’re managing sales across 8 hotel properties, you know the chaos: RFPs scattered across Gmail inboxes, group blocks tracked in Excel, and no single view of your portfolio pipeline. A corporate…
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·4 min read·operationsMatrix 2025 Product Updates & New Features: Year in Review
Our Matrix product updates for 2025 was a milestone year for Matrix by M1 Intel, shaped by the features you asked for most. From contracts and e-signatures to powerful AI-driven…
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·14 min read·operationsWhy Matrix is Building for the AI Era: MCP Integration & Future of Hotel Sales
Matrix is the first AIpowered hotel CRM built specifically for management companies. While legacy systems like Delphi and STS Cloud were designed for single properties, Matrix uses AI to centralize…
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·9 min read·operationsWhy Front Desk CRM Access Is Essential (And How to Do It Right)
Your front desk team talks to more potential group and corporate customers in a week than your sales team does in a month. But in most hotels, they have no…
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·10 min read·operationsWhy “We Always Do It This Way” Is Killing Your Hotel Sales Career
4 Moves That Set Top Hotel Salespeople Apart By Sara Pinto, Director of Account Strategy I’ve heard it time and time again from hotel salespeople: “I don’t want to learn…
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·6 min read·leadsHotel Lead Management Software for Sales Teams & Management Companies
Most hotel sales teams don’t have a true [hotel lead management](https://m1intel.com/hotelleadmanagementbestpracticeschecklist/ "Hotel Lead Management: Best Practices Checklist") solution. They have…
Read- ·5 min read·rfp
Hotel RFP lead qualification: a working framework that's not a generic checklist
Most RFP qualification frameworks are generic checklists copied from B2B SaaS. The framework that actually works for hotel group sales is shorter, segment-aware, and tied to specific decision gates.
Read - ·6 min read·operations
AI upselling in hospitality: what works in 2026 and what's still pitch
AI upselling has matured unevenly. Pre-arrival room upgrades and on-property F&B recommendations are delivering measurable lift; auto-generated personalization for unfamiliar guests still isn't. An operator's read.
Read - ·7 min read·metrics
Hotel sales cycle analysis: what actually moves the needle
Time to first response, cycle length by source, stage-to-stage conversion, pace versus prior year. The four numbers that tell you whether your hotel sales cycle is healthy and how to read them.
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·4 min read·rfpWhy Your Hotel RFP Responses Are Failing (And How to Fix Them)
Intro Most hotel RFP responses are dead on arrival. Not because your location isn’t great. Not because your rates are off. And definitely not because the company doesn’t need rooms…
Read- ·5 min read·operations
Chatbots and direct bookings: where the lift is real and where it isn't
Hotel chatbots have improved meaningfully in 2026. Direct booking lift from chatbots is real in specific deployment patterns and overstated in most vendor pitches. An operator's read on what works.
Read - ·6 min read·operations
APIs and real-time hotel sales insights: the architecture decision underneath the dashboard
The API architecture under your hotel CRM determines whether real-time insights are real or marketed. The decisions that matter happen at integration design time, not at dashboard purchase time.
Read - ·5 min read·group-sales
How hotel CRMs improve group business sales: the operational mechanism
Hotel CRMs improve group business through specific operational mechanisms, not generic 'better organization.' Here's what actually changes when a CRM is deployed thoughtfully for group sales.
Read - ·5 min read·leads
Lead enrichment for hotel CRMs: where data depth pays for itself
Lead enrichment data is one of those features that costs real money per lead and doesn't always deliver. Here's where it earns its cost in hotel B2B sales and where it's mostly noise.
Read - ·6 min read·operations
PMS and CRM integration in hotels: why it matters and what to push every vendor on
PMS-CRM integration isn't a 'nice to have', it's the difference between a CRM your sales team trusts and one they ignore. Here's what the integration should actually do and what to evaluate when vendors pitch it.
Read - ·6 min read·revenue-management
How to analyze historical hotel rates without drowning in noise
Most hotel rate analysis fails because the team starts with bad data and ends with charts no one acts on. A practical workflow for cleaning, segmenting, and reading historical rate data so the analysis actually changes pricing decisions.
Read - ·5 min read·leads
Hotel CRM tools for lead conversion tracking: what to look for and what to ignore
Most hotel CRMs ship something they call lead conversion tracking. The version that actually drives operational improvement is sharper than the default: segmented, real-time, and tied to specific weekly decisions.
Read - ·6 min read·revenue-management
Seasonal pricing in hotels: what static calendars miss
Most seasonal pricing strategies are built on a calendar from five years ago. The properties getting it right read demand patterns continuously and adjust through the season, not just at season boundaries.
Read - ·8 min read·operations
CRM-marketing integration for hotels: 10 use cases that actually move numbers
Most CRM-marketing integration pitches collapse into the same generic feature list. The ten use cases below are the ones that change actual operational behavior in hotel sales, and the ones that don't.
Read - ·6 min read·operations
AI in hotel PMS: five use cases that are actually delivering
Demand forecasting, dynamic pricing, guest personalization, predictive maintenance, and chatbots, five AI use cases inside hotel PMS that have moved from pitch deck to operational reality. Where the value is real, and where it's still hype.
Read - ·6 min read·leads
AI-powered lead scoring for hotels: what works, what's pitch
AI lead scoring sells well in vendor demos. In hotel sales operations, the version that works is unglamorous and rules-based. The version that doesn't is the black-box pitch. Here's how to tell them apart.
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·3 min read·leads5 Hotel Lead Management Mistakes That Hurt Sales (And How to Fix Them)
Intro: Let’s be honest—hotel sales teams juggle a lot. Between events, room blocks, client calls, and reporting, lead management can feel like another ball in the air. But when done…
Read- ·5 min read·operations
CRM data and 'hyper-personalized' campaigns: where it works for hotel B2B
Hyper-personalization is mostly marketed for transient guest campaigns. The CRM-driven personalization that actually moves revenue at hotel management companies happens at the corporate-account level.
Read - ·6 min read·operations
Hotel CRM requirements: the working checklist for management companies
Most hotel CRM requirement docs are generic vendor wishlists copied from B2B SaaS frameworks. The version that actually matters for management companies is shorter, sharper, and ignores most of what generic CRM evaluation frameworks emphasize.
Read - ·6 min read·revenue-management
How CRM integration with revenue management actually changes decisions
The real value of CRM-RMS integration isn't dashboard consolidation. It's that displacement decisions, group pricing, and pace forecasting stop happening in three different rooms. The operational shift is what matters.
Read - ·5 min read·leads
Best hotel CRMs for lead qualification (2026 evaluation guide)
Lead qualification is one of those features every CRM claims to support. The actual operational depth varies meaningfully. Here's how to evaluate CRMs on lead qualification specifically, with the criteria that matter at the management-company scale.
Read - ·5 min read·operations
Proposal automation in hotel sales: where it earns its cost and where it doesn't
Proposal automation tools promise to save hours per RFP. Some of them deliver; many produce templated proposals that hurt close rates. Here's the working line between the two.
Read - ·5 min read·operations
Common hotel sales pipeline mistakes (and the operational fixes)
Most hotel sales pipelines have the same five problems. They're not novel; the fixes aren't either. The work is recognizing which mistakes are happening in your pipeline and addressing them systematically.
Read - ·5 min read·operations
AI in hotel cross-selling: where automation works and where it backfires
AI automation in cross-selling sounds compelling. Some of it works. The rest produces guest experience damage at scale that takes months to recover from. Here's how to tell them apart.
Read - ·6 min read·metrics
Predictive analytics in hotel sales forecasting: where it works, where it overpromises
Predictive analytics produces real accuracy gains in hotel sales forecasting in five specific use cases. The other ten things vendors call predictive analytics are mostly polished historical reports.
Read - ·6 min read·metrics
Hotel sales metrics: the questions hotel sales managers actually ask
A working Q&A on the metrics questions hotel sales managers raise in real conversations: what to track, how to interpret movement, and what action to take when the numbers move.
Read - ·4 min read·operations
Multi-property sales pipeline tools for hotels: what management companies actually need
The hotel CRM market is full of single-property tools wearing 'multi-property' marketing. The features that actually matter for management companies running 5-50 properties are specific and unevenly delivered.
Read - ·6 min read·product
Real-time hotel data visualization: what actually works
Most hotel sales dashboards are real-time in name only: daily PDFs, stale exports, and role-blind views. Here's what genuine real-time visualization looks like inside a portfolio sales operation, and what to look for when evaluating tools.
Read - ·7 min read·operations
CRM data governance in hotels: a five-step framework that's actually implementable
Most hotel CRM data governance programs fail because they try to enforce policies the team can't follow. The five-step framework below is the version that works in real operations, written for management companies, not enterprise IT.
Read - ·6 min read·metrics
Historical data in hotel sales benchmarking: why your prior-year compare is probably misleading you
Year-over-year comparisons are the default benchmark, and they're often wrong. Calendar shifts, mix changes, and renovation effects routinely make YoY look better or worse than the underlying business is. Here's how to read historical data correctly.
Read - ·6 min read·revenue-management
AI in hotel sales forecasting: what's working in 2026
A year and a half into the AI hype in hotel sales forecasting, three trends are delivering real operational gains and three are still pitch-deck material. An operator's read on where the value actually is.
Read - ·6 min read·operations
Real-time data and hotel sales tracking: what changes when the cadence shifts
Hotel sales tracking on real-time data isn't about prettier dashboards. It changes how often the team intervenes, when GMs notice problems, and what conversations happen with ownership. The cadence shift is the actual value.
Read - ·7 min read·operations
5 CRM features for pre-arrival guest engagement (and why most don't deliver)
Pre-arrival engagement sells well in hotel-tech demos. The five features that actually move guest satisfaction and ancillary revenue are unglamorous, and most properties have them set up wrong.
Read - ·6 min read·operations
Real-time data sync in hotel sales: the plumbing that decides whether your CRM is useful
Most hotel CRMs sync once a day from the PMS and get called real-time in marketing copy. The actual sales operations consequence of fast vs. slow sync is the difference between a CRM your team uses and one they ignore.
Read - ·6 min read·operations
AI for remote hotel sales teams: where it's actually useful for distributed work
Hotel sales teams aren't all in one office anymore. Regional sales managers work across properties, corporate sales runs from headquarters, and AI tools are reshaping the distributed workflow, though not always in the ways vendors pitch.
Read - ·6 min read·operations
Why accurate data drives better hotel sales outcomes (and what 'accurate' actually means)
Most hotel sales teams don't have a data accuracy problem. They have a data definition problem, a data capture problem, and a data trust problem. Each requires a different fix.
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·2 min read·group-salesIntroducing Group Rooms & Events (GRE) Reporting in Matrix
🧩 Matrix Feature Spotlight Group Rooms & Events (GRE) for Hotel Teams The Group Rooms & Events (GRE) Report is now live in Matrix — built to give hotel sales…
Read- ·5 min read·operations
Hotel cross-selling with CRM data: where it works for B2B accounts
Most hotel cross-selling content is about transient F&B and spa upsells. The cross-selling that moves real revenue at management companies happens at the corporate-account level, with CRM data as the input that makes it work.
Read - ·6 min read·group-sales
Hotel sales funnel stages: what a real B2B funnel looks like
Most hotel sales-funnel content was written for transient marketing. The B2B group and BT funnel is structurally different: five stages with different conversion rates, time horizons, and tooling. A working operator's frame.
Read - ·6 min read·leads
Hotel sales dashboards and the lead metrics that actually drive action
Most hotel sales dashboards display lead-volume vanity metrics. The four lead metrics below change actual operational behavior, what to instrument and what to skip.
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·3 min read·comparisonsAlternative to Hotel Sales Pro
Matrix by M1 Intel is a clear alternative and successor to Hotel Sales Pro Optimize Your Sales Strategy with the Ultimate Hotel CRM Are you looking for a powerful alternative…
Read- ·7 min read·operations
Hotel CRM data migration: a working playbook for the part that usually goes sideways
Most CRM migrations succeed at moving the data and fail at preserving the team's working knowledge. The seven steps below are what separates a clean cutover from a six-month productivity drag.
Read - ·6 min read·rfp
RFP data analytics for hotels: what to instrument and what it tells you
Most hotels track RFP volume and call it analytics. The metrics that actually inform sales strategy are response time by source, win rate by stage, and lost-reason analysis at the moment of loss. Here's the working frame.
Read - ·6 min read·metrics
Hotel sales analytics: turning data into revenue (without a data team)
Most management companies don't have a data analyst on staff and don't need one. The analytics that actually move revenue are five views consistently reviewed, not a custom-built data warehouse.
Read - ·6 min read·leads
Hotel lead follow-up automation: what to automate and what to keep human
Automated follow-ups solve the operational problem of consistent cadence. They create a different problem when they replace the human touch in moments that need a person. Here's the working line between the two.
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·4 min read·operationsDitch the Spreadsheets: A Better Hotel Sales CRM That Actually Works
Why Spreadsheets Are Holding Your Hotel Sales Back It’s not just about being old-school. Still relying on spreadsheets to manage your hotel’s sales pipeline? You’re not alone—but that doesn’t mean…
Read- ·6 min read·metrics
5 hotel sales KPIs that actually drive revenue growth
If you only have time to track five metrics, these are the ones that connect directly to revenue. Lead conversion by source, pipeline velocity, revenue per booking, group block value, and repeat-guest production.
Read - ·6 min read·operations
Cloud vs legacy hotel sales software: when each is actually the right call
The 'cloud is better' framing is mostly true and oversimplified. There are specific situations where legacy systems still make sense and specific cloud claims worth pushing back on. An operator's read on the trade-offs.
Read - ·5 min read·operations
Digital tools for modern hotel sales operations: the working stack
There are dozens of digital tools pitched to hotel sales operations. Most management companies need a tight stack of six categories. Here's what each one does, what to skip, and how the pieces fit together.
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·7 min read·operationsWhy Most Hotel CRMs Fail Sales Teams (And What to Use Instead)
Most hotel sales CRMs weren’t built for the people actually doing the selling. They’re often bloated, marketing-first platforms that check brand boxes but miss the mark when it comes to…
Read- ·5 min read·operations
How to streamline your hotel sales pipeline in 5 steps
Most hotel sales pipelines are bloated with stuck deals, inconsistent stages, and capture leaks. Streamlining isn't a tooling project, it's five operational habits that compound.
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·4 min read·operations5 AI Prompts to Enhance Your Hotel Sales Process
In today’s competitive hospitality landscape, your sales team doesn’t just need more data—they need smarter, actionable insights. By pairing Matrix’s centralized sales management platform with…
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·6 min read·operationsWhy Data Ownership is the Key to Hotel Sales Success
Introduction In the bustling world of hotel sales management, every piece of data tells a story—one of guest experiences, behind-the-scenes operations, and the tireless pursuit of excellence. Yet,…
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·9 min read·operationsAI-Enhanced Hotel Sales: Transforming DOS Workflows with Matrix
Introduction: Embracing a New Era in Hotel Sales In today’s fast-paced hospitality landscape, Directors of Sales—and even General Managers and Owners involved in sales—face mounting pressure to…
Read- ·7 min read·sales
Hotel sales management system: what multi-property operators actually need
What a hotel sales management system is, how it differs from a PMS and a guest CRM, and what changes when you run sales across a multi-property portfolio.
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·4 min read·revenue-managementUsing Hotel Loyalty Points as a Strategic Tool to Close Deals
Hotel loyalty programs are often seen as a tool to attract and retain guests, but their potential goes far beyond that. While industries like airlines and retail have mastered the art of using…
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·4 min read·revenue-managementStaying Ahead in Hospitality Sales: Why Rate Renewals and Offline Bookings Matter
Introduction: The Overlooked Opportunity in Hotel Sales In a world where online bookings dominate the headlines, it’s easy to overlook the power of offline bookings. But here’s a staggering…
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·9 min read·operationsHow to Audit Your Negotiated Accounts Before Renewal Season
Renewal season isn’t just about saying yes or no to rate requests. It’s your annual opportunity to reshape your account mix: keep the profitable ones, renegotiate the marginal ones, and…
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·9 min read·operationsHotel B2B CRM for Sales Teams & Management Companies | Matrix
Matrix is a hotel sales CRM built specifically for B2B and group sales teams. Managing corporate accounts, tracking RFP pipelines, monitoring group pace, and giving multi-property portfolio…
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·10 min read·operationsThe Future of Hotel Sales Management: Why SaaS Solutions Like Matrix Are Essential
Introduction The hotel industry is in the midst of a technological revolution. As guests’ expectations evolve, competition intensifies and new supply comes to the market, hotels are increasingly…
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·8 min read·comparisonsHotel Sales Management Tools: The Complete Guide for Sales Teams
Not sure which type of hotel sales tool your team needs? This guide covers the full landscape. If you’ve already narrowed it to hotel CRM software, jump to our hotel…
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