The travel and tourism industry is changing fast, and it’s not just about offering stunning destinations or top-notch service anymore. Today’s travellers expect a seamless experience at every step—whether they’re booking online, scrolling through recommendations, or checking in at a hotel. If brands want to stay competitive, they need to deliver more than just great physical experiences; they also need to wow their guests digitally.
In this latest case study, we take a look at how Sentosa Development Corporation (SDC) embarked on its CRM journey with Salesforce in order to improve its guest experiences through a unified platform for data-driven decision-making.
The Challenge
SDC is dedicated to the development, management and promotion of Sentosa island, and one of its goals is to provide exceptional customer experience and create meaningful, lasting relationships with its island guests to meet their evolving needs. Continual efforts are also undertaken by SDC in providing world class experiences, and engaging effectively with guests, island partners, and broader ecosystem partners.
The Objective
The strategic imperative was to implement an enterprise CRM solution aimed at advancing data analytics and digitalisation to deliver a personalised and seamless guest experience, fully aligned with the One Sentosa Service Experience initiative. The key business objectives included achieving a comprehensive Customer 360° view, consolidating data for more informed decision-making, and enabling personalised customer interactions at scale.
On the technology front, the goals focused on integrating disparate data sources into a unified platform, utilising a common data model, and deploying extensible APIs to enhance speed-to-market while ensuring scalability for marketing automation.
Moreover, the overarching goal was to elevate guest service standards and unlock deeper insights across various business units, including guest insights and experience, brand experience & marketing, loyalty marketing, and digital marketing teams.
The project also aimed to transform SDC’s interactions with guests and streamline operations by focusing on key goals:
- 360-Degree Guest View: Consolidate guest profiles, including visit frequency, spending habits, and preferences, for personalised engagement and better service.
- Marketing Automation: Bring marketing automation in-house, enabling teams to design campaigns independently and reduce costs while automating case management for guest inquiries.
- Analytics and Insights: Centralize data from various systems to generate actionable insights, improve customer segmentation, track marketing performance, and monitor membership trends.
The Solution
SDC took a major step in its transformation journey by rolling out an advanced set of CRM capabilities built on Salesforce’s Sales, Service, and Marketing Cloud platforms. This initiative was designed to redefine how SDC harnesses data insights to deliver more personalised and efficient guest experiences.
By integrating Salesforce with core systems—encompassing B2C profiles, guest transactions, and service histories—SDC established a unified platform that empowers data-driven decision-making across the organisation.
The project was executed through a structured process, ensuring seamless integration across departments:
- Implementation Process:
- Conducted discovery workshops to identify business and technical needs.
- Ran user-driven sprints dedicated to each module as well as planning a detailed mapping of existing data fields for both migrated and streaming data made for a smooth transition.
- Performed robust data validation through system integration and user acceptance testing (UAT).
- Deployed the CRM system with a well-coordinated Go-Live plan, followed by ongoing maintenance and enhancements.
- Cross-Department Collaboration:
- Strong alignment among department heads, coupled with a consistent messaging of the project’s strategic importance to working teams, ensured effective change management.
- Teams actively participated in reviews, testing, and data validation, even during weekends, with notable contributions from the Loyalty, Digital Marketing, Brand Marketing and Guest Insights & Experience teams.
- Integrated multiple data sources, such as ticketing, product information, and admission systems, into a unified platform for a comprehensive guest view.
- Overcoming Challenges:
- Addressed data fragmentation and operational silos by creating a centralised system with unified data fields.
- Improved data accuracy and monitoring through automated alerts for sync failures and weekly vendor support reviews.
- Integrated diverse admission systems (e.g., Gantry IU, Sentosa Express QR code) to capture guest behaviour comprehensively.
The Result
The CRM project brought tangible benefits across various teams, driving greater efficiency, accuracy, and personalised engagement. The Guest Insights & Experience team saved over 1,000 hours annually through streamlined processes, while the Loyalty team leveraged integrated data to gain richer insights into guest behaviour. The Digital Marketing team also saw improved click-through rates by delivering personalised content. These improvements not only enhanced operations and customer engagement but also supported SDC’s overall business growth.
