The Pilgrm's success using Cendyn's eInsight CRM and digital marketing services
Building a strong guest database and driving revenue with Cendyn’s eInsight CRM & digital marketing
Inspired by old world design and the glory of British craftsmanship, The Pilgrm is a thoughtfully curated boutique hotel just a stone’s throw from Paddington Station. The hotel’s design identity focuses on sustainability and seamlessly blending the building’s Victorian features with carefully chosen materials, lighting and furnishings. The hotel boasts 73 bedrooms and a celebrated food & beverage program that includes a rooftop terrace where guests can enjoy brunch while waving at the red London tour busses passing by. With a unique brand and a stellar central London location, The Pilgrim attracts a variety of guests including both leisure and corporate travelers.
THE CHALLENGE
When The Pilgrm opened their hotel in 2017, they had several major goals they wanted to accomplish, including: building their guest database from scratch, finding creative and cost-effective strategies to promote their brand in a crowded market, identifying their target audiences, and crafting the right messaging to attract each group.
The Pilgrm knew that in order to generate interest and attract loyal guests, they required a direct approach that would allow them to personalize their marketing communications. They were also looking for ways to use transactional emails to provide more thoughtful and engaged guest experiences while also increasing ancillary spend.
THE SOLUTION
The Pilgrm chose Cendyn’s eInsight CRM to build and organize their guest profiles in one central location. Another reason for selecting Cendyn was the ability to create dynamic transactional emails and other messages for each audience. To further their outreach, The Pilgrm also utilized Cendyn’s Digital Marketing services across all channels, including targeted Paid Search, Display, and Paid Social campaigns designed to speak directly to these audiences. With the robust guest profiles in the CRM, The Pilgrm was able to identify their most valuable guests, create personalized messages by guest type, and increase ancillary revenue by including options to purchase curated amenities and hotel services before the guest even arrives on property.
HIGHLIGHTS
Customizing emails
With the help of Cendyn’s eInsight CRM, The Pilgrm created a series of successful transactional emails with content tailored for each the type of guest - leisure, corporate, return guest, and so on. The ability to craft the right message for the right audience lead to significant increase in bookings.
Increased ancillary spend
The Pilgrm worked with Cendyn’s Digital Marketing team to produce eye-catching and engaging marketing campaigns across all channels, including display banners, paid search and paid social. Using guest insights from the CRM along with Cendyn’s experts in search and content marketing, the hotel saw major gains in both bookings and total revenue, resulting in substantial year over year growth.
Digital marketing campaigns
The Pilgrm also use their transactional emails to upsell ancillary amenities guests can purchase through the booking engine, including prosecco, breakfasts and even dog-cations. These options are populated in the reservation email upon booking, making them even more personal to each guest.

BOTTOM LINE RESULTS
- In 2019, The Pilgrm drove 3,128 bookings and £1,000,334 in revenue as a result of their advertising activity – a 19:1 return on advertising spend (ROAS).
- Digital marketing via paid social, paid search and display advertising resulted in an 134% YOY increase in bookings and 159% YOY increase in revenue from 2018 to 2019.
- Average Daily Rate (ADR) from attributed bookings increased by 25% from 2018 to 2019.
- The Pilgrm’s database grew from zero to over 20,000.
The Pilgrm
About
The Pilgrm is a thoughtfully curated boutique hotel just a stone’s throw from Paddington Station. The hotel’s design identity focuses on sustainability and seamlessly blending the building’s Victorian features with carefully chosen materials, lighting and furnishings.