Kempinski Hotels provides new subscribers with a refined introduction, achieving an 84% satisfaction rate

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Kempinski Hotels is Europe’s oldest luxury hotel group, operating in more than 75 hotels and residences across the globe. Notable properties include Çırağan Palace in Istanbul, the Grand Hotel des Bains in St. Moritz, and Hotel Adlon in Berlin. Kempinski Hotels’ portfolio encompasses historic landmark properties, award-winning urban lifestyle hotels, exceptional resorts, and prestigious residences.

New focus on email welcome campaign

Previously, individuals who subscribed to the Kempinski newsletter were immediately incorporated into the hotel’s regular communication stream. However, Kempinski places great importance on engaging its audience in the distinctive world of the brand. For this reason, a dedicated welcome campaign was developed to offer new subscribers an introduction to what makes Kempinski Hotels truly exceptional.

In this article, we demonstrate how, through the strategic use of well-crafted emails, delivered in the appropriate sequence and with carefully considered content, organisations like Kempinski Hotels can present themselves effectively and achieve high levels of audience satisfaction.

Why Kempinski transitioned to a branded welcome experience

By implementing a structured welcome journey, Kempinski Hotels was able to present the diverse facets of its brand in a clear and accessible way, while offering a preview of the content subscribers can expect in future communications.

How Kempinski implemented the welcome journey

Kempinski had a clear vision of the messaging but required support to ensure effective execution. An initial campaign flow and a series of templates were therefore developed, which the internal team subsequently enriched with visuals and brand-aligned copy. Once the English-language version was finalised, conditional logic was applied to incorporate German-language variants, maintaining a streamlined user experience without adding unnecessary complexity to the setup.

Following the double opt-in, subscribers receive the first welcome email immediately. The subsequent four emails are delivered at three-day intervals, providing a structured and consistent introduction to the brand. This approach gradually highlights key experiences and sets clear expectations for future communications. By the end of the journey, subscribers are more informed, engaged, and well-prepared to transition seamlessly into the primary mailing program.

Clearly defined topics in every email

Each email within the flow addresses a distinct theme:

  • A general introduction
  • Preferences: identifying the types of hotels and destinations of interest to the recipient
  • Member benefits: building on initial engagement from the outset
  • Boutique and vouchers: extending the Kempinski experience beyond the stay
  • What’s next: providing an “instant destination match” and inviting new subscribers to share feedback on the welcome series

The welcome journey can be visualised as a structured sequence of emails, each contributing to a cohesive introduction to the Kempinski brand.

At every stage of the journey, recipients are given the option to bypass the remaining emails and transition directly into the main subscriber group. This process is fully automated and operates seamlessly in the background, requiring no manual intervention aside from periodic reviews to update and refresh content. For Kempinski, this results in a flexible, low-maintenance system that adapts to individual subscriber preferences without introducing additional operational complexity.

Email 1 – Introduction

The opening email in the welcome journey begins with a concise introduction to Kempinski’s longstanding heritage in delivering luxury hospitality experiences. It also introduces the “Lady in Red” as the distinctive sending persona.

The subsequent paragraph clarifies that the message forms part of a broader email series and emphasises the wide range of destinations within the Kempinski portfolio. At this early stage of the welcome journey, limited information is typically available about the recipient, making a broad approach particularly effective.

The “Inspire Me” call to action directs recipients to the “Our Stories” section of the website, which features curated content such as “Berlin’s Hidden Gems” and “The Best Things to Do with 2 Hours in Singapore.”

Finally, recipients are given the option to opt out of the welcome series with a single click. This functionality provides a user-friendly experience and ensures that subscribers retain full control over the communications they receive.

The inbox fields are as follows:

  • Sender: Kempinski | Lady in Red
  • Subject: Welcome to the world of Kempinski
  • Preheader: Welcome email 1 of 5

Email 2 – Getting to Know the Subscriber

While a broad approach is effective for the initial introduction, it is important to refine the understanding of subscriber preferences as early and seamlessly as possible in the journey.

The second email in the Kempinski flow addresses this directly: “Click the link below to share your preferences and ensure that we bring the most relevant offers and content to your inbox.” This messaging clearly emphasises the value for the recipient, rather than focusing on the benefit of data collection for the brand.

The inbox fields are as follows:

  • Sender: Kempinski | Lady in Red
  • Subject: What’s your travel style?
  • Preheader: Welcome email 2 of 5

The corresponding landing page is thoughtfully structured, beginning with a brief introduction before presenting ten categories designed to capture the subscriber’s travel preferences.

This approach provides a strong example of effectively narrowing down interests without overwhelming the recipient. While it would have been possible to include an extensive range of options, such as specific destinations, cuisines, or climates. Kempinski has intentionally kept the selection concise and manageable.

Balancing the “getting to know you” element with an opportunity for recipients to further explore the Kempinski brand creates a well-rounded experience. Brands often place significant emphasis on communicating their own story, sometimes at the expense of user relevance. In this case, Kempinski successfully maintains that balance, ensuring the content remains both engaging and customer-centric.

Email 3 & 4 – Loyalty Programme and “Bring Kempinski Home”

In some cases, a direct and focused approach is the most effective. Kempinski applies this principle in the third email by placing the “Join Now / Log in” call to action prominently at the top of the message, followed by a clear overview of the associated benefits to encourage further engagement.

The inbox details for the third email are as follows:

  • Sender: Kempinski | Lady in Red
  • Subject: Have you unlocked member benefits?
  • Preheader: Welcome email 3 of 5

 

The subsequent content highlights ways to extend the Kempinski experience beyond the hotel stay. For example, the familiar comfort of a hotel bed is translated into an at-home experience through Kempinski-approved bed linen. Similarly, the appeal of hotel dressing gowns is leveraged by offering these items for purchase.

These initiatives represent classic examples of brand extension extending beyond the core service into complementary products. This approach effectively addresses a common limitation of hospitality experiences -their temporary nature- by creating opportunities to sustain engagement and strengthen brand affinity beyond the stay itself.

For completeness, the inbox details for the fourth email are as follows:

  • Sender: Kempinski | Lady in Red
  • Subject: Have you unlocked member benefits?
  • Preheader: Welcome email 4 of 5

Email 5 – What’s Next

The fifth and final email in the series serves to consolidate the journey, summarising key themes from the previous messages and reinforcing expectations for future communications, including news and travel inspiration from Kempinski.

The email concludes with an interactive, card-based feature that presents personalised destination suggestions, helping subscribers identify locations aligned with their interests.

The inbox details for the fifth email are as follows:

  • Sender: Kempinski | Lady in Red
  • Subject: Which Kempinski will you visit next?
  • Preheader: Welcome email 5 of 5

Results and Impact

The results of the welcome journey have been highly encouraging. To date, 43,000 subscribers have completed the journey, with 84% of feedback collected through the fifth email being positive. By explicitly inviting recipients to evaluate the series, Kempinski gains valuable insights that can be used to further optimise the experience.

The introduction of the welcome journey has also strengthened confidence in marketing automation and encouraged the exploration of additional use cases for this technology. In particular, the feedback component has proven to be a valuable mechanism for deepening engagement and understanding subscriber preferences.

Welcome journeys represent a powerful tool for organisations across industries. By capitalising on initial interest, they help maintain brand visibility and relevance during the early stages of the customer relationship. This is particularly impactful for considered purchases, such as travel, where customers typically invest time in exploring options and comparing offers.

For those interested in experiencing the journey firsthand, it is possible to subscribe to the Kempinski newsletter via their website.

This is an article by EMAS 2026 Gold Sponsor Spotler.

Curious how to put this into practice? Visit EMAS 2026 on June 11 at Circa Amsterdam. Be inspired by international speakers and discover how to take your email marketing to the next level. Tickets and programme.

Author:
Hendrik Westerhuis

Senior Content Marketeer at Spotler

Meaningful Email Communication: How Naviva, Spotler, and SOLVM Truly Reach Parents

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The collaboration between the maternity care organization Naviva Kraamzorg, marketing partner SOLVM, and technology partner Spotler clearly demonstrates that email can be a powerful communication channel—if done correctly. The three organizations developed various personalized, data-driven email journeys, resulting in greater engagement, higher customer appreciation, and more efficient internal processes.

In this article, we’ll walk you through the challenge, the solution, and—most importantly—the impact of this collaboration, showing how the right triangle of people, processes, and platforms leads to meaningful email communication.

Naviva’s Challenge: Better Alignment with Communication Goals

Naviva Kraamzorg, with 1,300 colleagues, provides maternity care each year to over 22,000 families—both at home and remotely through digital support. For the latter, email is frequently used.

A key principle in Naviva’s email communication is the desire to align with the customer life cycle of its three main stakeholder groups: clients and their families, chain partners, and employees—and to do so in the most personal and relevant way possible.

For clients, this mainly means providing the right information at the right time during pregnancy. For chain partners, it could involve information about care indications, potential expansions of service areas, or updates on matters like e-consultations. Employees are primarily kept informed about the organization, training opportunities, and industry news. Naviva also uses communication to gather information—for instance, to assess how many people will attend a certain event or to inventory which materials staff still have in their possession.

To achieve Naviva’s communication goals, it was essential to improve data quality and ensure the correct availability of data. Additionally, integrations between the email software and the CRM system needed to be developed, tested, and hosted. Project management was also required across the various automated email campaigns.

The Collaboration: A Triangle That Works

To tackle its communication challenge effectively, Naviva sought a partner that could provide not only a tool but also strategic contributions. Through previous collaborations, SOLVM emerged as a firm specialising in guiding marketing initiatives.

Together with SOLVM, the desired communication strategy was clearly defined. The goal was to streamline all communication before, during, and after maternity care through a personal, automated email journey. The content needed to closely align with parents’ individual situations, while internal communication toward maternity nurses and chain partners also had to be improved.

To execute this vision, a powerful platform was necessary. The choice was Spotler Mail+, the email marketing platform that integrates easily with CRM and administrative systems and offers extensive capabilities for personalization, segmentation, and automation. The roles within this collaboration triangle were well-defined:

  • Naviva provided content expertise, insight into the needs of various stakeholders, and the appropriate tone of voice.
  • SOLVM translated this into a smart strategy and guided the project from intake to implementation.
  • Spotler delivered the technological foundation, including user support and data support as needed.

This collaboration turned out to be a perfect match. By joining forces, the team could act quickly, maintain continuous coordination between technology and content, and create email journeys that truly worked.

The Solution: From Insight to Impact

Information for Parents

The new email strategy was structured around various phases in the customer journey: from registration and intake to childbirth and postnatal follow-up. By using triggers in customer data—such as due dates or intake appointments—the right content was automatically sent at the right time.

Some examples:

  • After registration, parents receive a welcome email with an explanation of the next steps and what to expect.
  • Before the intake appointment, they receive practical preparation tips and answers to frequently asked questions.
  • During pregnancy, parents receive bi-weekly information tailored to their current week of pregnancy. For example: a reminder to request a pregnancy statement at the beginning of the pregnancy – required for maternity leave, or a prompt in the last weeks of pregnancy to arrange for bed risers if childbirth is at home.
  • After childbirth, a personal congratulatory message is sent, with information about what to expect during the postnatal period, including the option to receive monthly emails about the baby’s first year.
  • After the first maternity week, parents receive a thank-you email with a short satisfaction survey.

Dutch welcome email: ‘Congratulations on your pregnancy’

Information for Chain Partners

In addition to communication with parents, Naviva also emails with chain partners, using Spotler Mail+ for these messages as well. These are clear emails packed with useful information. For instance, Naviva can follow up on an evaluation of its services via email or inform partners about the expansion of its service area.

Chain partners receive a quarterly update. In addition to regular updates, evaluations, and company news, these emails also include forecasts of the number of hours Naviva can provide. Since chain partners are key referrers for Naviva Kraamzorg, it’s crucial that they’re well-informed about the organization’s ins and outs. This way, Naviva manages expectations and maintains accessible, ongoing communication with them.

Information for Employees

Employees also receive targeted email communications—for example, reminders about upcoming intakes or follow-up after the intake, birth, or maternity period—linked to the specific parents they are supporting. This provides clarity, better structure, and smoother handovers.

All emails are designed in Naviva’s brand style, with clear calls to action, empathetic language, and practical links. Thanks to Spotler Mail+ templates, these emails could be created and adapted quickly. They were also tested across different devices and email clients to ensure optimal deliverability.

Importantly, this email series isn’t a static project but a dynamic system. Based on feedback from parents, partners, and employees, the content is continually optimized—ensuring the communication always reflects real-world needs.

The Impact: Higher Engagement and More Organizational Calm

The joint approach by Naviva, Spotler, and SOLVM has paid off. Open and click rates increased, parents reported feeling better informed, and staff noticed fewer repeated questions.

Some key results:

  • 70% of parents read the emails in full and actively click through.
  • Higher Net Promoter Score (NPS) due to better expectations and upfront information.
  • More peace of mind for maternity nurses thanks to more targeted, proactive communication.

It also delivered valuable insights. By linking data from Spotler to customer feedback and CRM software, Naviva gained better visibility into when emails were ignored, which questions remained unanswered, and where improvements were needed. As a result, email became not just a communication tool, but a source of strategic insight.

The power of this case lies in the combination of technology, strategy, and content. Spotler provides the infrastructure, SOLVM the roadmap, and Naviva the expertise and experience. Together, they create emails that matter: relevant, timely, and human.

Dutch email sign-up form, for monthly emails about the baby’s first year

Looking Ahead: Meaningful Communication Requires Collaboration

What makes this case so powerful is that it shows what’s possible when email communication is well-organized. Instead of fragmented messaging and generic newsletters, you build a communication ecosystem where every message adds value.

This approach is familiar to many organizations in healthcare, education, or services. There are many touchpoints, multiple target groups, and lots of information to share. It’s tempting to use bulk communication—but that rarely leads to true engagement.

The collaboration between Naviva, Spotler, and SOLVM shows there is a better way. By using technology wisely, thinking strategically, and creating empathetic content, communication becomes something that truly resonates with people.

We believe this is the future of email marketing: meaningful, data-driven, and human-centered. Whether you work in healthcare, education, or commercial services—those who invest in relevant journeys win the trust of their audience.

 

This article was written by Hendrik Westerhuis, Senior Content Marketer at Spotler. Spotler is one of the 2025 DDMA EMAS Sponsors.