3 Things Your Guest Data Can Tell You

This is especially true now that hospitality businesses are suffering because of the pandemic. Robert Weissgraeber, the managing director of AX Semantics, even calls technology the “shot in the arm” the hospitality industry needs to thrive in such challenging times. One of the things he highlighted was the importance of data, and how it can be used to assess your target group and create content and services that will engage them.

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The growth of data analytics

Data analytics has been around for decades — since the 1960s, in fact. However, it wasn’t until modern technology found a more efficient way to harvest it, with the use of AI, that it took off. And, true enough, there has been significant growth in the field — one that's further accelerated by the digital shift caused by the pandemic. Research by Gartner even found that advanced data analytics is currently one of the top digital priorities of businesses, causing a spike in demand for professionals in the field, which in turn has led to an expansion of how data analytics is taught. Top colleges and universities across the country are now offering online data analytics programs containing topics in analytics, database principles, data visualization, forecasting, predictive modeling, and other fields in data intelligence, which will enable future professionals to be ready for an ever-growing data analytics industry.

For hospitality, this data can come from a number of guest touchpoints, like your website, social media, and check-out forms. With the proper use of analytics, you can gather a multitude of insights from your guests, such as:

Their Booking History

Establishments in the hospitality industry are always looking for new ways to reach new guests, and one of the most effective ways to do so is through an understanding of your current guests’ booking history. By using this data you will be able to see which marketing strategies are the most effective, whether it is the website, SMS or email campaigns, or social media platforms. Once you have this data collected you will be able to focus your budget and resources on improving these areas. By understanding a guest’s booking journey, you can tailor their experience so “they are more likely to book directly on your website.”

Their profile

Data doesn’t just tell you where your potential guests are active, but the type of content they respond to as well. For example, with the right analytics tools, you can program your website to track the user’s web activity even if they’ve left it. So, if the analytics is showing that your site visitors follow a lot of food brands, consider doing a food-related event in the future.

We at Akia take this a step further with our SMS AI marketing platform. You can use our platform to send promotional materials and the AI will remember the user’s individual response to the message. This way, if you have similar promotions in the future, you can automatically send them to people who are already interested, increasing the chances of a conversion. 

What they like about your services

Feedback is an important part of running a successful business, as it lets you know what points you can improve on and the offerings you should continue. In hospitality, it’s no different. You can gather the data using surveys and reviews.

Incidentally, you can also take a look at your potential guests’ opinions of competitor offerings. This gives you the opportunity to either implement changes inspired by the things your competitors did right or make sure that you don’t end up making the same mistakes.

With the right data, you can implement the right strategies that will convert. You just need to find ways to collect it, like with the use of an AI or a review page, and the insights will follow.

Specially written for Akia.com

By: Randa Jaclyn