The digital age has given us the ability to reach broader sets of qualified audiences and to capture their attention with pinpoint accuracy. It’s important to know what guests want, yet many hoteliers are still unable to create the customized experiences consumers have grown to expect. They view their guests too generally, forcing them into half a dozen or so personas when numerous traits make up a single guest profile.
Forward-thinking hoteliers have found a way to overcome the challenges of delivering personalized service with data management. They’re creating custom offers and experiences driven by individual guest profiles and preferences data. Each guest should ideally receive a unique incentive, and it all comes down to the data. After all, business travelers are not likely to respond to offers that are designed for guests who are planning vacations.
Capturing guest patterns and preference data is possible in a modern, cloud-based property management system (PMS). In addition to the typical guest demographics captured, other essential information includes things like booking frequency, loyalty points, and total spend per guest. Let’s call it “Profile Data,” and it’s a strategic way to predict the needs and expectations of guests. The PMS provides a complete view of the guest story — more than any other solution available. Borrowing insights that can define how the guest journey might take place, hotels translate the PMS data into action — for instance, offering a similar guest to returning visitors, which also demonstrates appreciation and familiarity.
Of course, the more detailed the data, the better the chance of striking a deeper chord and encouraging engagement. Travelers expect customized service, and hoteliers who provide a focused guest experience will see increased revenue and loyalty since offers are relevant to each individual. Better access to better data makes hoteliers better at understanding their guests.