How Big Data Analytics Can Transform Your Hotel’s Operations
“Big data” has become a big phrase across industries with growing adoption and reported improvements in operational efficiency across industries. According to Statista, 46% of organizations reported using big data analytics in their market research worldwide as of 2021, with this percentage increasing steadily since 2014.
Hotels are part of this growing trend; in today’s dynamic industry landscape, hospitality professionals are increasingly leveraging big data to remain competitive. We’re here with a full primer — read on to learn about the basics of big data in hotels, alongside 7 uses of the technology that can help optimize your operations.
What is Big Data?
Big data refers to massive, multi-faceted data sets that continue to grow exponentially over time — making them too large and complex to be analyzed using traditional data processing tools such as spreadsheets. By complex, we don’t mean the data-points themselves are complex; many sets of big data are composed of data as simple as “what credit card was used on a purchase.” Instead, it’s the volume, variety, and velocity of data that define big data sets.
In fact, almost anything can become a set of big data with the appropriate volume, variety, and velocity of data-points, including:
- Customer data, such as what people buy, where they buy it from, and how they receive products.
- Transportation data, such as fuel use, traffic history, and crash analysis.
- Inventory data, such as use of disposables, stock variability, and predictive maintenance.
- Reputation data, such as online review scores, number of reviews, and social media like to dislike ratios.
- Marketing data, such as engagement rates, response rates, and conversion rates.
As industries continue to incorporate IoT technology and integrated systems within their operations, businesses are gaining access to more and more sets of big data — and hotels are no exception.
What is Big Data for Hotels?
In hotels, big data refers to the immense, complex data sets generated by varied pieces of hospitality technology. There are countless sources of big data within hotels, some of the most common being:
- Reservation systems, tracking booking times, popular seasons, and consumer habits.
- Social media platforms, tracking who likes what types of content, on which channels, when.
- Websites, tracking what pages, blogs, and content spur the most engagement and conversions into bookings.
- Loyalty programs, tracking who signs up, how often guests use key features, and what features guests most often leverage.
- WiFi portals, tracking which tiers get the most use and what users use WiFi for once logged in.
- Guest feedback surveys, tracking which hotel amenities most often get highlighted as positive or negative assets.
While opportunities for tracking big data in hotels are increasing, hotels will find the most success when they harness big data for specific purposes.
7 Essential Ways to Use Big Data in Hotels
These are seven ways big data analysis can help transform hotel operations — from enhancing customer satisfaction to optimizing internal processes.
1) Improved Customer Experiences
Big data analysis can contribute to improvements in customer experiences across a hotel’s operations. Historical guest data — including previous requests to the front desk, feedback from guest surveys, and most used amenities — shine a direct spotlight on what a hotel does well for niche demographics of guests. In turn, hotels can use big data to help predict what each customer wants, addressing potential pain points before they reach guests.
2) Personalized Loyalty Messaging
Personalized guest messaging is an important aspect of hospitality, and big data can play a key role in optimizing loyalty messaging. Big data can encompass diverse aspects of previous customer experiences, including:
- WiFi network preferences.
- Use of on-site amenities.
- Length and timing of stay.
- Accommodations for kids or pets.
- Dietary restrictions.
Leveraging these preferences and more, hotels can deliver personalized, catered loyalty promotions to their customers. In turn, guests feel more valuable and hotels can increase their revenue via more effective promotions.
3) Online Reputation Management
Just as customer reviews can bolster customer experiences and loyalty messaging, so too can they help manage reputations online. Big data analysis can help identify common areas of guest concern from reviews and social media comments. Hotels can then address these issues and communicate improvements to guests.
4) Targeted Marketing
Custom-tailored messaging also supports targeted marketing for new customers, offering hotels the potential for improved return on investment. Hotels can analyze which demographics engage most with each avenue for marketing.
Then, hotels can match the messaging of each avenue with the services most aligned with each platform’s most relevant demographics. Combining effective marketing with targeted promotions can make new guests feel like a hotel is just for them — contributing to smarter strategies that drive bookings.
5) Social Media Marketing
As social media networks continue to grow as major marketing platforms for hotels, big data can help streamline how, when, and where hotels are posting. Data-sets have potential to reveal which types of posts and promotions garner the most engagement across platforms including Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and more. By analyzing data from their own and their competitors’ accounts, hotels can refine content strategies and optimize posting times to increase engagement.
6) Revenue Management
Online booking platforms have become the overwhelming means for guests to schedule their stays in hotels; in a 2023 study from h2c surveying 84 unique hotel chains, 76% of respondents claimed use of an online CRM system. With this prevalence of online booking systems and increasingly monetized connected guest experiences, hotel revenue management has become inundated with big data. Dynamic pricing models can utilize big data, incorporating historical changes in demand based on:
- Seasons
- Holidays
- Local events
Hotels can also use data to detect future inventory needs, alongside predictive maintenance for hotel technology.
7) Competition Scouting
Using big data, hotels can compare diverse attributes of their venue with other competitors, adaptable per location parameters. Points of comparison can include:
- Pricing of rooms, amenities, restaurants, and more.
- Amenities available, such as spas, pools, and golf courses.
- Marketing avenues, including social media, websites, and email campaigns.
- Target demographics, analyzed through marketing, promotions, and typical events.
By analyzing these data-points, hotels can better understand their own and their competitors’ niches, informing strategies to enhance their competitive position.
Install Dynamic Hotel Internet Connectivity for Reliable Big Data Integration
Whether using these seven strategies or countless others, big data can support significant improvements in the hospitality industry. Collecting big data, however, is entirely reliant on implementing responsive internet connectivity; without consistent tracking and integration, big data simply floats into the void.
Hospitality Network offers hotel WiFi solutions for guests and staff that can support big data collection and, in so doing, can help enhance guest experiences. Our expert team designs networks tailored to the needs of each unique facility.
Request a consultation and learn how our solutions can support your big data initiatives alongside other smart hotel solutions.
