With the Hotel Data Conference happening this week, one of the big discussions coming out of the event is the impact of the global economy on the hospitality sector.
The U.S. hotel industry is inching towards a ‘fiscal cliff’ and in Europe austerity measures and an economic threat that may require a bailout is looming.
For hoteliers, this is all scary news that can cause many organizations to enter into ‘reactive mode,’ as opposed to developing the right solutions for enhancing business growth during these challenging times.
Hospitality providers can use this opportunity to implement unique innovations for predicting guest behaviors in ways that will help the bottom-line tremendously.
One area that stands out is a phenomenon called Predictive Guest Marketing (PGM), which takes a holistic view into determining how guests will behave – allowing hoteliers to provide service offerings that truly meet guest needs.
PGM looks at not only the persona, behaviors and experience ratings of the guest, but it also takes into consideration the same data points gathered from guests with similar personas. For example, PGM systems allow hoteliers to understand guests’ preferred method of communication based on season, day of week and or time of day. It can also create an intelligent query for the guest’s persona that can be triggered on demand – such as a guest wanting more points to stay at a particular property and the like.
PGM will not only help improve loyalty, it can be used as an additional metric when projecting financials. Most financials use analyst estimates to augment forward-looking statements. With PGM, hoteliers can incorporate behavior data that better interprets guest sentiment at the brand level, thus improving near-term forecasting. Part of the PGM model involves building profiles that predict guest behavior based on events outside the hospitality industry.
By implementing a PGM system, hospitality providers can greatly understand their guests, better project financials and create proactive offerings that truly meet their needs – driving more revenue in the door.