By Katrina Pruitt-Andrews
It's a phenomenon that's gaining momentum in the hospitality industry. The Data Divide refers to the gap between hotels that have access to predictive data, and those that don't. In today's dynamic always-connected consumer landscape, historic data alone just doesn't cut it anymore.
Heads of ecommerce and revenue management at hotel brands, management companies and independents are looking for more. And they have found it with predictive data because it gives insight to the future. It's something they can act on, and use to influence consumers and grow their business.
The Data Divide and Competitive Edge
So how does the Data Divide affect hotels? Predictive analytics give hoteliers what they need to make decisions today that will impact business tomorrow. It shines a bright light on the future of travel marketing and revenue management by doing for hotels what traditional data providers have not been able to do:
- Explain the travel consumer and their shopping behavior
- Identify new unbooked consumer opportunity
- Personalize marketing and revenue management decisions based on active consumer geography and profiles
This type of data, like nSight provides, gives hoteliers a competitive advantage over the competition. By aggregating 85 million looks and books daily across more than 5,000 travel website, we help hoteliers see the active travel consumer — before they make a hotel purchase decision. Hoteliers have access to intelligence that enables better targeting and rate decisions than by competitors.
Bridging the Gap: The "Future" Value of Predictive Data
Hotels are bombarded by data from industry reports, benchmarking metrics and internal systems like their PMS and RMS. Many vendors offer hotels a view of what they call "future data." In reality, that data is for business on the hotel's books for future dates. It's already been booked, so it is essentially historic data for future dates.
Predictive or intent data offers forward-looking, unbooked opportunity that can still be targeted and captured through smart marketing and revenue management. It is unrealized potential that can help hotels grow. In an environment where consumers are shopping more, booking closer in and have real-time choices of where to stay and what to pay every day, forward-looking data gives hotels the following advantages:
- Shows travel intent peaks and valleys for future arrival dates, based on your hotel's specific rates, revealing need periods and markets that are declining
- Demonstrates the impact of rate changes on consumer demand for future dates, so you can build strategies around it
- Identifies the dates where revenue management or additional marketing is needed to attract greater demand
Hotels that are still using historic data for future decisions have just not crossed the Data Divide.
The Other Side = Action
Data on future consumer behavior is actionable for marketing and pricing decisions. For example, hotels can turn nSight's predictive data with rate, market and demographic insights into action in a myriad of ways:
- Making better pricing decisions for future arrival periods
- Enhancing email marketing and loyalty programs
- Improving paid search and digital targeting
- Delivering better advertising with display and OTA partners
Predictive data offers a multi-dimensional view of rate, consumer and market dynamics, giving revenue managers and marketers a more complete outlook for better decision making on issues that impact growth.
It's power that takes you over the divide and into the future.
