Each and every business requires data to get customers, keep the finances on track, identify and rectify errors and improve business operations. The hospitality industry is no different. For hotel marketing strategies, collecting hotel guest data is the first step.
Without collecting hotel guest data, you will not be able to target your customers efficiently. This is why hotels nowadays, try their hardest to get their hands on useful data which they can use in their marketing strategy.
What Is Hotel Guest Data?
Hotel Guest Data consists of every piece of information of a potential lead or the previous customers of the property. It includes email addresses, phone numbers, social media handles, traveller types, work details and so on. No matter how trivial the piece of information may be, it is still valuable for the customer.
Without Data, no business can formulate marketing strategies. The more guest data you collect, the more you can reach that audience and also personalize the marketing campaign. If you don’t know what people are like, or like, then you will always lose to someone who does. You need to understand your customers if you want to reach out to them.
If you collect hotel guest data, you can serve the existing and upcoming guests better. For example, if you know that previous customers wanted a pool table, you can get a pool table to satisfy customers’ life them.
Tips To Collect Hotel Guest Data
Here are a few tips you can follow when you collect hotel guest data. By following these strategies, you will be able to collect valuable information about the customer.
1. Past Booking Records Come Handy
Before collecting data, you need to make use of existing data. Existing hotel guest data consists of all the data of your previous customers. It includes contact details, social media handles, type of traveller, type of rooms booked, length of stay etc. With this, you can learn more about the customer and then go and collect guest data.
2. PMS Is Your Friend
With the help of a Property Management System, also known as PMS, you will be able to collect guest data easily. You can also analyze the source of booking with the hotel PMS and work on improving channels that have low productivity. One of the advantages of the PMS system is that the data is stored in a cloud-shaped server.
3. Check Guest Reviews
Reviewing sites and OTAs is not only essential for listings and reputation management, but they are also an essential source for collecting hotel guest data. OTAs and reviewing sites like Booking.com, TripAdvisor and Agoda have a lot of information about what guests want and how hotels can improve themselves.
With the help of review management software, you can easily get all the hotel reviews on a single platform. You can fetch reviews quickly and also understand what your customers want. What your guests likes, dislike and scope of improvements - hotel reviews are a rich source of hotel guest data.
4. Social Media - Pool Of Data
If something, especially a business, does not exist on social media, it does not exist for all practical purposes. Gen Z and Young Millenials are on social media now, and hotels will get a whole lot of hotel guest data about this emerging audience on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Social media is the best platform to collect hotel guest data.
You need to check the profiles of your followers and your target audience to see what they like, their travel habits, lifestyle and more. For example, young generations love beach parties. If you are a beach resort, you are in a perfect place to attract this audience. With social media, you can also get information on the popular places to travel to. You can also expand to these locations if you are planning for branching out.
5. Chatbots - Advanced Communication
Chatbots are a new emerging trend for hotel websites. Chatbots are virtual communicators that collect and answer the real-time queries of customers. They are really effective since they are able to handle queries instantly. The responses are based on machine learning and artificial intelligence.
Hotel website chatbots collect names, email addresses, phone numbers, travel dates, booking dates, number of rooms, types of rooms etc. With this, you can easily collect hotel data. You can extract the data anytime you want because the chatbots store data on their backend or directly to your repository. Some Chatbots have cloud storage as well.
6. Wifi Marketing
Wifi Marketing? What is that? Let us answer it for you! Wifi Marketing is a business strategy of collecting information about the guests with the help of Wifi. How does it work?
When you enter a hotel lobby or anywhere you go, the first thing you do is ask for wifi access. When you click on ‘connect’. A pop-up appears. The pop-up will ask you to sign in.
When you click on it, you will be directed to a page that will ask you for details - name, phone number or email address. With this, the hotel gets access to data. To collect hotel guest data, you will just need to configure your hotel wifi to do so.
7. Data From Loyalty Program Members
Loyalty Program members are those who are sold on your brand and will love to use all your facilities and extra privileges. Hotels reciprocate their loyalty by giving them more benefits. The hotels collect data from the loyalty program members when they sign up for it. From the existing hotel guest data, hotels can understand what resonates with the audience and formulate the strategy accordingly.
8. Ancillary Services
Ancillary Services are an underrated, yet important source to collect guest data. Ancillary services such as lounges, spas, restaurants, saunas etc receive all forms of feedback and details from the guests. Even outsider guests come to enjoy their services. Feedback and data can be collected through feedback forms, payment modes and even oral queries and doubts.
With these tips, the hotels will be able to collect hotel guest data. This data can be utilized for making hotel guest strategies. Data is the first step in any marketing strategy or campaign. Hotels are now using several methods to collect more data. Read our blogs to read more about the various trends in the hospitality industry.