Whilst the business world bends it ear to all the latest technological advances, for example machine learning and artificial intelligence, many hotel managers are focussing their efforts on business analytics. That’s not to say that these innovative technologies won’t become essential to the hotel industry in the future, it’s just that at the moment, it’s just not an essential element of their growth.

In fact, compared to other small businesses who rely on innovative technology for their growth, hotel growth depends more on guest engagement and guest loyalty; business analytics is currently at the forefront of this type of growth. Not all hotel managers are believers however, as many still don’t make use of these analytics, not realising that despite a limited budget, this is the type of investment that increases their revenue in both the short and long term.

What type of questions can business analytics answer for hotels?

Data is everywhere in hotels, from the occupancy rates to the catering supplies, housekeeping and even the trips booked by guests through the hotel. Accessing and making sense of this data can be a time consuming problem for hotels, let alone using it to answer some of their more important business questions.

If hotels don’t use these business software tools, they are left to collect, collate and graph all of this data manually, often using Excel, then attempt to understand how it relates to their business goals. This is where business analytics software can make a huge difference to hotels, quickly presenting data in an easy to understand format, answering a myriad of business related questions, all of which can lead to increased growth and revenue.

Hotel analytics can identify your most frequent guests, their length of stay, and their purchasing behaviour during their stay at the hotel. For example, one guest might be travelling on business and another because they love the weather and visit the spa during every visit. This type of information may be hidden deep in a hotel’s database, but with the right type of business analytics, can be used to offer discounts that are tailored to suit specific guests.

Other analytics can be used to determine the optimum price for each room, based on prior and future occupancy levels and a variety of other factors, identified by the software. Hotel managers can even combine customer feedback from third party sources with their transactional data to identify the types of guests that feel underwhelmed by their accommodation - something that the hotel manager might not have known previously. These are just some of the questions that hotel managers can answer using these analytical tools.

Why don’t more hotels use business analytics tools?

Some hotels feel that they are too small to make an investment in analytical software and given their revenue, it’s simply not cost-effective. This type of software however, is extremely affordable for even small hotels and will pay for itself many times over, reducing overheads, and increasing occupancy and revenue.