Every hotel’s marketing and sales campaign relies on guest data. The more of it you have, the wider your audience will be able to reach you. It also allows you to craft personalized marketing campaigns for your customers.
Data about guests is not just useful for marketing, but also for getting to know them better. Whenever they book a stay at your hotel, you can prepare all the arrangements in advance for their convenience.
What are the ways hotels can collect guest data?
1. Review past booking Records:
The following details can be gleaned from it:-
- Guest contact details
- Purpose of stay
- Meal Plan
- Guest Type
- Stay Duration
- Guest Preferences
2. Obtain records from ancillary services:
Use ancillary services at your property to collect guest data which includes restaurants, bars or lounges, cafes, spas, and so on. These departments do not have to accommodate only internal guests. Sometimes visitors come only to experience such services at your premises.
You can collect data using feedback forms, collection registers, payment modes, and more. Apart from that, many hotels ask guests to share their business cards to inform them about what is happening in their property. This is also a wise strategy for collecting guest data and requires guest permission.
3. Collect data from members of loyalty programs:
Information about individuals who have signed up for loyalty program membership is also part of the guest data. In addition, the guests listed there already know your property and are more likely to generate leads from it.
You can easily retrieve data from your loyalty member list and use it to market deals and offers on your property.
4. Make use of a hotel PMS:
A PMS can help you pull your past records. Having all the data in one place will make gathering it easier and managing it easier. You can also analyze the source which helps you identify and edit less productive channels.
Another benefit of investing in PMS is that all your data is stored on cloud-based servers. This means saving you the trouble of keeping a paper copy of your guest’s data.
5. Using social media to capture guest details:
If your hotel has a social media page, this strategy works very well. If you don’t have one, create one now.
This is because it is more convenient to reach younger viewers. It is also a good platform for marketing your property to travelers around the world.
The process of collecting guest data from these platforms is quite time-consuming. To begin with, you should check the profiles of your followers and see what kind of travel habits they have. There could be places they’ve visited, types of trips they prefer, or any recent check-ins in hotels.
Conclusion
One of the most important tasks in the hotel industry is collecting data. It is something that happens every time guests book your property, but there are steps you can take to improve it.
I’ve outlined certain measures to improve your hotel’s guest database. Take advantage of those to reach a broader audience and increase bookings at your property.
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