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Data analytics technology allows hotels to take insights even further into creating a personalized guest experience by predicting what guests are likely to do .
Menka Uttamchandami , vice president , business intelligence for Denihan Hospitality Group , New York , says data analytics makes for
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tactical , actionable insight . “ Guest stay analytics can also be used at a strategic level , to evolve the guest journey , as well as input for renovations and refreshes . Multi-year trends help catch unusual occurrences or scores that are not seasonally expected ,” Uttamchandami says .
Distributing the
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data internally is also essential , and Uttamchandami recommends using a combination of data dashboards for trend spotting for senior management and deep dive reporting for subject matter experts . “ A guest from Europe booking a few months out for a week ’ s stay will value aspects different than the guest booking a couple of weeks out from California staying three nights , or a guest driving in for a onenight stay ,” Uttamchandami says . |
While many hotels have implemented Internet of Things in single-device , closed-loop projects such as guest streaming and mobile key locks , the industry is not fully using this powerful technology to its fullest . Frank Jewett of UIEvolution and a member of the HTNG IoT workgroup says true guest personalization will come when hotels use data collected from the CRM and POS to define business rules that control multiple systems that cater to specific guest habits .
This would allow the bellman to greet the guest by name , the air conditioner to set to 73 degrees based on CRM data gathered during the guest ’ s previous stay , and the in-room television to be turned on to CNN because data shows that the guest watches the news program every night at this time . Jewett says hotels should also consider upgrading their networks to handle a high number of IP addresses since each device needs its own address . “ Internet of Things isn ’ t about using a single device , but creating a connected system of devices from multiple vendors ,” Jewett says .
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50 hotelsmag . com June 2016 |