In the hotel industry, data and digital marketing are essential for implementing an effective strategy. By combining them, hotels can deepen their understanding of guests and prospects, and establish more effective communication.

The importance of data and digital marketing can only be bound to grow. Establishments that know how to collect, analyse and exploit their data already benefit from a significant competitive advantage.

Data, the essential lever for hotel digital marketing

Data is an essential tool for hotel digital marketing. It allows establishments to get to know their guests better, and to offer them more relevant content and offers.

While many marketing managers realise data's potential, few make the most of it in the way they could do. The hotel industry, where the guest experience is paramount, is no exception.

90% of marketing managers maintain that first-party data* is important for their digital marketing. Only a third say that they use it effectively.

Source : Google 2024 study : Data quality and tagging plan: prerequisites for making AI an engine of growth. Link‍

* First-party data is data collected at source by the company from its customers, website visitors, followers, etc.

The different uses of data

Audience segmentation

Data enables hoteliers to segment their clientele according to criteria such as their profile (language, nationality, age...), behavior and so on. It contributes to a more targeted and relevant approach to marketing campaigns.

Personalising content

By leveraging data, hotels can personalise their content, offering a more engaging and individualised experience to their guests and prospects. The interest here is also, for example, in adapting messages for a guest who is returning to the establishment, by greeting them differently or at least by highlighting the establishment's appreciation of welcoming them back.

Measuring results

Data enables hotels to measure the effectiveness of their marketing campaigns, helping them to optimise and generate more sales.

How to collect and use data

Various channels can be used to collect data: websites, mobile apps, messages (e-mail, SMS, WhatsApp, etc.), social media (public data), forms (check-in/out, service orders, problem reports, questionnaires or satisfaction surveys, etc.)...

Each point of contact is an opportunity to gather interesting information; each exchange can contain useful information to be exploited for a simple and fluid experience for the guest.

How do you collect data?

Appoint people in charge of data collection

Whether Digital Marketing Managers or outright Data Scientists, these managers oversee the collection, analysis and exploitation of data, and help to understand the data, identify trends and develop marketing strategies based on them. If you don't want to manage this in-house, digital marketing specialists or agencies can take over your marketing actions.

Use specific tools

The use of a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) or CDP (Customer Data Platform) is essential to centralise all the data collected from your guests. The software you choose must be a business solution adapted to your needs. It must connect to all the tools that retrieve data on your guests.

Ensuring data quality

The tool you choose must not simply centralise your data, it must :

1. Clean up data: Data retrieved from guests (or other software) is not necessarily "clean"; it needs to be corrected before it can be used. For example, a misspelled address (country missing, postal code repeated, etc.).
2. Coordinate data: A guest that comes back several times should not be recreated several times in your database, the stays and information should be compiled under its profile. For example: two identical telephone numbers, one with an area code at the beginning (+336...) and one without (06...).
3. Standardise data: standardising data is essential if it is to be exploited or simply reused in other tools. For example: a uniform date format.
4. Enrich data: A powerful tool can analyse and combine data to create new data that can be exploited. For example: an American address and nationality associated with a telephone number can indicate whether it's a mobile or landline number, and thus initiate (or not) SMS/WhatsApp dispatches.

What are the benefits of harnessing data?

Improve the Guest Experience

The use of data collected through digital marketing enables us toimprove the overall guest experience, by offering products and services that are better adapted to their needs.

Improve the Guest Relationship

By harnessing digital marketing data, hotels can better understand their guests' needs, reinforcing the personalisation of the services they offer.

Develop your product and service offering

This data provides a solid basis for the development of new products and services, enables meeting customer expectations and stand out from the competition.

Better manage your data with regard to GDPR

The GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) compels hoteliers to secure their guests' personal data. The use of a processing tool (such as a CRM or CDP) ensures the required traceability of this data, and its anonymisation/elimination.