Can you give us some background on what you mean by GUEST DATA and why does it matter?

Guest Data is any information that properties hold on a guest who has stayed at their property or has booked to stay. There is the very basic information such as name, surname and email address, but if you delve deeper your Property Management System (PMS) has more than that. You can find out how many times each guest has stayed, how long they stay for, and when they tend to visit. You get a picture of what your most profitable guests look like as well as your best-selling points in order to encourage loyal guests to re-book, and for you to find more guests just like them.
 
 

How can boutique properties, who do not have access to some of the larger software solutions still make informed operational & marketing decisions?

Your PMS (NightsBridge, ResRequest, Opera, Hotelier, etc) holds most of your guest data already. Properties can create reports within the system and export data into an Excel spreadsheet to see exactly where business is coming from, which geographic market stays longer during your need periods, or which channel source brings you the highest spending guests. This should be the starting point for making your marketing efforts count towards your bottom line. Operationally, this information should be used to personalise each guest stay.
 
 

What are 5 Practical ways a lodge owner can use guest data to improve his service offering and bottom line?

1. Introduce a pre-stay email/form that allows you to capture guest information that you can use to really personalise their stay: their favourite pre-dinner drink, the occasion and their interest areas.
2. Analyse lead times by country, to make sure you engage with these markets when they are looking to book. It’s too late to promote a last-minute offer to the Australian market if they typically book 8 months in advance.
3. Define your guest profile using the data you have on your guests. This will help you to make smarter choices in your marketing when you consider your target audience.
4. Post stay: categorise guests according to their interests (food, wine, golf) and offer value adds in-line with this to attract repeat business.
5. Analyse which guests (look at their age, country, booking channel) spend more on average during their stay (include restaurant, mini-bar, spa). Once you have a picture of them, you can target more of these guests to increase your bottom line.

What are your top ‘go-to’ tools for smaller establishments to manage this process.

A Microsoft Excel spreadsheet can assist small properties to sort their PMS data and to produce a basic graphic representation of it. This can then be used to execute tactical marketing activities with the goal of meeting immediate business targets.

At the next level, we encourage properties to consider adopting more of a 360-degree approach to their data using a CRM system, which is an off-the-shelf system that, with a little customisation, allows properties to capture and store guest and trade data from various sources, create reports and produce dashboards. Using this data we can then deliver relevant, meaningful marketing campaigns that engage guests across every marketing channel.

What solutions do you offer for Boutique properties?

Our solutions are completely flexible. We can provide full CRM set-up, management and campaign implementation for properties or simply act as a support to teams in analysing guest data on a monthly basis to make good business choices with their marketing spend.