Unlocking Hospitality Excellence: How Data Analysis Revolutionizes The Hotel Industry

The hotel industry is part of the hospitality industry focused on temporary lodging of guests. This industry mainly includes hotels, resorts, motels (A roadside lodging) and guesthouses. It is a greater part of the hospitality and tourism industry. It offers a lot of services that includes accommodation, food and beverage, events and many more. The core of the business is managing ‘perishable’ inventory of the guestrooms so that the rooms can be sold out every night.

So how does data analysis done by data analysts come into play with the hotel industry? Before we get into the main talks about it, let us first explain what data analysts and data analysis is.

What is Data Analysts & Data Analysis?

Data analysis is the process of cleaning, transforming and inspecting data to find useful information, patterns and insights to support decision making. What this does is make sure that raw data is transformed into meaningful information that can be used to solve problems like the waste of food might be because of the unpopular item on the menu or not over-ordering the popular one, make predictions for example, forecasting that there will a big number bookings coming in the future and understand performance by looking at which email bought in more guests instead of just guessing which ads are working.

A data analyst is the one who collects such data, processes the data and analyzes the given data to help the organization make an informed business decision. They interpret data to find patterns and trends, then present their findings through visualization and reports to the stakeholders.

Data Analysis in simple words for the hospitality sector would be something like an ever growing guestbook. A guestbook that doesn’t just have names but rather everything like:

• What Guests Book: Which rooms are popular? Do the guests prefer seaside or cityside views?
• When They Book: Are weekends always busy? Or maybe guests are booking on a weekday like Tuesday?
• What Services They Order For Food: Is coffee the most ordered beverage? Do guests love a morning sandwich?
• Feedbacks: What are the most complimented things about the hotel? Are there any recurring complaints?

This is what the guestbook would contain and that is data analysis. It is a collection of data collected from when the guests book, arrive, pre-book for a hotel to when they leave or cancel their bookings due to an issue.

As for a data analyst, he is your storyteller. They don’t just sort out the information from your guestbook but rather make full use of it to draw a map for the future. For example:

• They Will Tell You A Story: This quarter year, our poolside bar went on an increment of 30% extra. This was due to the introduction of the cocktail menu.
• They Will Help You Understand: The reason for the sales spike was because of the festival due to which there was a massive surge of tourist travel.
• They Will Advise You (Important): Based on the success of the quarter year, we should run the poolside bar and maybe even a promotion or an event that can help us grow.

In simple terms, Data analysts are those who will predict what the forecast of your hotel.

How Does Data Analysts & Data Analysis Help In The Hospitality Industry?

Hospitality industry includes hotels, restaurants and resorts which generates the most amount of data from sources like reservations, customer feedback, social media and on-property purchases. A data analyst provides calculated information using the data to the stakeholder to give them a competitive edge.

Here is how they do it:

Personalizing Guest Behaviour:

By analyzing the provided data from the past guest behaviour, preferences and feedback, hospitality sectors can tailor their services to an individual’s needs. They can do this by offering personalized needs such as activities, dining or room upgrades. Anticipating what a guest needs such as room temperature and dietary requirements. Using the guests feedback history to provide special offers and amenities.

Optimizing Price & Managing Revenue:

A major part of what data analysts do in the hospitality sector is dynamic pricing. They examine the historical booking data, competitor pricing, local events and even weather forecast to adjust in real time. This is called Hotel Revenue Management , which we specialise in.

Enhancing Operational Efficiency:

Data analysis can be used to enhance day-to-day operations. For example, in a hotel, data can be used to predict maintenance needs for equipment before it breaks down, preventing a disruption for guests.

Targeting Market Efforts:

Instead of using a one for all approach, data analysis allows hospitality companies to create highly targeted campaigns that will help them grow by understanding customers demographics, booking rates, booking channels and travel motivation.

Managing Reputation And Analyzing Competitors:

Data analysts can collect and analyze customer feedback from review sites like google review and Tripadvisor, feedback through social media like instagram and surveys to understand public perception and identify areas for improvement. They also monitor pricing from competitors, reviews and promotions which helps a business grow, stay competitive and identify weaknesses in the market.

What Are Data Analysis Tools?

Data analysis tools are the software programs, applications and languages that are used to collect information, pattern and extract insights to analyze data. This helps in informed decision making. They range from simple spreadsheet programs like Excel to powerful programming languages such as python and R, and specialized business intelligence programs like Tableau and Power BI.

What is Python?

Python is a popular, high-level, general-purpose programming language known for its simple syntax, making it easy to learn and read. It is used for a wide variety of applications, including web development, data science, artificial intelligence, software development, and task automation. Some key libraries that analysts use with python are Pandas, Numpy, Matloblib, Scarpy and Pybrain.

What is R?

R is an open-source programming language and software environment used for statistical computing and data analysis.

What is Tableau?

Tableau is a visual analytics platform that transforms raw data into easily understandable visual insights through charts, graphs, and dashboards.

What is Power BI?

Power BI is a business analytics solution that lets you visualize your data and share insights across your organization, or embed them in your app or website. It is used to create interactive reports and dashboards with various visuals like charts and maps, enabling data-driven decision-making for professionals and businesses.

The Future Is Data Driven: A Conclusion

Data analysts and data analysis are a must if one must survive in the hospitality industry because without them, one cannot predict the future pricing and it will be impossible to get a competitive edge against any of the competitors. As such, one must analyze the data carefully to get a competitive edge and stay in today’s market.

This is not an option anymore but a necessity. We at revmerito help you with data analysis and many more factors that drive your hotel not only to success but also make sure your hotels are well maintained on OTAs with dynamic pricing based on competitor pricing, holiday seasons, promotions, weather forecasts and many more. Your hotel’s future is in your hands.