| | June 20148CIOReviewBig Data in the Hospitality IndustryBy Brian Garavuso, EVP & CIO, Diamond Resorts InternationalBased in Las Vegas NV, Diamond Resorts International [DRII:NYSE] is a hospitality and vacation ownership. It has a market cap of $1.47 Bn.Ah yes, "Big Data", the new technology buzz word of the year, falling right in line behind the overly exhausted hype of "CRM" and "the Cloud". Make no mistake, we fully embrace and utilize all of these technologies, but the incessant marketing promotions and spam e-mails can be tiresome to CIOs.Big Data, as a term, is so broad that it has taken on several different meanings. In order to condense our approach, we will focus on structured data versus unstructured data. So if you are a purist, you may not consider a discussion of structured data as "Big Data". However, allow me to draw your attention to actual case studies from the corporate world rather than a lot of hypothetical theories. Keep in mind that the size of your data is relative to your business. There is no sense in analyzing vast amounts of data with no purpose in mind or method, to improve your business with the results you find.By and large, other than a few of the major hotel brands, hospitality companies aren't utilizing Big Data in its truest sense. For the most part, the larger corporations and big brand names are analyzing stay patterns for loyalty and repeat-stay marketing. While only a couple of the high-end and independent companies are using Big Data to enhance the service they provide to their guests.There are however, a few segments within the overall hospitality industry that are utilizing their data to the fullest extent in order to increase revenue, improve operating efficiencies, deliver better guest service and increase brand opinionin my
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