| | JUNE 20149CIOReviewBig Data in the Hospitality Industryloyalty. This is particularly true with casino, vacation ownership and cruise ship companies. Casinos have capitalized on their data collections by implementing a strategy to utilize data from their player management systems, also known as loyalty or player cards. Through the use of their loyalty/player cards they are able to extract data to understand the gambling patterns of their players. They can reward their players in order to entice a repeat visit, which ultimately drives increased revenue. In addition, by understanding the use patterns of the various slot machines and table games in relation to their location within the casinos, they have maximized operating efficiency. These are just a few examples of how casinos have capitalized on the use of their data. The vacation ownership industry, one that is very near and dear to me, has been analyzing their data for many years in order to improve their sales and marketing costs. They have also found that there are many opportunities to utilize the data to improve the quality of service and loyalty to its customers. Diamond Resorts International has utilized data through various channels including the detailed analysis of marketing initiatives through the use of marketing key codes. These key codes are then used to track the initial contact with a potential customer, all of the marketing efforts leading up to a sales presentation, as well as the results of a purchase. Through this strategic analysis we are then able to more accurately identify the profitability of our marketing programs. It is essential that all possible data points are captured and analyzed.Another strategic use for Diamond's data is for sales analytics. By extracting data from our sales analytics, we are able to analyze the source of each lead in order to understand which leads perform the best, and ensure that we are maximizing the optimal results from our leads. It is through this examination of our data that we are able to better understand the demographics and psychographics of our existing customers; and therefore use that data to mine our prospect database and identify those that have the highest propensity to purchase. In this case we append vast amounts of external data to the customer record in order to understand the patterns.Diamond also utilizes data in order to determine customer preferences. We are able to analyze our data in order to understand travel patterns and destination reservation requests; and subsequently use this data to make well-informed decisions on delivering new destinations and products to our members, owners and guests. Ultimately, by analyzing our customer's preferences we are able to leverage this information to enhance our service and in turn build customer loyalty. Taking into considerat ion these industry-specific examples of data usage, it is imperative to first ensure that your data is organized in a way that allows you to do the proper analysis based on what is important to your business. There are still many companies with silos of data that prevent them from being able to do a proper analysis. Data is powerful and should be used as an essential tool in every industry, but only when utilized to its fullest extent and maximized for best results. By analyzing your company's current data collection systems and further examining innovative applications and strategic implementations for this already acquired information, Big Data can help your company achieve increased revenue, improved operating efficiencies, better guest service and increased brand loyalty. Other than a few of the major hotel brands, hospitality companies aren't utilizing Big Data in its truest senseBrian Garavuso| | JUNE 20149CIOReview
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