In today’s competitive hospitality landscape, guest data is more than a metric—it’s a currency. Yet while nearly every hotel is collecting data, far fewer are confidently converting it into direct revenue.

At the heart of this transformation is one simple idea:

when data is clean, connected, and actionable, it becomes a powerful lever for loyalty, personalisation, and profit.

Building a Connected Database: The Foundation of Hotel Personalization

Many hoteliers are still facing challenges due to a lack of integration between systems. Data is often siloed across the PMS, booking engine, restaurant systems, and guest feedback tools, and can be muddled by duplicate profiles, invalid email addresses (looking at you, OTA domains), and messy data.

Ensuring that your CRM is connected to the PMS is now a minimum requirement. Building further connectivity with spa, golf, folio, and F&B systems is ideal, as it provides a true 360-degree view of the guest—their preferences, loyalty status, and value.

Profile synthesis tools should be used to merge and de-duplicate records. AI plays a key role here, as traditional email and name-matching systems often fall short when handling cross-channel bookings (such as guests using both personal and OTA emails), or accounting for nicknames and name changes.

Standard operating procedures for front office and reservations teams are also essential to ensure accurate data entry. Monitoring email capture rates and collecting data throughout the guest journey can have a significant impact on database growth and health. Some properties can start with low-hanging fruit like newsletter sign-up prompts, while others may close bigger gaps by integrating central reservations systems and booking engines with their CRM.

A strong database is the foundation for any marketing effort that aims to drive direct revenue.

Turning Insight Into Action: Leveraging Data at Every Guest Touchpoint

A healthy and integrated database provides a strong foundation, but the next step is activating and leveraging that data. There are countless examples of successful initiatives hotels have implemented across the customer journey.

Examples

• The inspiration phase might include one-time campaigns with tailored communication and offers—not only based on whether someone is a returning guest, but also on when they stayed and who they stayed with. Agility and dynamic segmentation are important here. For example, the recent Lady Gaga concert in Singapore saw many hotels targeting international travellers with themed packages tied to the event.
• Integrations with booking engines also enable cart abandonment campaigns, where guests who started a reservation are retargeted. These campaigns have an average conversion rate of 9%.
• Another popular initiative is the cancellation recovery campaign, which reaches out to guests who canceled a booking and reminds them of the benefits of booking direct. This tactic has worked well for many groups, as a canceled booking doesn’t always mean a canceled stay. In many cases, the guest may have been retargeted by an OTA or booked a competing property through a different channel.
• At the pre-arrival and on-property stages, upsell emails sent before check-in are essential for driving ancillary revenue. These should be segmented—families may receive offers for activities and tours, while couples might be shown options like in-room champagne and strawberries or butler-drawn baths.
• Upsell opportunities don’t have to stop before arrival either. On-property emails triggered the day before checkout are often the perfect time to offer late check-out or additional nights.
• Post-stay communication is also key, as the cost of acquiring repeat guests is significantly lower than acquiring new ones. “We miss you” campaigns sent a year after a guest’s last stay are a great way to stay top of mind. One-time campaigns based on seasonality have also proven to be successful drivers of return stays.
• Additionally, targeting OTA bookers shortly after check-out—while their OTA email addresses are still valid (typically 2–4 weeks)—with direct offers, loyalty benefits, or a newsletter invitation has proven effective in converting them to direct bookers.

Having a clear view of your guest data also allows commercial teams to target top-performing segments—whether that means midweek bookers outperforming weekends, or locals delivering higher ADRs than international travelers. Targeting these segments with personalized, relevant campaigns can lead to exceptionally strong engagement and revenue attribution.

The Road Ahead for Smart Hospitality

The journey from insight to income is built on small, consistent actions. Whether it’s recovering cancelled bookings, boosting upsells, or increasing guest retention, guest data is only valuable if it helps generate results.

Hotels that treat data as a growth driver, rather than a byproduct, are already seeing stronger performance.

Looking to see how your results compare?

Download Revinate’s Hospitality Benchmark Report to explore industry trends, email campaign performance, and guest engagement insights across the globe.

Link also here: www.revinate.com