Using Data to Guide the Recovery of the Hospitality Industry
The pandemic had the potential to devastate the hospitality industry. In fact, for a while, it did. At one point in 2020, hotel occupancies averaged less than 20% (for context, the U.S. average hotel occupancy rate in 2019 was in the high 60% range). Owners were forced to make hard decisions: Should they pay their mortgage, or their staff? Could they even afford to keep their doors open?
As leisure travel begins to pick up again, things are looking brighter for the hotels that have survived—but recovery won’t be easy. Many hotels are far from achieving the group and corporate revenue they had pre-pandemic. A recent Bloomberg survey revealed that 84% of large companies plan to spend less on travel in the future. The lack of corporate travel is expected to cost the hotel industry approximately $59 billion in 2021. And with the Delta variant running rampant, there’s no end in sight to the constant cancellations of both corporate and group bookings. To remain in business, hotels need to get creative in the way they attract guests and generate revenue on their property.
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The good news is that there’s a plethora of data available to help hotels make informed business decisions and expedite their recovery. So, what kind of data should hotels be looking at?
Traveler Demographics – The pandemic has really shaken up the way people travel. Now’s the time to reset and take note on who’s actually traveling to certain regions, where they are coming from, and more. This information can help hotels more effectively target their digital marketing efforts—ultimately optimizing spend and increasing conversion rates.
Business Strategy – Hotels can no longer survive on revenue from just rooms, especially with decreased business from groups and corporate guests. Owners must evaluate and re-establish their market segments—and the way they position themselves to a potential new customer base. Now’s the time to begin exploring new ways to leverage their property to generate revenue, taking inventory of anything that’s “rentable” (think pool cabanas, bikes, etc.) and finding innovative ways to monetize these assets.
Industry Trends – In this quickly-shifting world we live in, it’s imperative that hotels keep up on what’s happening within the hospitality industry, as well as their region. Staying at the forefront of market trends enables hotels to be more agile and strategic in the way they run their business.
Unfortunately, many hotels today are still operating with a skeleton crew. In most cases, they don’t have the people—let alone the in-house expertise—to access and leverage this data at its full capacity. The solution? Shift Digital.
With unparalleled access to data and deep experience in the hospitality industry, Shift Digital helps hotels unlock the insights they need to truly optimize their digital footprint. And we do it for a fraction of the cost of hiring someone in-house.
We begin our engagement with a robust digital audit to assess the current state of a hotel’s digital marketing initiatives. Next, we begin collecting data with our propriety reporting platform. Our cluster managers then work in tandem with the hotel and their digital marketing agency to make strategic recommendations for optimizing spend and increasing revenue.
While the pandemic certainty caused pain across the hospitality industry, with the right data in hand and experts on their side, hotels will have the guidance they need to make a smooth and quick recovery.
To learn more about how Shift Digital can help your hotel make a full, quick recovery, contact us today.