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Big Data Analytics
In business, we all want to know what our competitors are doing and if we are doing it better. Well, big data can help with this. First, we need to understand what big data means and how it affects the hospitality industry.
What is Big Data?
We are generating data every time we use our smartphones, when interacting on social media or when shopping online. Every time we are online, we are producing data and leaving a digital footprint. All this data combined with other data sources becomes big data. A good example of big data in use was seen during the COVID-19 pandemic, big data was used to track infected people worldwide through different technologies created or adopted by each country in a bid to minimise the spread of COVID-19.
What is Big Data Analytics?
Big data analytics is a process that is used to extract insights from large sets of data whose size is beyond the ability of traditional databases. Big Data is analysed by companies to discover patterns and trends related to human behaviour and their interaction with technology. This can then be used to make decisions that impact how we live and work. Big data analytics can help companies to identify new opportunities, deliver personalised marketing, predict outcomes and fuel better and faster decision-making. Companies combine their big sets of data with AI technology to improve our daily lives with more personalized experiences.
Why is Big Data Analytics important in the Hospitality Industry?
Big data analytics in the hospitality industry is an important concept and every hotel should be aware of the concept as it can help improve revenue management, improve target marketing, enhance the customer experience and get a clearer idea of what other properties are offering their customers. For this blog, I will concentrate on the idea of Big Data analytics and its use in gaining a competitive advantage.
How can Big Data be used to Gain a Competitive Advantage
A competitor analysis is manually carried out in most hotels to determine their competitor's average rate, see what they are offering and check their reputation. Manual research is time-consuming and is only relevant for the information found on that day. Big data along with technology can help hotels get a clearer picture of what their competitors are doing much faster and also more relevant.
Web scraping tools can be used to surf the internet to collect data such as the competitor's room types, rates, customer reviews or promotional deals from the competitor's sites, review websites, social media platforms, internet blogs or forums and online travel publications. Any information that is available out there can be collected by big data companies and used to your advantage. You just need to set the parameters of the search and how you would like it to be relayed.
Besides rates you might see a pattern in the information collected which can help your hotel recognise areas where your competitor is outperforming you or capitalise on their underperformances. For example, if a competitor is constantly being praised for a certain spa treatment you may adopt this treatment or if they are being criticised regularly for their gym you may be able to appeal to their customers. Essentially information is key to success and big data can help your hotel gain a competitive advantage over your competitors.
For more information on, the importance of Big Data in the Hospitality Industry read more Premium Digital blogs.
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Premium Digital Working for Success in Hospitality, contact us today.
Written by Philip Kelly
Great blog Philip, I believe that many people are unaware that they are generating data every time they use a smartphone when they interact on social media or even when shopping online. Likewise, people in the hospitality industry may not realise how useful this information can be when putting together marketing campaigns with a competitive advantage.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great blog, I wasn't aware that this 'Big Data' term existed. I work in hospitality and there is so much data to be reviewed everyday and some of the data is 'Big Data' and it can be hard to keep up with things at times. Thankfully there are now more and more tools that help us to review the data.
ReplyDelete- Fernanda Pinate
This is a great blog Philip . This blog did a good job at explaining key features and illuminated the topic in a straight forward non technical language. working in hospitality it really highlights the importance of the analytics available for us to utilise more effectively for our business.
ReplyDeleteThis blog is very well written and simplifies what can be a very complex topic. Alot of people would not understand the terminology of big data so it is great you outline what big data is and you simplify it by giving a really relevant example about the tracking of Covid 19 which everybody no matter what industry you are from can relate to. Your introductory paragraphs then lead well into how this applied in the hotel industry and gives a good insight into how this can be used to gain competitive advantage and be the key to a hotels success.
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