October 8, 2024

📌 Recent conversation between Josiah and Visit Napa Valley's CEO, Linsey Gallagher, discussed hospitality collaboration. Adam Zembruski, a current and former franchisee of Hilton and Marriott, highlighted barriers to collaboration in the hotel industry, referencing the lengthy Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD). He noted the risks hotel owners face and how the fear of failure impedes innovative co-marketing and co-branding. Zembruski shared his positive experience with the Horton Hotel in Boone, North Carolina, where local collaboration drove success, including increasing Instagram followers from 4,000 to 11,000. He mentioned ESOPs (Employee Stock Ownership Plans) as a means for employee ownership and engagement in the hospitality industry, suggesting this could help with exit strategies for aging management company owners. Zembruski advised workers at all levels to focus on personal branding and networking for future industry success.

📈 TrustYou, a technology company, presented data analysis tools for the travel and hospitality industry at DSTNCMP24 in Bregenz. Almost 50% of participants collect data, mostly analyzing it for customer service improvement, price optimization, and process enhancement. Leading examples include Aldo, with its big data architecture, and Groupon, processing over a terabyte of data daily. The hospitality sector uses data for visitor analyses, marketing optimization, and trend analyses, as demonstrated by Tourism New Zealand, Visit Scotland, and Travel Oregon. TrustYou analyzes millions of reviews to provide insights for the industry. In Bregenz, 4,777 reviews were written from June to August 2023 versus 2,924 from January to May 2024. Market research highlights from participants included understanding trends and customer behavior to optimize offers and marketing strategies. Significantly, 95% of travelers read reviews before booking, repeat travelers account for 30-60% of total bookings, and returning customers generate 67% more revenue than new ones. The typical customer journey has numerous touchpoints, highlighting the importance of data in enhancing customer loyalty and profiling for targeted offers.

📌 Meet the managers: John, a seasoned hotel commercial manager in his 50s, relies on decades of experience and gut instinct for decision-making. Sarah, in her 30s, represents a new generation of managers using data-driven strategies. John operates intuitively, foregoing extensive data analysis for quick, experience-based decisions. Sarah employs Business Intelligence tools like Demand Calendar to monitor performance and make informed decisions. While John's quick actions respond to market changes, they may overlook long-term trends and lack scalability. Sarah's data-backed approach minimizes risk and optimizes strategies but requires accurate data. John's hotel faces challenges adapting to industry shifts without data-driven tools. Sarah's hotel sees revenue growth and efficient strategy execution through data utilization. The contrast shows the evolving nature of hotel management, where integrating data with experience is key to long-term success.