5 Secrets Locked Away in Your Hotel PMS Data

As Revinate’s Senior Hospitality Marketing Strategist, I always say I have the best job in the company. I have the pleasure of working directly with our Revinate Marketing customers to unlock the enormous power of their property management system (PMS) and help them build an email marketing strategy that gets results.

As a hotelier,  analyzing and leveraging the data trapped within your PMS should be one of your top priorities. How else can you market to and serve guests if you don’t understand who they are, where they come from, and what they buy?

When I work with a customer, the very first thing I do is take a ‘fine-tooth comb’ through their database, extracting the key data points that will be instrumental in creating their email marketing strategy.

Below I’ve listed the top five PMS data points (with real customer examples) that every hotelier must understand in order to create targeted email campaigns that drive engagement, direct bookings, and ROI. As we say, great email marketing starts with great data.

1. Demographic Profiles

To understand your guests at the most basic level, you must collect guest demographic information during the booking and check-in process. The higher your profile coverage of data points such as city, country, gender, and reservations with families, the more you’ll be able to segment your database and target your guests with content they genuinely care about.

Real Customer Example: Revinate Marketing customer Mountain View Grand segmented their database into two groups – 1) reservations with children and 2) reservations without children. Then they tailored their email marketing campaigns accordingly so the message and imagery would appeal to both groups.

2. Booking Behavior

Which packages and promotions bring in the most bookings? Which guests prefer value-add promotions versus discounted offers?  Who likes to stay on your property over specific time frames? Answering these questions will allow you to send the right promotions to the right guests while building even richer guest relationships.

Real Customer Example: Serrano Hotel sent this holiday promotion to guests who stayed with them over the previous holiday season.

3. Average Length of Stay

Another valuable piece of information in your PMS is your property’s average length of stay (LOS). Comparing the average LOS of your property with that of your destination can help you make more informed marketing decisions. For example, if your average stay is two nights compared to the market average of three nights, you should focus your offers on driving demand for that additional night to ensure capturing your fair share of the market.

Real Customer Example: The Alta Peruvian encouraged guests who had already made a reservation to extend their stay by one more night at a 30% discount. Read more about this successful campaign here.

4. Average Booking Window

PMS data also helps you calculate your hotel’s average booking window. Most hotels are seeing their booking windows shrink with the shift to mobile and increasing consumer affinity for last-minute deals.

To drive demand within these shorter booking windows, last-minute offers are crucial. But who should you be targeting? Certainly not a guest who lives halfway around the world. Instead, try segmenting your guests by geo-location and sending the promotion to those within driving distance of your property. Sweeten the deal with incentives like free parking, early check-in, and late check-out, appealing to local guests.

Real Customer Example: Allison Inn targeted past guests from the Pacific Northwest region with this last-minute offer.

5. Guest Loyalty

Last but definitely not least, one of the most impactful ways to leverage your PMS data is to identify your most loyal guests. Who has stayed the most times or the most nights?  Who has spent the most money? Create segments based on this information and reward your most loyal guests with early access to sales, exclusive offers, and special discounts.  Let them know they are special and that you value their business.

Real Customer Example: Soho Grand Hotel sent this targeted campaign to their most loyal guests inviting them to join their rewards program.

In summary, there are countless ways to leverage your hotel’s PMS data. By extracting these five key data points, you can craft incredibly relevant, personalized emails that will keep guests coming back time and time again.

Unlocking PMS data is just one component of Revinate Marketing. Click here to learn more about other innovative features we provide, such as Smart Segments and automated “set and forget” campaigns.