What is first party data and how hoteliers can use it

The first party data opportunity is undeniable. The world’s best brands, like Amazon and Airbnb, all put the customer at the center of their business with highly customized and data-driven experiences. But it’s hard to pull this off, especially for hotels — traveler journeys are disjointed, guest data is siloed, and attribution is flawed, just to name a few challenges that hoteliers are facing today.

To take a quick step back, first party data is defined as data that your company or hotel has collected directly from your audience — customers, site visitors, social media followers and so on. In other words, first party data is your own data. It’s the data that your customers voluntarily provide when they visit your website or otherwise interact with you. Given this, it’s also considered to be extremely accurate. 

Conversely, third party data is any data that’s collected by a business or entity that doesn’t have any direct link to the visitor or customer, meaning it’s unlikely the prospective guest will be interested in your product (and the data is inherently less accurate).

So how can hotels activate their first party data? In this blog post, we discuss sources of first party data and how it can be harnessed by hoteliers.

First party data can include data from:

• Your Property Management System (POS)
• Your POS
• Check-in (e.g., guest stay preferences)
• Online reviews 
• Post-stay surveys
• Your website or mobile app
• Your CRM

When all first party data is synced with a guest data platform like Revinate, hotels benefit from a single repository of all guest data. When guest data is centralized, it can be easily analyzed by data-driven marketers to learn more about the make-up of the database, determine the most profitable segments and develop marketing campaigns tailored to their passions and needs. 

Here are three examples of how hotels can use first party guest data to lift revenue:

Retargeting Ads

Ever notice how online retailers ensure that a product you looked at but didn’t buy shows up over and over again as an ad on websites you visit? That’s the power of retargeting. Using website behavioral data, you can retarget website visitors who checked rates but didn’t book. For the best results, ensure your ad provides an incentive to book directly with you to ensure they don’t take their business to an OTA.

Reminder Emails

Using open and click data from your email program, hotels can gauge how interested subscribers are in offers. Subscribers who open emails multiple times or click but don’t book are great candidates to receive ‘Don’t Miss Out’ or ‘Deal Reminder’ emails.  

An example of a deal reminder email.

Highly Segmented Emails

With a CRM, you can easily segment customers by any attribute. Since targeted emails sent to smaller segments drive better conversion, you should quickly move away from a spray-and-pray approach if that’s still your marketing strategy. According to our data, segmented campaigns see a 20% higher open rate, a 70% higher click-through rate (CTR), and 73% higher revenue per recipient than non-segmented campaigns. Change your messaging and your offers based on your segments and watch your metrics improve substantially.

In summary, first party guest data is pure gold for hoteliers. If you’re not actively using first party data to lift revenue and build better guest relationships, Revinate can help. Reach out today to learn more.