Background: Yesterday Google announced it was delaying the end of its support of third-party cookies from 2022 to “late 2023.” According to Google this new timeline “will allow sufficient time for public discussion on the right solutions, continued engagement with regulators, and for publishers and the advertising industry to migrate their services.”

Why is Google stopping the support of third-party cookies? No purely out of user privacy concerns. The search engine giant simply no longer needs third-party cookies since it already has the largest first-party database in the world and, together with Facebook, already controls more than 50% of advertising spend worldwide.

Google's move to block third-party cookies in this popular Chrome browser is nothing new. Apple's Safari and Firefox already did this awhile back. Apple has introduced a new Mail Privacy Protection with its iOS 15, iPad OS 15 and macOS Monterey updates coming this fall, which eliminates many of the email tracking and data gathering capabilities from email marketers.

What is the advertising industry doing about the upcoming demise of third-party cookies? The industry is working overtime to come up with Universal Digital IDs that are transferable across websites and devices and anonymize PII (Personal Identifiable Information). And not just any Universal IDs, but ones with industry-wide acceptance. Right now there are multiple projects in the works. In addition to Google's own Universal ID FLoC program, which was put on temporary hold to solicit more industry discussions and collaborations, other projects include: IDS Unified ID, The Trade Desk Unified ID, Live Intent ID Graph, Live Ramp ID Graph, InfoSum ID Infrastructure, and even travel ad network Adara's Privacy Token.

What does the elimination of third-party cookies mean for hotel marketers? It will disallow many hotel marketers from measuring the success and ROIs of their digital marketing campaigns. Example, next time when you have a banner advertising on the local CVB website or on the travel section of the New York Times Digital, you wouldn't know whether people booked your hotel after they saw your banner.

This latest privacy moves by Google, Firefox and Apple, as well as government privacy regulations like the European Union’s GDPR and California’s CCPA underscore the importance of first-party data, incl. first-party cookies, which allows marketers to establish direct relationships with their potential, past, present and future customers.

Who will lose the most from the elimination of third-party cookies?

Will the elimination of third-party cookies affect the major hotel chains like Marriott with its Everest-sized first party data derived from its 150 million loyalty membership? Or the OTAs with their hundreds of millions of users and reward members? Hardly. So, who will be the biggest losers from the elimination of the third-party cookies? Independent hotels, midsize and smaller hotel brands and chains that do not have well-structured, well-centralized first-party data and the technology to manage and utilize it across the organization, including in marketing, customer service, operations, and revenue management.

What exactly is first-party data in hospitality?

First-party data in hospitality is the customer data (past guests, website users, opt-in email subscribers, lists of corporate travel managers, meeting planners, wedding and event planners, SMERF group leaders the property has been doing business with or at least in communications with, etc.) that comes from the PMS, CRS, WBE, CRM program, from the property's website, opt-in email sign-ups, even customer lists sitting on laptops of sales and marketing personnel.

How do you manage your first-party data?

The answer is very simple: by investing in CRM and Customer Data Platform (CDP) technologies.

  • A CDP allows any hotel company to collect, store and manage all of the property or hotel company’s first-party customer data – online and offline data - and have it cleansed, de-duped, enriched and appended automatically in real time thus creating “a single source of truth” of the customer. An industry example of CDP technology is Cendyn’s cloud Starling CDP. The CDP data feeds are then used in operations, guest communications, guest services, CRM communications and marketing automation, email marketing, personalization and digital marketing, loyalty marketing initiatives, etc. to improve dramatically the customer experience, efficiency and profitability.
  • A CRM program and technology can not only create 360-degree guest profiles, but more importantly categorize past guests based on their RFM value (Recency, Frequency, Monetary), augment guest profiles with preferences, social media ambassadorship, customer engagement data, etc. and conduct marketing automation and drip marketing campaigns in the pre-, during- and post-stay. Industry examples of CRM technology are Cendyn CRM, SHR Maverick CRM, Revinate CRM, etc.

How do you increase the size of your first-party data?

Hotel marketers should consider the combination of these two main approaches:

  • Provide value for customer information:

The goal of these initiatives is to entice potential or existing customers to provide their information voluntarily (opt-in) through incentives or future gains, perks and benefits so they can be marketed to directly. RevTrax, a company empowering retail brands deliver dynamic promotions across channels, has coined the phrase “value exchange” to describe this process.

Incentives like “Sign-up to receive our weekly newsletter and get a coupon for 10% off from your next stay at our hotel” go a long way. Creating an Instant Rewards program on the property website is another great initiative to collect first-party data. Instant value-adds, free upgrades and room and suite discounts, vouchers for spa treatment, F&B credits and incentives, gas reimbursement vouchers, etc. are only some of these value-for-information trade-ins available to hotel marketers at many touch points throughout the Digital Customer Journey.

  • Content Marketing:

This is an equally powerful channel to increase your first party data. Review and optimize your property’s Content Marketing initiatives, whose role has been highly elevated by the recent privacy protection moves. The objective here is to create unique and relevant content that provides real value to the travel consumers and that can be “gated” i.e. content that is enticing enough so users are willing to provide their information in order to access it or subscribe to receiving it.

Your property’s Expert Knowledge Marketing initiatives, based on input, advice and tips from your experienced professionals at your property (wellness and spa specialists, golf and tennis gurus, activities and sports directors, personal trainers and yoga insteructors, wedding coordinators and event planners, seasoned chefs and bartenders, etc.) provide the perfect “gated” content opportunities, including podcasts, webinars, virtual cooking classes, valuable spa and wellness-related advice, chef recipes, cocktail recipes, wedding and social event how-to guides, etc.

Conclusion

The timely but limited reprieve Google has given hotel marketers should be used wisely:

  • Create a first-party data collection and management strategy.
  • Invest in CRM and CDP technology to be able to market directly to potential, past, present and future customers, provide personalized engagements, pricing and customer service, and improve operational efficiencies.
  • In-source or outsource the ongoing creation of unique and engaging content worthy of customers to sign up to access it.
  • Come up with enticing offers and promotions to increase conversion rates from your digital marketing, CRM and loyalty marketing efforts.
  • Adopt a value-for-information incentive program to trade-in customers’ voluntarily provided information for future hotel value adds, perks and benefits.

Max Starkov
NYU