There is so much data that a hotel has or can have access to... but in most cases, there's no one who understands how to translate these data into actionable insights on a hotel's current and future business. A vast array of external and publically available data can influence a hotel's performance, its offering and allows the hotel to be better at what it delivers to its guests and its shareholder. Years of underutilized data are sitting in PMS, POS, CRM, and other systems. More than ever hotels need to justify investments and budgets. So will a data scientist be able to give these answers?
This viewpoint is brought to you by HITEC Dallas 2021
Ian Millar Professor at Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne
Data scientists or “Data whisperers” will be a key part of successful hotels in the future. Data-driven decisions will become the norm and gut feeling and the “we have always done it that way” will disappear. As we are getting better with technology and the acceleration of adoption has happened because of COVID-19, we must start utilizing the data that is available to us both internally and also externally. There is so much publicly available free data that we can already access that could be an excellent starting point. So yes, this position will exist in the future and the early adopters will reap the rewards in these very challenging times.
Last year I participated in the research and illustration of the last 100 years of hotel technology in our series "The History of Hotel & Travel Technology" (read article). In many cases, we've seen hotel distribution and technology change during or after a global crisis.
While virtual reality can be used to attract travelers to a specific destination, augmented reality has the potential to enhance the experience as it is lived. From the point of view of sales and advertising, AR is a great way to show offers and promotions in real-time: a traveler could point the camera at a restaurant and see the menu-of-the-day come to life, or watch hotel room rates shown over the "real" property.
There is so much data that a hotel has or can have access to... but in most cases, there's no one who understands how to translate these data into actionable insights on a hotel's current and future business.
For obvious reasons, Hospitality Financial and Technology Professionals (HFTP®) announced last week that this year's HITEC will pivot to a virtual edition called "Cyber HITEC." I guess most of you have been participating and attending in a variety of online event formats over the past 3 months.
Most hoteliers agree that, at least for the foreseeable future, hotel stays will be different. Guests will be more conscious about hygiene, social distancing and expecting a contactless guest-journey.
