BI helps to profile guest and business segments by any combination of criteria through easy point-and-click steps. Sanjay Mehta, CEO, MAIA Intelligence Pvt. Ltd. authored an article for Hotelier India, February 2011

2. Technology
Using Business Intelligence
A boon to the hospitality industry, BI helps to profile guest
and business segments by any combination of criteria
through easy point-and-click steps
O
ver the past years, com- tify best guests and uncover those to determine the percentage con-
panies in the hospital- with the highest potential for ad- tribution to total revenue
ity industry have spent ditional nights or services. They
millions on technol- can also track performanceacross Marketing Analysis
ogy systems to optimise business time, guests, return rate, length • Offer products and services that
processes. These disparate sys- of stay, frequency, recency, room match customer preferences
With BI, tems generate enormous amounts rate, upgrades, etc. Track by divi- • Target different cross-sell and up-
of transactional data in multiples. sion, product line, guest segment, sell offers based on prior purchase
hospitality However, senior executives and op- booking source/channel, geog- behaviour
businesses can erational managers are now asking raphy/property...any variable on • Determine reinvestment levels and
for enterprise reports that corre- file. BI allows management to offer benefits according to customer
increase efficiency, late data from distributed systems identify challenges and opportu- value and profit
enhance revenue, across multiple periods. nities.Quickly spot where busi-
Single enterprise wide view be- ness or guest segments are excel- BI Usage
retain customers, comes a challenge. Revenue man- ling or under-performing. They • Analyse hotel’s arrival patterns
consolidate agement is dynamic and constantly can monitor changes and easily • Look at the bookings history for
changing. The pricing optimisa- drill down to see the factors driv- the travel agents including informa-
businesses, tion and forecasting strategies are ing this performance. tion on booking sources, rates, and
improve complex and difficult. There is also From hotel and revenue manage- length-of-stay patterns
a tremendous challenge in meet- ment BI can be used throughout the • Use the length-of-stay pattern in-
productivity, and ing customers’ expectations and enterprise (front, middle and back formation to understand any nega-
lower operating preferences. Apart from that there office operations) including hotel tive effects that minimum length-
is constant pressure of capturing, revenue management, POS, and of-stay restrictions may be having
costs analysing, and creating the right CMS systems for patrons’ worth on your business
message/offer using the right me- and profitability, guest satisfaction, • Responsible discounting to re-
dium and at the right time. market analytics, customer segmen-
Organisations in the hospitality tation, and campaign management.
industry can use Business Intel- With BI, hospitality businesses BI empowers business
ligence (BI)to protect its market can increase efficiency, enhance users and decision
makers of the Hospitality
share, identify unproductive rate revenue, retain customers, consoli- business to
strategies, uncover new revenue date businesses, improve productiv-
opportunities or beat the compe- ity, and lower operating costs. • Increase RevPAR (Revenue per
tition. Dynamic MIS and ad-hoc available room) and customer
profitability
reports from BI help understand Hotel Operations • Measure and predict guest
current market position, illumi- • Manage revenue and understand lifetime value
nate future performance trends price optimisation trending • Understand guest behaviour,
and compile detailed picture of • Analyse room maintenance and trends and travel needs
competitive environment (who is inventory allocation, food, and bev- • Increase share of wallet for
travelling and from where), etc. erage controls loyalty members
BI helps business in hospitality to • Accurately forecast group and
transient demand and establish
profile guest and business segments Financial Analysis
rate and availability controls
by any combination of criteria • Determine long term value of • Develop price optimisation
through easy point-and-click steps. customer segments with BI models
Easily break out, analyse and com- • Track performance of venues • Optimise usage and scheduling
Sanjay Mehta is CEO of MAIA pare these segments on demograph- such as room bookings, dining, of resources
Intelligence Pvt. Ltd. ics, stay patterns, etc. They can iden- entertainment, and retail outlets,
64 | February 2011 | Hotelier India www.hotelierindia.com

3. Technology
spond to market conditions instead segment by rate plan, or cor- • Grow the Top and Bottom Line - Provide Complex Reports for
of blindly following panic rate cuts porate account by sales manager Tighter control of KPI will enable Ad-hoc Analytics:
• For example, in corporate • Drill down to details to uncover the operation to decrease costs and For most organisations, predict-
business: trends and relationships, increase revenue ing customer attrition or revenue
• Will reducing a rate result in understand anomalies, and in- • Improve operations and busi- is a process of single dimensional
increased room nights? vestigate lost opportunities ness processes related to revenue reporting, internal knowledge and
• Or will it simply dilute revenue? • Create your own interactive generation, customer satisfaction/ gut business instinct. With BI, you
• Does the company have the reports and charts retention, cross-selling opportunit- can make an informed manage-
volume to offset the rate de- ies, room inventory management ment decision and know how to
crease? • Act on the intelligence and and new market opportunities maximise revenue and enhance
• Mine the agencies that have leverage your knowledge BI helps eliminate a plethora of guest services
highest room night volume or • Respond to demand fluctu- manually managed spreadsheets
analyse dealers who have ations early on by stopping its proliferation, which Who gets what?
provided no reservations to • Discover and seize opportun- leads to multiple versions of key Property GMs can receive audit-
your specific property ities before they are gone indicators. BI helps pre-deliver stand- ed performance data and labour
• Consider day-of-week (DOW) • Optimize marketing funds by ard reports, automating the pro- numbers once each day. Regional
patterns with drill down to targeting the likely responders cess and ensuring accuracy of the controllers may have a customised
understand weekend-only • Reward your most profitable data for a measurable decrease in daily flash reports emailed first
stays, peak nights, lowest days, customers to ensure repeat cost and increase in productivity. thing each morning. Revenue
weekday stays, and arrivals Sunday business managers can get property per-
through Wednesday Remove Resource formance data weekly. Investors
• Monitor future patterns and Advantages of BI for Hos- Constraints in IT: may opt to receive property or en-
pace, which lets you understand pitality Industry: Customised reports and data ex- tity performance every morning in
the impact of current revenue • Monitor performance with dif- ports from one or multiple systems their mailbox. Asset managers can
management strategies on future ferent criteria drains the resources of IT depart- have property-group flash, labor
bookings and measure the ef- • Identify and get insights into ment, and it can result in a wait- data and P/L output delivered in
fectiveness of pricing changes weaker units for corrective meas- ing game as IT prioritises which the form of a colour coded KPIs in
on market share ures requests to fulfill. In contrast, BI their dashboard daily. All the busi-
• Analyse data by time, product, multi-dimensional reportsput ness users across the hospitality
What’s happening, why it’s category, region and unit data directly in the hands of the business get their share of BI re-
happening and what’s go- • Help design special promotion user, allowing each department ports and analysis with either the
ing to happen (the trend) and campaign and evaluate per- to create made-to-order reports KPIs displayed on the dashboard
determine what you want to formance output without the assistance of IT. or the alert in the mailbox. HI
happen. • Cultivate loyalty amongst cus-
Hospitality business can stay tomer by analyzing customer be-
ahead with timely action based on haviors and developing customer
the meaningful information profiling
provided by the BI. • Identify potential properties for
• Get accurate insights from BI acquisition
dashboards and also • Self-served ad hoc querying and
understand why business intelligence reporting tool
• Analyse period-to-date figures, for end users to assess their role in
year-over-year changes, and success
budget variances • Top management can consolidate
• Compare property sales with data from different spheres and get
those of other properties, brands, single and simple view of complex
chains, and regions financial metrics
• Identify high yielding market • Save Time - Stay connected to your
segments, rate plans, and busi- businesses and reduce the time to
ness sources action by spending less time gather-
• Analyse effectiveness of mar- ing information and more time on
keting campaigns, promotions improving performances
and package plans • Enhance Communication -
• Identify most/least profitable Provide 360 degree insight into
guests, corporate accounts, and operation and share data across
travel agents the organisation. Improve speed
and quality of decision-making,
• Pinpoint the facts with enabling rapid delivery of intelli-
flexible analytics gent, relevant information to key
• Perform ad-hoc analysis with decision-makers in organisation
the ease of drag-and-drop • Better Decisions - Quickly and
• Measure impact of various easily identify strengths or
business drivers with multi-per- weaknesses and make proactive
spective analysis, such as market business decisions
www.hotelierindia.com Hotelier India | February 2011 | 65