In a competitive hospitality landscape where guest expectations are rising and brand loyalty is harder to earn; personalization is no longer a luxury—it's a necessity. To stay competitive, hospitality leaders are increasingly turning to data-driven personalization. This approach enables hotels, inns, and resorts to craft guest experiences that are not only memorable but also return-worthy.
In a recent webinar co-hosted by New England Inns & Resorts Association (NEIRA), Ascent360 and Maestro, we explored how hoteliers can transform guest data into dollars through integrated systems, smart segmentation, and marketing automation.
Why Personalization Is No Longer Optional
Today’s guests expect tailored, made-for-them experiences. They want to be seen, remembered, and understood across every interaction with your property—from pre-booking through post-departure. Hyper-personalization makes this possible by turning raw data into actionable insights.
Instead of sending generic, one-size-fits-all campaigns, personalized messaging can acknowledge past stays, spending habits, booking frequency, and even specific preferences like favorite spa treatments or dining options. This level of engagement fosters emotional connections and encourages repeat visits.
Unified and Enriched Guest Data
At the heart of effective personalization lies unified, enriched data. Most hotels & resorts gather guest information across multiple systems—PMS, POS, spa, golf, F&B, and activity reservations. Without the right tools, consolidating all that data into a single, unified guest profile is a challenge for many hoteliers.
That's where a Customer Data Platform (CDP) comes in. A CDP can ingest these disparate data sources, clean up duplicates, resolve conflicting information, and enrich guest profiles with valuable attributes. Tools like Recency-Frequency-Monetary (RFM) scoring help segment guests by their value, enabling marketers to prioritize high-value visitors with the right offers at the right times.
Automating Guest Engagement Across the Journey
Once data is centralized and segmented, properties can automate timely and precisely personalized messages throughout the guest's entire lifecycle:
- Pre-Arrival: Encourage guests to book add-ons like spa appointments or dinner reservations, tailored to what they’ve booked in the past or are most likely to enjoy.
- During Stay: Deliver real-time updates, upsell experiences, and promote on-property amenities via email or SMS.
- Post-Stay: Send personalized thank-you notes, loyalty incentives, or invitations to return during a different season.
Automation ensures this communication happens consistently without requiring a daily lift from the marketing team. The Ascent360 CDP refreshes guest data nightly, dynamically updating campaign audiences to reflect new bookings, cancellations, or transaction activity.
Seasonality, Segmentation, and Geo-Targeting in Action
Whether operating a ski lodge, a lakeside inn, or a seasonal golf resort, hyper-personalization allows properties to adapt marketing based on time of year and guest behavior. For example, a ski guest who visits annually in January might receive spring offers tied to golf or hiking. A local guest within a short driving distance could be targeted for last-minute weekend getaways to fill soft shoulder dates.
Geo-targeting also enables properties to send messages to guests based on location and lead time—critical for driving occupancy without deep discounts. The goal is not just to sell a room night, but to maximize the value of each guest by promoting experiences they’re likely to enjoy and purchase.
Integrating Guest Preferences and Behavior
Capturing both stated preferences (e.g., favorite wine varietals, room types, or amenities) and actual behaviors (e.g., purchase history) gives hoteliers a clearer understanding of what drives each guest’s decisions. This insight can inform everything from content personalization to upsell recommendations.
A guest who booked a facial & massage last year but hasn’t scheduled one for their upcoming stay can be reminded to do so. Or a guest who consistently visits during foliage season could be incentivized to return for a different season. These kinds of micro-targeted campaigns lead to far better engagement and more direct bookings.
Getting Started Without Getting Overwhelmed
When it comes to launching a precisely personalized marketing strategy that's powered by your guest data, the key is to start small. Begin with foundational campaigns like:
- Pre-arrival countdowns with booking reminders for amenities
- Post-departure thank-you messages that include a bounce-back offer
- Seasonal re-engagement for guests who visited during specific months
These initiatives can be launched with basic automation and evolve over time as teams grow or become more experienced. A true CDP also offers built-in reporting, enabling you to track engagement and fine-tune strategies based on performance.
Security and Compliance Are Built In
Data privacy is a major concern for guests and businesses alike. Systems used for guest data and marketing should comply with global regulations such as GDPR, CAN-SPAM, and CASL. A good platform ensures that permissions and preferences are automatically respected, reducing the risk of noncompliance and minimizing manual management.
Importantly, this also enhances trust with guests, who are increasingly aware of how their data is being used. This reinforces your property's credibility and trustworthiness which in turn can help your bottom line.
Putting Your Guest Data to Work
With a solid foundation in place—powered by a fully integrated PMS and CDP—hotels of all sizes can unlock the full value of their guest data. Whether your goal is to drive direct bookings, extend stays, increase on-property spending, or simply enhance the guest experience, precisely personalized marketing powered by your data is one of the most effective and scalable strategies available. Ready to activate your data and accelerate growth? Request a demo of the powerful and proven hospitality customer data platform, Ascent360!
