Hitesh (HP) Patel
AAHOA Chairman (2018-2019)
The evolution of big data continues to change the way that hoteliers can monitor the health of their businesses and interpret industry trends. Knowing how disparate pieces of information are related and fit together to form a coherent picture of one’s business, guest behavior, or even how the market performs can provide hoteliers with a distinct competitive advantage. But with the ability to aggregate so much information, how does a small business owner even begin to make sense of it all?
Understanding how information is being harnessed and analyzed before it is shared with customers is important when deciding how one will apply it to his or her business. The idea of processing so much information can be intimidating, but AAHOA members can use services and reports provided by STR and CBRE to make sense of it all and make informed business decisions. These reports are developed through enhanced data analytics that can show various economic histories, trends/phenomena, and future projections. Tools like these enable our businesses to be more innovative and react more efficiently to market demands.
STR is great for helping hoteliers understand how their business compares to their competitors. This platform allows the user to see a detailed report of their daily and monthly performance and how that pairs up with other hoteliers in the same area. Each month STR sends a report that outlines total revenues, occupancy rates, and other indicators to develop a comprehensive outlook on how their hotel is performing in the local market. This is an essential, easy-to-understand aid for hoteliers to identify their strengths and their weaknesses, which means that they will know what works and what needs to be re-evaluated for optimal success.
To take a broader look at the lodging market throughout the U.S. or within certain geographic areas, AAHOA members can use CBRE. This platform focuses primarily on long term projections for the industry through its specialized “Hotel Horizons” analytic center. Here, users can generate expectations on what the next one to five years is going to look like in the overall market based upon data compiled from the last five years. To make it as comprehensive and personalized as possible, the user can pick the specific class of hotels they want to look at, such as luxury or mid-scale and they can choose the strength of the economy as well as the region they are in. Any possible scenario can be created which is why CBRE is a game changer for hotel owners.
With these tools in hand, hoteliers can create internal business strategies to stay competitive and make informed decisions about how to prepare for potential changes in the economy. At AAHOA, we know that this knowledge is the key to sustainability and upward growth within the hotel industry. That is why we continue to work to make it easier for members to learn how to use these data platforms. I encourage all AAHOA members to take advantage of these tools to help you make money, save money, and protect your investments.
