Briefing: Appreciating data skill

Research from Tableau Software has revealed that just 40% of recent graduates believe data analytics skills are essential for their future job and only 30% believe data analytics to be critical in fulfilling their career goals. In every aspect of hospitality, workers need to appreciate the importance of data, although not everyone needs to be able to analyse it. Some will collect the data, and others will be using the insight it provides in their work.

Our experts discuss how understanding data can have a positive impact on business:

Organisations are continuing to invest in data, whether this means bringing in new skilled staff or creating partnerships with data specialist companies.

So what are some of the problems that arise when working with data?  According to a study by Xplenty, Over 30% of Business Intelligence Professionals say they spend 50% – 90% of their time cleaning raw data. Other challenges mentioned include, integrating data from different platforms and managing the sheer volume of incoming data at any given time.

The amount of data available for people to work with is only increasing, and this could mean great things for business. A report by Forbes, Data Elevates the Customer Experience, found that the growth of customer experience data increasing at rate of more than 25% a year.

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Video clips produced by ybc.tv for the Hospitality Channel, including interview from industry conferences such as the IHIF conference as well as specific Hospitality Channel shoots.

Briefing: The measured approach to decision making

According to a report by CIMA; ‘72% of organisations admit to at least one strategic initiative failing in the last three years as a result of flaws in their decision making process.’

It is said that we make 35,000 decisions a day. In a fast evolving business day, we need to have enough confidence in our information and processes to make decisions quickly. In the longer term, important strategic changes need to be considered and implemented carefully, as our experts discuss in these videos:

Our industry is changing fast, in hospitality, time sensitive data can now be used to update strategies on the fly. But investing in the technology to do this is in and of itself a big decision to make and even a good idea can be badly actioned.

The report ‘Joining the dots: decision making for a new era’ from CIMA (Chartered Institute of Management Accountants) surveyed board-level executives at large organisations. In the survey, 80% of respondents said flawed information has been used to make strategic decisions.

Technology and data, when set up carefully, can be the competitive advantage that makes a significant difference to your business. With so much data coming through it is important it is systemized and ordered well but 36% of executives say their organisation is not coping with information overload. There is debate over how useful ‘big data’ is, with 37% saying it has helped and 32% saying it has made things worse.

Another factor in good decision making, identified by the report, is communication. 43% said their level of trust in fellow executives needed improvement and 57% said more active collaboration was required.

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Video clips produced by ybc.tv for the Hospitality Channel, including interview from industry conferences such as the IHIF conference as well as specific Hospitality Channel shoots.

Briefing: Are alternatives now mainstream?

Osprey Equity Partners recently agreed to fund an £80m development of a GoNative aparthotel in East London. They are backed by LJ Partnership.

Alternative accommodation types like aparthotels and hostels are becoming increasingly attractive to investors. More in-depth data from historic transactions and long established properties in the sector, have given investors greater insight on which to base their decisions. This is slowly bringing more products into the mainstream, as our industry experts discuss in these videos:

A report by WATG released last year showed that one attractive element of aparthotels is the cost effectiveness to build. It states that on a site with an £17.5m acquisition cost, a 4 star hotel would take £28.2m to construct and a 4 star aparthotel only £27.2m. It also states that terminal value on the aparthotel would be £93.1m and only £82.3m on the hotel, where both have an exit yield of 5%.

Another difference between hotels and aparthotels highlighted by WATG is that, in an aparthotel, rooms division accounts for some 93% of revenues, whereas hotels take a large portion of revenue from F&B and other areas.

Finally, WATG’s report showed GOP margins of 63% and 49% for the respective aparthotel and hotel.

When completed the GoNative aparthotel will be a 21 storey property. GoNative will manage the property under a hotel management agreement.

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Video clips produced by ybc.tv for the Hospitality Channel, including interview from industry conferences such as the IHIF conference as well as specific Hospitality Channel shoots.

Briefing: Guest data and great staff combine for the ultimate personalised experience

Data has been a hot conversation topic for a long time now. Personal information holds the secrets to your guests’ desires and is more available than ever. If data helps companies to ‘understand’ their customer, then the customer should reap the benefits. Once the guest arrives at a hotel there is no substitute for intuition. But staff must be equipped to use data on the fly to personalise service.

In this briefing four experts discuss how personalisation is the key to a great hotel experience. Comment from:

  • Frank Croston, Partner, Hamilton Hotel Partners on using consumer data to personalise promotions

  • Anton Bawab, Regional President, Viceroy Hotel Group on intuitive staff offering a more personalised service

  • Michael Levie, Chief Executive Officer, citizenM on valuing service with a smile

  • Stephan Balzer, Chief Executive Officer, Red Onion GmbH on more personalised stays being possible if hotels utilise data

 

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Video clips produced by ybc.hpgcms.wpengine.com for the Hospitality Channel, including interview from industry conferences such as the IHIF conference as well as specific Hospitality Channel shoots.

Briefing: the ‘big data’ minefield

The digital economy is producing unparalleled amounts of data, in part due to increased customer engagement through social media and online platforms. Simultaneously, the capability of technology and data management systems is progressing rapidly, allowing the vast silos  of data within the hotel industry to be put to good use.

This briefing looks at the process of analysing the hospitality industry using data and the issues that arise from increased access to valuable and sensitive information. Comment from:

  • Wolfgang Neumann, President & CEO of The Rezidor Hotel Group on managing customer data

  • Carlo Gagliardi, Partner, PricewaterhouseCoopers on why hotels must use big data wisely

  • Andrew Boshoff, Head of Strategy & Development at Global Hotel Alliance on creating smart, usable data.

  • Elizabeth Winkle, Managing Director of STR Global on crunching data for the hotel industry

If you’ve been sent to this page and you’re not yet on the circulation list to receive these regular briefings and you would like to sign up, you can do see here. It’s free.

Video clips produced by ybc.hpgcms.wpengine.com for the Hospitality Channel, including interview from industry conferences such as the IHIF conference as well as specific Hospitality Channel shoots.

Briefing: the age of data

Hospitality is one of the most data rich industries on the planet. There is no doubt that most industries are truly envious of the depth of knowledge and understanding the industry has about every single person that walks through the doors. Data that can be so specific to an individual’s preferences when staying in a hotel.

How can the industry use this vital information in order to make a customer’s experience truly engaging?

The opportunity that the digital world now affords hospitality is prevalent on so many different levels and experts this week discuss where to exploit this data abundant industry. Including comment from::

  • Sean Worker, CEO of Bridgestreet on making data work for your business
  • Andrew Sangster, Editorial Director of hotelanalyst on utilising data within your organisation
  • Leo Brand, CEO of SwissCom Hospitality Services on making data personal to a customer
  • And Nigel Huddleston, Industry Head of Travel for Google on the early stage developments of permission based data
 


If you’ve been sent to this page but you’re not yet on the circulation list to receive these regular briefings and you would like to sign up, you can do so here. It’s free.

Video clips produced by ybc.hpgcms.wpengine.com for the Hospitality Channel, including interviews from industry conferences such as the IHIF conference as well as specific Hospitality Channel shoots.