A number of industry leaders discussed the management of hotel data at the Global Lodging Forum. Here are a few of the insights they had to share on big data, small data and smart data. Panellists included: Vanguélis Panayotis, Director of Development, MKG Group Benoit Lemezec, Chief Marketing Officer, B&B Hotels Jean-Luc Chrétien, Executive VP Distribution Sales & Loyalty at Accor Olivier Cohn, Chief Executive Officer, Best Western Paul Mulcahy, Vice President Distribution & Revenue Management, Moevenpick Hotels Chinmai Sharma, Vice President Revenue Management and Distribution, Louvre Hotels Group Source: Big Data and Small Data, which information is useful – Hospitality On http://hospitality-on.com/en/news/2015/04/30/big-data-and-small-data-which-information-is-useful/

1. “Our strategy is to collect all the data on our system, to filter it for
information as well as to be able to transform in data for communications.
The goal is to send the right client, the right information, at the right time. It
is also the opportunity to create systems for customer relations between
the different hotels of a chain. It thus becomes possible to manage
customer experience… If we collect data and know the customer better,
then we can serve him better and he should be more satisfied.”
Olivier Cohn, Chief Executive Officer, Best Western
Source: Hospitality-on.com ; Quotes from the 19th Global Lodging Forum

2. “When it comes to hotels, the digital era requires us to react daily. It is thus
necessary to transform Big Data into Smart Data so that hoteliers can use it
in order to optimize the hotel's potential and customer satisfaction.”
Vanguélis Panayotis, Director of Development, MKG Group
Source: Hospitality-on.com ; Quotes from the 19th Global Lodging Forum

3. “The ultimate goal is to create value. The key to Smart Data lies in the
hotel. It must be possible to identify clients in order to enrich the
experience….the data does not only concerns the client. It may also come
from B2B relations.”
Benoit Lemezec, Chief Marketing Officer, B&B Hotels
Source: Hospitality-on.com ; Quotes from the 19th Global Lodging Forum

4. “The hotelier needs data to understand what happens at his property and
in order to be more efficient in terms of personalizing the offer and offering
customers recognition. The quantity of information sent to clients is an
important subject. OTAs were the forerunners in this game.”
Jean-Luc Chrétien, Executive VP Distribution Sales &
Loyalty at Accor
Source: Hospitality-on.com ; Quotes from the 19th Global Lodging Forum

5. I believe that hotel customers would not be against giving more data to
hoteliers if received some added value in return: faster check-in, lighting
and heating set according to usual preferences. But before they realize
there is some added value, it will only become increasingly harder to
collect data.
Paul Mulcahy, Vice President Distribution & Revenue
Management, Moevenpick Hotels
Source: Hospitality-on.com ; Quotes from the 19th Global Lodging Forum

6. “Hotel groups already do a lot to treat data, but they can do even more.
Innovating is a good thing since the customer puts more pressure on us to
be sure we are using the data correctly.”
Chinmai Sharma, Vice President Revenue Management and
Distribution, Louvre Hotels Group
Source: Hospitality-on.com ; Quotes from the 19th Global Lodging Forum

7. “Customers are showing increasing discernment. They have access to
price comparison websites. When less significant promotions are sent, they
don't even bother opening the email. OTAs such as Booking.com are more
efficient and do better work in marketing. It is far more attractive to receive
an email from Expedia or Booking.com.”
Chinmai Sharma, Vice President Revenue Management and
Distribution, Louvre Hotels Group
Source: Hospitality-on.com ; Quotes from the 19th Global Lodging Forum