Google Analytics 4 for hotels: make the leap to event measurement

The retirement of Google Analytics Universal, the web analytics tool par excellence, and the future elimination of third-party cookies will change the way in which user data is collected, processed and analysed. Faced with this scenario, and due to the critical importance of Hotel Data, it will be crucial for hoteliers to make their transition as soon as possible to Google Analytics 4 (GA4), the technology giant’s new measurement platform. Failure to do so implies a significant loss of data and, as previously mentioned, data is now more valuable than ever in an industry such as hospitality.

What should you, as a hotelier, know about Google Analytics 4?

In July 2023, Universal Analytics will stop collecting data. As a hotelier, you should make sure that you have made the switch to GA4 as soon as possible, as the information from the old tool will not be transferred to the new one. The best tip is to capture data for your hotel in GA4 starting today, so you’ll start generating historical statistics. This will allow you to compare the next exercise with the current one.

Adapting to GA4 also involves a slight learning curve, since the way they collect and present data changes. Sometimes, this implementation requires qualified staff. When it comes to presenting the data, while Universal Analytics relied on sessions and page views to collect information, GA4 focuses on events. In other words, the user’s actions within the web.

Setting up Google Analytics 4 for hotels

The correct configuration of GA4, together with tools such as Data Layer or Google Tag Manager, will form the perfect combination to capture information and optimise the events that index the information in the analytics panel. Until you develop a correct installation of the labels both on your website and on your booking engine, you won’t get all the relevant GA4 data for your hotel.

Google Analytics 4 is configured with the most important events that affect the business. Among the most useful for the hotel industry, some stand out, such as page views, first visit, login -all three are automatic-, adding to the cart or making a reservation -both recommended events-. For this reason, it will not always be necessary to create custom events, which require greater knowledge of the tool. Although the option, of course, is available for better use of GA4. The data provided by Google’s new analytics platform will allow you to establish the ideal customer journey for the needs of your hotel through the correct configuration in GA4.

Another major benefit of the new platform is the unification of the data of the same user, both in the web and in the app ecosystem. This allows us to analyse their life cycle and behaviour in a much more exhaustive way, knowing how they interact with the web or app at each step and which channels help conversion the most. Data that will be very useful for decision-making, capturing leads and creating sales funnels.

In short: GA4 will help in the difficult task of measuring and monitoring user behaviour, providing key information on how they interact with our digital channels. In the face of these developments, optimising the user experience (UX) on the web will become even more important.