First Party Data, the cornerstone of the hotel industry’s loyalty strategy

Many marketing professionals, including those in the hospitality industry, thought that the sky would fall in when Google announced that they were doing away with “Third Party Cookies”.

Faced with this new scenario, the spotlight quickly shifted to “First Party Data.” This is an important change that will define future retargeting, social media, display, SEM and email marketing strategies.

The digitalised loyalty strategy is therefore now defined around this concept.

First Party Data is defined as data that the hotel (or any company) obtains directly through its own sources: website, captive portal when a guest connects to free WiFi, social networks, CRM if you have one, and many more.

Why is “First Party Data” more advantageous than “Third Party Data”?

“First party” is undoubtedly the most valuable type of data a brand can control.

• It ensures compliance with the strict European GDPR , as users must intentionally disclose their data, with consent…
• …and helps generate personalised, targeted marketing strategies.
• There is no better data than the top-quality information that the brand collects about its own customers. It offers better results than data collected by third parties.
• Data collection is highly efficient and cheaper, as you don’t really pay for it. You must have the right internal tools and strategies for this. When done well, it is very efficient.
• There is greater capacity for personalisation and segmentation. The more we segment, the more we increase the conversion and take the middleman out of bookings.
• This allows you to target your marketing actions, encouraging greater customer loyalty. This means you can personalise your campaigns and connect with your customers like never before.
• First Party Data has a higher ethical standard than Third Party Data and is better aligned with modern marketing policies.

How can I collect “First Party Data” in my hotel or chain and start directing quality customers, who I want to attract to my loyalty strategy, towards the direct channel?

Now is the time to take action and get all the departments involved in your hotel or chain in line, making quality data collection a top priority in your sales and loyalty strategy. For this, we recommend two great channels that will allow you to capture First Party Data without difficulty:

Using a Wi-Fi Captive Portal

• Including a robust and adequate system, a hotel-specific captive portal will allow you to capture data from up to 90% of all guests staying in your properties.
• This includes an advanced system that always integrates with your PMS, and where possible, also with your booking engine and hotel CRM.
• Emails can be validated in real time so only good quality emails are collected, and the obtained data is guaranteed to be GDPR compliant. Your data will be high quality data, offering your marketing campaigns unparalleled potential, focused on customer loyalty.

The most efficient way is to establish a database with great potential is to divert Tour Operator and Online Travel Agency customer bookings towards the direct channel.

Hotelinking has the ideal solution, which is why we are the market leaders in the generation of staying guest “first party” data. Request a demo without obligations.

Via your own Company Website:

You get thousands of visits every month. You have the opportunity to increase your sales conversion with the right customer data capture strategy and the right digital marketing partner.

Your own website is the best place to implement marketing strategies based on “First Party Cookies” according to shopping behaviour, specific availability and destination searches, basket abandonment, room preferences and amenities, etc.

How to activate effective loyalty and direct booking strategies using the generated “First Party Data”?

Having the right set of tools which have been specifically designed for the purpose discussed in this article.

Once a guest data collection system is implemented in each property, integrated with the PMS to guarantee ideal data enrichment, the next step is to activate integration with the hotel CRM to make the data travel in real time. This means that the marketing department don’t need to do anything manually.

The implemented tools are just as important as a perfect email marketing strategy.

Data is the fuel that powers the hotel CRM.

A well-designed email marketing strategy will lead to significant increase in returning customers, as long as the “first party” data has been generated using the right tools.

All email marketing campaigns direct their recipients to the company website, diverting many Tour Operator and Online Travel Agency bookings to the direct channel. Post-stay email marketing campaigns are very important, affecting the guest’s purchasing and booking behaviour.

The results must be measurable, so integration with the booking engine is still key in helping us track and identify resulting from these marketing actions.

This type of data personalises campaigns and yields much higher conversion levels. Being able to measure which Tour Operator/Online Travel Agency guests and how much they paid when booking on the direct channel is no longer a utopia but a reality in the hotel sector, thanks to the joint actions of email marketing and top-quality “first party” data. And the best is yet to come.