Happy New Year

The start of 2010 has us all thinking about New Year’s Resolutions, both personal and professional, especially after a difficult 2009 for many.

Above all, there seems to be a real feeling of renewal and (dare I say) hope, which is very much reflected in the articles on trade and industry websites. In fact, the questions we have been asked more than any others since we reopened the office after the Christmas break, have all centred around a renewed vigour in looking at the past guest data as well as a focus on using this information in the most effective way to renew contact with past guests.

It is a time to re-establish relationships with guests who may not have followed the same travel patterns in the last year, solidify communication with those who have, keep new visitors on board and learn from last year’s trends.

This time last year we were all flying a bit blind as the previous twelve months could not necessarily be relied on to predict our next moves. Now we have a solid history to study, thousands of guests to learn from, contact and duplicate.

So - what would be some of our New Year’s Resolutions with regards to guest history data?

• Value the resource as a hotel asset- protect and invest in it as such;
• Don’t just think direct mail or email marketing- guest history is a valuable planning tool for marketing and revenue strategy, advertising decisions, sponsorship evaluation and package and loyalty program development;
• Exploit commonalities between hotels and within groups to create greater economies in marketing spend;
• Don’t let loyal guests slip away (especially to the temptation of TPI's);
• Study guest behaviour in your hotel in terms of incremental spend;
• Use multiple contact points to maintain the conversation with your past guests throughout the year; and

Need I go on about it again?

• Retain as much guest detail as possible at reservation and check-in.

Please contact the ITD Team if you would like assistance in using dataArc, ICE or other ITD programs to support any of these initiatives.
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Tools to Assist

As I mentioned in the last Newsletter pre-Christmas and many of you have already been told, we will be launching an all new and improved version of dataArc in March. It is enough to get the data geek inside all of us very excited.

dataArc 2 has grown with the need of our clients, our team, the PMS's we work with and the massive amount and range of data available.

New features include:

• Full inclusion of International data (cleaned and validated);
• Demographic information;
• Vastly improved reporting flexibility;
• Faster operating speeds;
• Easier inclusion and exclusion of specific guest groups;
• Regional coding groups and clusters for multiple property users.

…..And, of course, a cool new look to match.

We will be loading all hotel historical data from March through to mid-year and will keep you updated when your property goes online. 

Melissa and Kim will be in contact with your teams to schedule training in the new program. We are really excited about using dataArc 2 and can’t wait to share it with you.

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Hidden Talents of the ITD Team

As we have introduced the ITD team to you in earlier newsletters, we thought a new section on the ‘hidden talents’ of the ITD staff was a natural next step. You might remember a story about our fantastic basketball team and their recent Corporate Games crusade. And now we have a Master Chef contender. Check out the croque-en-bouche that Kim made for her family’s Christmas Day. You will be glad to hear that all her caramel burns have healed now, but how will she top it for next Christmas?
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Top 5

• Not to make any resolutions (Ryan)
• Ride to work everyday (Abbie)
• Bring in a packed lunch (almost all of us)
• Not drinking on weeknights (Melissa)
• Get my newsletter copy in on time (Rebecca)

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