So what are hoteliers overwhelmed by when it comes to leveraging consumer data and what are their priorities in an increasingly digitalised world?.

Some answers emerged during the Facebook APAC Hotels Summit held in Singapore in June during a panel discussion of three hoteliers – Emilie Couton (VP Digital Marketing APAC, AccorHotels), Maunik Thacker (SVP Marketing, Marina Bay Sands) and Prasad Iyer (Associate Vice President – Global eCommerce & Digital Marketing at Taj Hotels Palaces Resorts Safaris) and moderated by Yeoh Siew Hoon (Founder, Web In Travel).

First and foremost, Thacker made clear that for all the promises of the power of data, the real obstacle is knowing what to do with it. “The data that’s out there – capturing the right data, making sense of it, then doing some with it… really, how do you use the information well?”

Iyer ascribed some of this difficulty down to the challenge of attempting to understand a constantly moving target as customer needs and demands are never stationary. “The pressure is back on us as a company to really serve the evolving customer.”

Couton resonated with both of the panelists but added that understanding customers and data points only made up part of AccorHotels concerns as “it’s only part of the story. We have to spend money wisely. There are so many ads or ways of targeting the customer and it’s difficult to track if money is being used properly.”

On discussing what new skills would be handy to have, she argued for building a broader understanding of the “tech behind the advertising, so you can’t be [fooled]… Also, so you can explain in a very simple way to a hotelier how they are using their budget.”

On top of this, using data-driven insights also forces companies to find and toe the line between what is “cool” or “creepy” when it comes to guest personalisation and fostering deeper loyalty.

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