Mrs. Xenia Nartschick, Account Manager at HQ plus GmbH, talks to TravelDailyNews about the importance of market segmentation, and the demand for more advanced technology and information.
Mrs. Xenia Nartschick participated as a speaker at the Digi.travel EMEA Conference & Expo which was held in Athens from 22-23 November.
TravelDailyNews: Can a hotel create more revenue from analyzing customer data, and if yes, how?
Xenia Nartschick: Today the demand for more advanced technology and information in regards to managing revenue and knowing the target market is drastically increasing. Analyzing customer data allows hotels to observe their target groups and find out what their ever changing demands and needs are. As the market is becoming more and more transparent customers are in a position to filter from a wide range of offers available on the market in a very easy and time efficient way. Hotels need to customize their supply to the customer needs to achieve an optimal occupancy.
TDN: Segmentation of clients or a mass market approach? What are your thoughts about that?
X.N.: Hotels will not survive if their marketing, sales and pricing strategy is dependent upon targeting an entire mass market. Using solely the mass market approach hotels are missing out on new opportunities and markets and implicitly accept the high scatter losses of traditional marketing activities addressed to a mass market. The importance of market segmentation is that it allows a hotel to precisely reach a guest with specific needs and wants. In the long run, this benefits the hotel because it is able to use its resources more effectively and make better pricing decisions.
TDN: How can HQplus help hotels in Greece to increase their revenues?
X.N.: The tourist industry in Greece grew two to three times faster than in Spain, Portugal, Italy or France last year. A record 23.5 million holidaymakers visited Greece in 2015 – generating 14.2bn euros in direct receipts, or 24% of gross domestic product.With tourism being the sole growing industry competition in this sector will be even more fierce than it might be in other countries. Therefore the demand for more advanced technology and information in regards to knowing the target market is drastically increasing. To successfully manage revenue, hotels should begin by optimizing the revenue strategy by learning to segment the market through competitive intelligence provided by HQplus.
Xenia Nartschick is Account Manager at HQ plus GmbH. HQ plus supports hotels with an accurate insight into major distribution channels in real-time and monitoring competitors' room rates and current events.
