Fullerton
Knowledge is power. This over 500-year-old statement stays relevant to this day. Having the up-to-date information is becoming more and more important, especially for business people, because their decisions usually depend on the latest developments. To keep abreast of the events, people use a wide range of Business Intelligence solutions which are created to gather, analyze and report data from different channels of information.
In hospitality industry the usage of Business Intelligence solutions is a must because this sector is very segmented, and every department has its own functions and responsibilities. It takes people a good deal of time to analyze a huge amount of data from different hotel management apps and to draw the correct conclusions, whereas modern computer programs can solve any challenging tasks in a matter of minutes. This is the reason why lots of hoteliers have invested in Business Intelligence in previous years.
The history of Business Intelligence in the hospitality dates back to 1980s. At that point in time, some management systems were successfully used in the airline industry. Some years later, these systems were adapted to the hospitality. Using them hoteliers could understand the guests’ length of stays or discount programs’ success. Unfortunately, BI systems were extremely expensive, and their positive impact on the hotel business was not well known.
Today the benefits of using BI technologies in hospitality industry are clear – they allow increasing the business effectiveness. It has become possible because of the operations that Business Intelligence tools perform:
- Providing timely data
Easy access to data is incredibly important. BI tools collect the latest information from different sources and make it into easy to grasp format. Therefore, hoteliers make their business decisions quickly and efficiently.
- Marketing analysis
For some hoteliers Business Intelligence solutions play a key role for better understanding their guests. For example, using BI tools in the hotel-based restaurant allows figuring out which food and drinks are the most popular or how often the guests order desserts. According to this information, hoteliers can run promotional campaigns that are designed special for their guests and as a result win more clients’ loyalty.
- Forecasting of potential business problems
With BI technologies it’s easier to find problems in hotels because the program scans various areas. If you see that the revenue of F&B department has decreased versus the previous month, but you don’t understand the reasons, you can analyze this sector more carefully and solve the problems before they ruin your business.
- General data reporting and dashboarding
Images and graphics help people better understand and retain information. Business Intelligence technologies allow to visualize the data and to represent it in the form of graphs and charts.
- Monitoring inventory
Business Intelligence tools are extremely efficient when you want to check how much soap was used last week or how many bathrobes disappeared from the rooms. The BI technologies help refrain from impulse buying or spending much money on inessential things.
To sum up, the power of Business Intelligence solutions is enormous. They are used in different industries, and their popularity is continuously enhancing. In hospitality industry the value of using BI tools is also high. New Business Intelligence systems help hoteliers analyze past data, forecast possible problems, better understand trends and finally maximize the hotel’s profit.
The future of the Business Intelligence is promising. Nowadays all the above presented functions are fulfilled only by one BI application, whereas in the past lots of programs were involved into the process. New systems offer the challenges to all hotel owners and help them customize the business and meet guests’ expectations to the full.
