Unlocking Revenue: How Hoteliers Build Profitable Guest Relationships
At a glance
What the report covers
The Sojern report examines how hoteliers build profitable guest relationships through data-driven strategies. Conducted by Benchmark Research Partners, the survey measures adoption of first-party data initiatives, their revenue and satisfaction impacts, and barriers to implementation. It addresses a global hospitality audience navigating the transition away from third-party cookies, emphasising the strategic importance of privacy-friendly data collection for personalised marketing and operational efficiency in the evolving digital landscape.
Key findings
According to the survey, 81% of hoteliers have experienced increased revenue through first-party data strategies, with 57% simultaneously reporting enhanced guest satisfaction. This dual benefit suggests that data-driven personalisation simultaneously improves financial performance and guest experience, creating a compelling business case for investment in these approaches.
Adoption remains incomplete: the report finds 59% of hotel marketers have implemented first-party data strategies. Notably, 75% of those without such strategies express a desire to adopt them, indicating strong intent but practical barriers preventing wider rollout. This gap represents significant unrealised potential across the sector.
Primary motivations for implementing first-party data strategies are campaign performance optimisation (73%) and strengthening customer relationships (67%). The report suggests these dual drivers—efficiency and engagement—are intertwined, with effective data use addressing both commercial and guest-centric objectives simultaneously.
The report underscores challenges including staffing shortages, siloed data systems, and rising operational costs that impede relationship-building efforts. It identifies centralised data technology and streamlined operations as critical enablers for hotels to deliver seamless, personalised service despite operational pressures.
Post-stay engagement emerges as underutilised opportunity. The report highlights that many hotels miss loyalty-building moments after checkout through insufficient deployment of personalised follow-up, exclusive offers, and loyalty incentives, representing missed revenue and retention potential.
Why it matters
DMOs & destinations
Third-party cookie phase-out necessitates urgent strategy revision. First-party data collection enables DMOs to maintain traveller targeting precision and personalisation capability. The report demonstrates that data-driven engagement drives measurable satisfaction and repeat visitation, directly supporting destination competitiveness and visitor retention in a privacy-first marketing environment.
Hotels & hospitality
Revenue and satisfaction gains from first-party data strategies represent immediate competitive advantage. With 81% of adopters reporting revenue increase and 75% of non-adopters expressing adoption intent, early movers capture market share. The report identifies post-stay engagement as underexploited loyalty lever, offering achievable revenue uplift through low-cost personalisation and retention tactics.
Travel tech & distribution
Widespread adoption gaps and stated intent create substantial platform demand. Hotels require CRM, data centralisation, and guest profile technologies to overcome siloed systems and staffing constraints. Vendors addressing data integration, post-stay automation, and privacy-compliant audience building are positioned to capture significant market opportunity as properties urgently modernise stacks.
Methodology and limits
The report presents findings from a survey conducted by Benchmark Research Partners on behalf of Sojern. Exact sample size, geographic distribution, hotel segment breakdown, and fieldwork period are not specified in the publicly available summary. Figures represent survey responses and self-reported outcomes rather than verified operational data. This brief is derived from the website landing page only; detailed methodology, sample composition, and full findings are gated behind a free registration form.
Official source
The report is © Sojern. This brief is an original editorial summary by TourismIntel — it quotes only figures published in the source and never reproduces the document.
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