其次，大数据本身并没有多大用处，除非企业以创新的方式使用它来提高他们的业务水准。正是这种创新，给了企业竞争优势，使得产品或服务对用户更有吸引力。
最后，企业应该使用正确的大数据工具以最大限度地利用它。实时分析和深刻的洞察力，将提供真正驾驭它的好处必不可少的新模式。
总之，通过提供新的模式和见解，大数据将对对酒店业产生深远的积极影响。有了这个新的信息，企业能够更好地提供个性化的服务，提升客户满意度，提高运营效率，获得竞争优势，所有这一切最终将使企业获得更高的利润。然而，有一些需要小心，特别是在隐私和侵犯客户的方面。当这些问题得到解决，大数据成为企业和旅客的游戏改变者。
Is Big Data a game -changer for businesses and travellers?
Data has become an integral part of our society today. Widespread use of the Internet, social media, location-based services and multimedia are contributing to the ever-growing data explosion that is generating information about people, their preferences, likes and so much more. Such vast amounts of data have created new opportunities for industries to better understand their customers, and to provide personalized services based on their preferences.
One such industry that is looking to make the most out of these vast amounts of data is the hospitality industry. In the past, hospitality and technology have never complemented each other because the hospitality players have always been concerned about tangible things. They preferred to spend their time and resources on defined areas of operations such as to improve the ambience of a place, widen the choice of menus and enhance the quality of service delivery, instead of focusing on technology and big data. As a result, the gap between what the industry offers and what customers want widened. Hence, players in the hospitality industry were left with inefficient businesses and low profitability levels due to this lack of understanding of customers’ likes and preferences.
To overcome these problems, the hospitality sector began to adopt technology, specifically big data, in a profound way. Big data is all about identifying the patterns and relationships that exist between data to identify future trends and changing preferences of customers. With these insights, companies can customise their existing products or add new ones to meet these customer expectations, that in turn will fuel demand, and will lead to increased profits.
Specifically, Big data can be used in the following ways to enhance customer satisfaction, and to improve the overall efficiency and profitability of businesses.
Personalised Experience
Big data has the potential to give customers a personalized travel experience every time. When a business knows what a particular customer wants, it can make changes to its services accordingly. For example, if a restaurant business knows what a regular customer wants based on his or her past eating patterns and social media updates, then it can provide such menu choices. This information will come handy especially when the customers have diet specifications such as vegan or kosher.
Such a strategy will prove to be economically beneficial for the company in many ways. Firstly, the customer is sure to come back to the business again because he or she was satisfied with the service. Secondly, and more importantly, this customer is likely to recommend this place to friends and family members. This recommendation will bring in more customers without the company spending any money on marketing or advertisement.
Creating the Right Products and Services
Big data can provide a better sense of direction for companies with respect to their products and services. They will be in a better position than before to know which products will be a hit, so that they can plan their operations accordingly. For example, it is not hard to predict that people will drink beer or eat ice-cream on a hot day, but it will help to know what beers and what flavors of ice-cream they would like, so that the business can stock the right kind in adequate quantities. This information is what big data can give to companies. On a broader level, big data helps to maximize tactical brand decisions and gives greater control to tourism companies.
Competitive Advantage
Big data is likely to become a key factor for helping companies to gain a competitive advantage. In this sense, big data tools will be the key differentiators because all companies, whether they are new or experienced, will have access to the same amount of data. Hence, the company that can innovate and capture the deepest insights will score over others.
Another area that big data can help is pricing. Companies will be able to foresee trends and adjust their prices accordingly to make their services more attractive to customers. A case in point is the cost of rentals. When a boat rental company, for example, knows that more people are going to travel to its city in summer, the rate that is affordable for most travelers, the prices of its competitors and the estimated demand for its products, they can set a price that is attractive to customers and at the same time, is profitable for the company. It also gives the business a competitive advantage because its pricing decision is backed by relevant data that can predict consumer behavior with a greater level of accuracy than ever before.