Using Big Data to Increase the Bottom Line

October 2013

For Vacation Rental Management ProfessionalsAmy Hinote ↔ aehinote@thenavisway.com ↔ 251-455-4994

Agenda1. What is big data?2. Impacts of big data on the technology development in

the vacation rental industry3. Sources of data for professional property managers4. Input vs. output5. Step by step process for using vacation rental data to

impact revenue6. How-to examples

1. Pricing2. New customer acquisition3. Customer retention4. Homeowner retention/acquisition

What is Big Data?• Big data is the collection of data

from traditional and digital sources, inside and outside your company, that represent a source for ongoing discovery and analysis.

• Big Data has come to the forefront because of increased ability to inexpensively store and work with large datasets, both unstructured and structured.

What is Big Data?

• Big data isn’t constrained to digital inputs (i.e. web behavior, web app behavior, social networks.)

• In the vacation rental industry --we can’t exclude traditional data derived from how your guests interact at your properties, with your call center and at the point of sale.

• As much as we talk about automating all communications, there is a need for personal interaction. If we limit our data input solely to digital inputs, we can miss the big picture.

5 V’s of Big Data

• Volume –the amount of data your collecting• Velocity –the speed of information generated• Variety –the kind of data available• Veracity –the accuracy and validity of the data• Value –what it means to you

What big data can show you

Once you start tackling big data, • You’ll learn what you don’t know• You’ll likely be proven wrong on some paradigms

you have held close• You’ll be inspired to take steps to resolve any

problems.• You can use the insights to improve your customer

engagement and homeowner acquisition strategies• You will add more value to both your offline and

online interactions.

What is Big Data?• Unstructured data: Information not organized or

easily interpreted by traditional databases or data models.

• Multi-structured data: A variety of data formats and types and can be derived from interactions between people and systems (i.e. web data, online marketing data, lead data in Narrowcast, data provided in PMS, which includes a combination of text and visual images along with more structured data like forms or transactional information. 

ISILink

FRS

Entech V12

PropertyPlus

Website Distribution Channels

Web App NAVISCRM

Payment Processing

??? ???

3rd Party

ISILink PMS

Escapia Other PMS

Modules

Website Distribution Channels

Web App NWCCRM

Payment Processing

??? ???

What is Big Data?Just as a note, as digital sources of data increase

—and as marketers enhance the customer experience across devices, properties, face-to-face

interactions and social platforms—

multi-structured data will continue to evolve, especially in the vacation rental space.

Data Sources for Property Managers• Marketing Activity (online and offline)• Lead Management System• Call Center Information• Website Activity/Analytics• Property Management System• Customer Behavior Before and During the Stay• Face-to-Face Interaction• Re-engagement Data• Ancillary Spend• CVB/DMO• City/State/Regional• Geo-Analytics

The good news…

What is finally coming down the pipeline in technology is that you will be able to analyze –and USE -your data from multiple data sources to grow revenue.

You can start today.

The future in vacation rental datato grow revenue

One-stopdata

marketingsystem

Accurate data

Inaccurate data/

garbage

Orderedgarbage

Revenue-generating

insight

The future in vacation rental data,for example.

One-stopdata

marketingsystemCustomer

feedback collected and scored during

and after the stay

Only surveys collected in

email after the stay

Limited view of customer experience

Actionable insight on ways to improve the

customer experience

Bad or incomplete data can lead to bad decisions, which is worse than no decision.

Using data to increase bottom line:step by step

1. Determine Objective

2. Identify Metrics

3. Identify Data Input Sources

4. Begin accumulating clean data in systematic way

5. Examine Findings

6. Take Action

• Pricing• Marketing• Customer Retention• Owner Acquisition

Using data to increase bottom linestep by step

1. Determine objective.I want to know if and when I should adjust rates on my 2 bedroom condos for Thanksgiving week.

2. Identify metrics.1. Year-over-year comparisons

2. Booking window

3. ADR

4. Demand from non-booked data

5. Booking Pace

6. Call volume

Using data to increase bottom linePricing

3. Identify Data Input Sources1. Property Management System

2. Call center/Lead Management System/NWC

3. Face to face interaction (if you have walk-ins)

4. Web Analytics (Search)

4. Begin accumulating clean data.5. Property types are segmented in your PMS

6. Create a way to collect property type information and accurate reason for not booking on lead/not booked data.

7. Track walk-in requests as leads.

8. Add analytics on your website for availability requests and quick search inquiries.

Using data to increase bottom linePricing

Findings (if you have accurate data)

Take Action: Raise rates.

Using data to increase bottom linePricing

Findings: Week 47ADR ↑ 4%Booking Pace ↑ 3%Date of first not-booked inquiry October 18Requests for 2 BRs with no availability: Website 88Requests for 2 BRs with no availability: Call Center 14Requests for 2 BRs with no availability: VRBO 5Requests for 2 BRs with no availability: Walk-ins 1

1. Determine objective.Am I losing market share from any of my top feeder markets for October?

2. Identify Metrics2. Leads and Inquiries: City/State/Zip, year over year, and YTD

3. Guests: City/State/Zip, year over year, and YTD

4. Geo-targeted marketing efforts, year over year, and YTD

5. Web-traffic by geography, year over year, and YTD

Using data to increase bottom lineMarketing

3. Identify Data Input Sources1. Marketing Activity

2. Property Management System

3. Call center/Lead Management System

4. Web Analytics (Search)

4. Begin accumulating clean data. 5. Tracking marketing activity by type and location.

6. Make sure city/state/zip is collected on leads.

7. Make sure web analytics are set up correctly.

Using data to increase bottom lineMarketing

5. Findings (with accurate data)

Take Action: Put together geo-targeted marketing effort.

Compare to area statistics from CVB/DMO

Using data to increase bottom lineMarketing

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$300,000

$600,000

$900,000

$1,200,000

$1,500,000

$1,800,000

2011 2012

1. Determine objective.Is my churn rate higher or lower than the previous year?

2. Identify Metrics2. 2011 and 2012 stays by month (include guest data)

3. 2013 stays by month (include guest data)

Using data to increase bottom lineCustomer Retention

3. Identify Data Input Sources1. Property Management System

4. Begin accumulating clean data. 1. Create a comprehensive system for connecting guest records in the reservations department.

2. If you are using source codes, establish consistency.

Using data to increase bottom lineCustomer Retention

5. Findings

Using data to increase bottom lineCustomer Retention

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec0%

10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%

100%

201120122013

6. Take Action

April, May, August

and September have

trended downward

significantly.

1. Remarket to past guests in these months with targeted offer.

2. Aggregate and dedup the entire list and determine who stayed with you in 2011/2012, who hasn’t been back or made a future reservation and create a strategy for getting them back (may include email marketing, lifecycle email messaging, or even outbound phone calls or surveys)

Using data to increase bottom lineCustomer Retention

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

201120122013

1. Determine objective.Which property types had the most lost revenue based on demand?

2. Decide what you want to measure.1. Demand from not-booked data by property type, by

complex/community, by location

Using data to increase bottom lineOwner Acquisition/Retention

4. Identify Data Input Sources1. Property Management System

2. Call center/Lead Management System

3. Web Analytics (Search)

5. Begin accumulating clean data. 4. Property types are segmented in your PMS

5. Create a way to collect property type information and accurate reason for not booking on lead/not booked data.

6. Track walk-in requests as leads.

7. Add analytics on your website for availability requests and quick search inquiries.

Using data to increase bottom lineOwner Acquisition/Retention

5. Findings

Using data to increase bottom lineOwner Acquisition

Call Center Web Searches with No

availability

3rd Party Inquiries

Walk-ins0

100

200

300

400

500

600

1 BR Condos2 BR Condos 3 BR Condos

5. Findings

You can further segment by

complex and location.

6. Conclusion

Acquisition: Target these complexes or property types with legitimate marketing campaigns with compelling stats

Retention: “Show and tell” the levels of demand to your homeowners

Using data to increase bottom lineOwner Acquisition

0

200

400

600

1 BR Condos2 BR Condos3BR Condos

http://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&frm=1&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&docid=LlU__o4kPhSgmM&tbnid=qRDXggAtG3NkzM:&ved=0CAUQjRw&url=http://www.andertoons.com/data/cartoon/6543/things-good-stuff-ok-i-reiterate-request-for-specific-data/&ei=pcNAUsfuEoKdigL5loHQCw&psig=AFQjCNF6lVRi4a5yydg2ZMztR3Km_EHDOw&ust=1380062455707625

Using Big Data to Increase the Bottom Line

October 2013

For Vacation Rental Management ProfessionalsAmy Hinote ↔ aehinote@thenavisway.com ↔ 251-455-4994