The Analytic Hospitality Executive

CHAPTER 5Analytics for Operations

Quality in a service or product is not what you put into it. It’s what the customer gets out of it.

—Peter Drucker

In the next five chapters, we will go function by function in the hospitality organization and describe how analytics can help these functions meet their goals and move their businesses forward. I start by describing the purpose of that function and the kinds of challenges it currently faces. I talk about the available data, challenges associated with collecting the data, and new data sources that could hold great potential for that function. I will outline the type of analytics that can be used to support typical business goals for that function, and provide suggestions for both common and potential use cases for analytics in that function.

I provide some benchmarking information about what I believe is the minimum being done with analytics in each function, what an average hospitality or gaming company is doing, and what the most sophisticated players are taking on. Fair warning: I have not conducted an empirical study in this area. I think it would be very interesting to do so. These are merely my own observations based on what I have seen both within hospitality and outside of it. Take this information as a directional indication of how you should be planning your analytics program.

I always get asked about technology investments, including which systems are required, which are the best, and what companies are typically investing ...