Ireckonu, a leading hospitality middleware and Customer Data Platform (CDP) provider for hotel groups, has reported today that siloed guest data across hotel operational areas (including restaurants, spas, golf facilities, and other auxiliary outlets) is preventing hotel groups from capturing up to 20% of opportunities to re-engage guests, improve recognition, and ultimately drive stronger loyalty and revenue growth.
While hotel groups typically rely on room-stay data only to understand guest value, Ireckonu’s findings show that a significant share of guest activity happens outside the PMS and often remains disconnected from the data platforms that hotels use to analyze and optimize the customer experience.
These insights are drawn from large hotel group customers using Ireckonu’s product feature, Venues, a groundbreaking CDP enhancement that has helped shed light on one of the hospitality industry’s most long-standing challenges: the fragmentation of guest data across systems beyond the hotel PMS.
The analysis also revealed that only around half of guest profiles include both a room stay and an interaction at an outlet such as a restaurant or spa. Meanwhile, 28% of profiles reflect room-only activity, and up to 22% belong to guests who engage exclusively through venues, meaning they never appear in the hotel’s PMS.
“The findings indicate that hotel groups may be missing 1 in 5 guests, while also assigning incomplete loyalty and RFM scores to a significant portion of their customer database. The consequences are considerable: frequent restaurant or spa visitors may be treated like first-time guests, marketing teams struggle to measure campaigns that drive venue revenue, and loyalty programs can overlook high-value guests who engage beyond overnight stays. These gaps result in weaker personalization and limit hotel’s ability to build long-lasting guest relationships”, states Felix Dreizehnter, Head of Product at Ireckonu.
Venues is designed to efficiently integrate all internal and external guest data into a single centralized platform, giving hotel operators and marketing professionals access to complete and up-to-date guest profiles. This enables hotels to recognize every guest and personalize communications at scale, boosting marketing campaign performance and ROI.
By unifying guest data, the platform also allows hotels to deliver personalized experiences at every touchpoint. Additionally, it provides hoteliers with a clear view of each guest’s lifetime value by tracking spending across all areas of the brand. This makes it possible to identify the most valuable guests and create tailored experiences that foster loyalty and unlock new revenue opportunities for hotels.
Redefining loyalty beyond traditional points programs
One of the most impactful outcomes of Venues is its ability to drive loyalty in a holistic way. “Driving loyalty isn’t about accumulating points, but rather about knowing your guests’ preferences and adapting hotel operations accordingly. For example, if a guest prefers still water over sparkling in the restaurant, carrying that insight through to the in-room experience by stocking only still water in the minibar can make all the difference in building loyalty” Dreizehnter added. With Venues, hotels can tailor guest communications across the entire journey, recognize returning guests even if they are not staying at the hotel, and deliver personalized offerings that strengthen brand affinity and make guests feel truly known.
The platform also gives hoteliers more direct control over guest data, even for guests who booked through OTAs. “Booking through an OTA doesn’t mean a guest isn’t loyal. When venue behavior is connected, hotels uncover deeper engagement and can incentivize direct relationships moving forward,” Dreizehnter concluded.
With this innovation, Ireckonu empowers hotel operators and marketers to unlock the full potential of their guest data, balance OTA influence with direct marketing strategies, strengthen loyalty beyond points, and redefine the hospitality experience across every touchpoint.